The operating room buzzed with urgency.
Adrian's hands moved fast—steady, precise. He barely glanced at the monitors as his instincts took over. Years of surgeries had made him cold to chaos. But this boy…
There was something different.
Something familiar.
The moment he had entered the room, his heart had skipped a beat. Not from panic—but from shock. The child lying unconscious before him could've passed for a younger version of himself.
Same hair. Same mouth. Same eyes.
"He's stabilizing," the nurse confirmed, breaking the silence. "We stopped the bleeding."
Adrian exhaled, but his mind didn't relax. As they transferred the boy to recovery, he followed, his thoughts racing faster than his steps.
---
Outside the hospital room, Adrian watched through the glass as the boy rested, his chest rising and falling peacefully.
"What's his name?" he asked the nurse beside him.
"Ethan."
Ethan.
The name hit harder than expected. Simple. Strong.
"He didn't come in with parents," she added. "Only a driver. Said the mother was stuck in a meeting."
Adrian clenched his jaw. Some rich woman, too busy to show up for her injured child.
He didn't know why that angered him so much.
Maybe because, five years ago, the woman he loved had chosen meetings over love.
He turned away.
---
Meanwhile, in a sleek black car speeding through traffic, Sophia Carter sat stiffly in the backseat, her hands shaking slightly though she kept a calm face.
Ethan was in the hospital.
Her assistant's voice still rang in her ears. "Minor internal bleeding, ma'am. Dr. Adrian Blake handled the surgery."
Her heart had stopped.
Adrian. Of all the doctors in New York.
She hadn't seen him in years. Not since she signed those divorce papers with hands as cold as her pride.
Now... fate had brought him face to face with their son.
And she wasn't ready.
Not yet.