**Elena’s POV**

The sterile scent of the hospital room felt like it was mocking me.

Six weeks.

I lay propped against the flat pillows, my hands trembling as they rested over my stomach. A baby. A tiny, fragile heartbeat was thrumming away beneath the surface of a woman who had spent the last week staring into the eyes of death. It felt like a cruel joke of timing.

How could I bring a child into a world where their father was a monster and their mother was a target?

Beyond the hospital ...