Jake’s POV

I watched her carefully from across the living room as she sat silently beside her father before we left. She looked… hollow. The Chloe I knew, fiery, stubborn, loud when she needed to be, was shrinking into herself, piece by piece. She was heavily pregnant, almost due, yet somehow she looked small, fragile. Like she was balancing the weight of the entire world on her shoulders.

When Gold told me everything, about Zoe, Ethan, the pregnancy stress, I couldn’t breathe for a ...