Second Vows Adored by the Billionaire novel Chapter 24

The flight from New York to Miami only took about two hours, and they landed late at night.

The three of them made a point of hitting up the most famous trendy restaurant in the city and ordered a huge spread of fresh oysters and ceviche.

Lucas eagerly poured beer for everyone, but Eloise lied and said she was on her period, so she switched to lemonade instead.

Back at their upscale hotel, Chris practically shoved Eloise toward the bathroom to go wash up.

When Eloise came out with her long hair still dripping wet, she grabbed her phone from her bag. She'd had it turned off all day. She plugged it in to charge.

The second it powered on, notification after notification started pinging. Among all the unread messages, Victor's texts stood out like a sore thumb.

Victor: [Ellie, Ms. Sterling told me you went to prepare a surprise for me. I'm so touched I don't even know what to say.]

Victor: [You always give so much without asking for anything back. What did I ever do to deserve a wife like you?]

Victor: [Eloise, I miss you. What's the surprise going to be this time? I can't wait. Every unexpected gift you give me shows how much you truly love me, and it makes me believe you're absolutely the person who loves me most in this entire world.]

Eloise's fingers trembled as she held her phone.

Victor's message was filled with excitement and gratitude, but there wasn't a single word showing he was worried about her safety.

He didn't even remember she was pregnant, and he clearly wasn't concerned about whether she'd be okay out there alone.

She thought back to this time last year when she'd gone hunting for wild Oregon white truffles for him in the Pacific Northwest wilderness. She got lost in the forest and nearly froze to death when a blizzard hit.

The more Eloise thought about it, the more she realized just how stupid she'd been. Hopeless, really.

"Whatcha looking at?" Chris walked out of the bathroom, towel-drying her hair.

Eloise quickly shut off her phone and tossed it aside. "Nothing. Just spam."

The night felt endless.

Chris crawled under the covers and pressed close to her, begging like a kid waiting for a bedtime story. "Come on, tell me what's going on. What happened?"

Under the dim bedside lamp, Eloise spoke softly to Chris. She told him everything about the betrayal, the lies and the heartbreak, and her tone stayed calm the whole time, as if she were just talking about the weather.

"Wait, hold on!" Chris suddenly sat up, and the blanket slid down to her waist. "You're telling me Anita not only secretly married Victor and had his kid, but she's also been poisoning you?"

Eloise nodded slowly, her fingers unconsciously picking at the corner of the blanket.

"Oh my God!" Chris' voice cracked, and she threw her arms around Eloise's thin shoulders. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? How could you deal with all this by yourself for so long?"

Before he could finish his sentence, Beatrice's hysterical screams came through the phone. "Daddy! You need to come home right now! Mommy's bleeding everywhere!"

Outside the hospital emergency room, Victor stood covered in blood and shaking uncontrollably.

Anita had been bleeding so heavily just minutes ago that nothing could stop it, and the scene had been absolutely terrifying.

His head buzzed and his mind went completely blank. Beatrice's crying echoed down the hallway, but Victor felt stuck in a vacuum, even struggling to breathe.

When Laurel came stumbling in, he snapped out of it and grabbed her by the throat. "Laurel, what the hell did Anita eat?"

"Sir... please..." Laurel's face turned red as she choked out the words. "It was just... a regular dinner. Nothing special."

Laurel was an old friend of his mother's from back home, so there was no way she would do anything to hurt Anita. Victor's hands dropped away, and he slumped back against the wall.

Finally, the emergency room doors swung open. Brook pulled off his mask and dragged Victor to a corner. "Did you give my medicine to the wrong person?"

"That's impossible! I put it in Eloise's bag..." Victor's voice cut off abruptly, and his eyes widened. "Wait, are you saying... Anita took the abortion pills by mistake?"

Brook shrugged helplessly. "She miscarried. The embryo came out and everything. Shame too, it was a boy."