Raymond's POV

The beeping was steady, Too steady.

It was the kind of sound you both feared and clung to. Nobody knows what's happening.

I stood in the hospital room, watching my father breathe beneath thin cotton sheets. Beatrice sat beside him, one hand over his. Her fingers trembled, but her face remained still—regal even in heartbreak.

Naomi stood near the window, holding Aurora close to her chest. Miranda clutched my other hand, unusually quiet.

He had fainted in the nursery. ...