<b>Book </b><b>3 </b><b>Major </b><b>Penalty </b>
+25 Points
Emmay in the guest bedroom, staring at the ceiling at 2 AM. Alek was in their room, and neither had spoken since their fight six hours ago. Her phone buzzed with another text from Lisa about the Netflix deadline, but Emma couldn’t bring herself to care.
She’d ruined everything. Alek’s career, their marriage, their future. All because she couldn’t keep her mouth shut.
A soft knock on the door interrupted her spiral of self–pity.
“Emma?” Katie’s voice was gentle. “Can Ie in?”
Emma sat up as Katie slipped into the room, carrying two cups of tea.
“Couldn’t sleep either?” Katie asked, settling on the bed.
“Did we wake the kids with our fighting?”
“No, they’re fine. But you two aren’t.” Katie handed her a cup. “Want to talk about it?”
Emma found herself spilling everything – the board call, her outburst, Alek’s anger, the impossible choices ahead.
“He’s right,” Emma finished miserably. “I tried to help and made everything worse.”
“Did you?” Katie asked quietly.
“Of course I did. Now he might lose his job because of me.”
Katie was quiet for a moment. “Emma, what exactly did you say to the board?”
Emma repeated her words as best she could remember.
“So you defended your husband’s aplishments and asked for reasonable amodation for a pregnant wife and small children?”
“I attacked his bosses-
“You stood up <i>to </i>bullies.” Katie’s voice was firm. “There’s a difference.”
“Tell that to Alek’s career.”
“Maybe his career needed someone to stand up for it.” Katie sipped her tea thoughtfully. “You know what I think? I think Alek is scared and taking it out on you because you’re safe.”
“Safe?”
< Book 3 Major Penalty
+25 Points
“He can’t yell at the board members who are actually threatening him. But he can yell at his wife, who will still love him afterward.”
Emma considered this. “Even if that’s true, I still made things worse.”
“Maybe. Or maybe you forced a confrontation that was inevitable anyway.”
Before Emma could respond, her phone rang. At 2:30 AM, it could only be an emergency.
The caller ID showed Jack’s number.
“Jack?” Emma answered, worry immediately recing her self–pity. “What’s wrong?”
“Emma, thank God.” Jack’s voice was strained. “I’m at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Something’s wrong with my son.”
Emma’s heart clenched. “What happened?”
“He’s been sick for a week. Fever, not eating. Veronica thought it was just a virus, but tonight he got so much worse. The doctors… they’re running tests.”
Emma could hear the fear in Jack’s voice. “Is Veronica with you?”
“She’s in Europe for Fashion Week. Her flight doesn’t get in until tomorrow night.” Jack’s voice cracked. “Emma, I’m terrified. And I know we’re not… I mean, after everything… but I didn’t know who else to call.”
“Of course you called me,” Emma said immediately. “What do the doctors think it is?<b>” </b>
“They’re not sure yet. Maybe pneumonia, maybe something worse. He’s so little, Emma. He’s only eighteen months old.”
The same age as Frankie. Emma’s throat tightened.
“I’ll be on the next flight,” she heard herself saying.
“You don’t have to-‘
“Yes, I do. No one should go through this alone.”
After hanging up, Emma sat in the darkness, processing what she’d justmitted to. Flying to Seattle while pregnant, while her marriage was falling apart, while her husband’s career hung in the bnce.
But a baby was <i>sick</i>, and Jack was scared and alone. Everything else could wait.
She was quietly packing a bag when Alek appeared in the doorway.
< Book 3 Major Penalty
“What are you doing?” he asked.
<b>+25 </b>Points
Emma exined about Jack’s call, watching Alek’s expression shift from confusion to
concern.
“His son is sick and you’re flying to Seattle?” Alek asked. “In your condition?” <fnaf40> ?? ??? ???? ?? ???? ???? ???????s, ????s? ??s?? Find_Novel(.</fnaf40>
“I’m pregnant, not dying.”
“Emma, you can barely keep food down. You shouldn’t be traveling.”
“I can’t abandon him.”
“He’s not your responsibility anymore.”
Emma looked up from her suitcase. “He’s a friend whose child is in the hospital. That makes him my responsibility.”
Alek stared at her. “So you’ll drop everything for your ex–husband, but when I need your support-”
“Don’t.” Emma’s voice was sharp. “Don’t make this about us.”
“Everything is about us, Emma. Our marriage, our family, our future. But apparently Jack’s crisis trumps all of that.”
Emma felt tears of frustration. “A baby is sick, Alek. A little boy the same age as our son.”
“And I’m sorry about that. But running across the country won’t help him, and it might hurt you.”
“I have to do something.”
“No, you don’t.” Alek stepped into the room. “You want to do something because you feel guilty about our fight and this seems <i>like </i>a way to prove you’re still a good person.”
The uracy of his observation stung. “That’s not-”
“It is.” Alek’s voice softened slightly. “Emma, you don’t need to save everyone to make up for today.”
“I’m not trying to save everyone.”
“Aren’t you? The board call, the Netflix deal, now Jack’s crisis. You’re bouncing from one emergency to the next instead of dealing with what’s happening here.”
Emma zipped her suitcase with more force than necessary. “What’s happening here is that
315
< Book 3 Major Penalty
my husband mes me for ruining his life.”
“I don’t me you for ruining my life-”
“Yes, you do.” Emma faced him directly. “You said I destroyed your dreams.”
Alek flinched. “I was angry-”
“But you meant it.”
<b>+25 </b>Points
They stared at each other across the guest room, years of love and months of growing tension crackling between them.
“Maybe I did mean it,” Alek said quietly. “In that moment.”
Emma nodded, the admission hurting less than she’d expected. “At least you’re being
honest.”
“Emma-”
“I’m going to Seattle.” Emma picked up her bag. “When I get back, we’ll figure out whates next.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Emma paused at the door. “It means maybe you’re right. Maybe I do make everything worse. Maybe you’d be better off making your own decisions without me.”
“That’s not what I want.”
“Isn’t it?” Emma turned back to him. “Because that’s what it feels like. It feels like you want a wife who stays quiet and supports you unconditionally, regardless of how anyone treats you.”
“I want a wife who thinks before she acts-”
“And I want a husband who doesn’t me me when things get difficult.” Emma’s voice was steady despite the tears threatening. “But apparently we both want things we can’t have.”
She left before Alek could respond, her heart breaking with every step.
At the airport, waiting for her red–eye flight, Emma called Katie to check on the children.
“They’re fine,” Katie assured her. “Alek exined that <i>you </i>had to help a friend. How are you holding up?”
“I don’t know.” Emma watched nes taxi on the runway. “Katie, what if he’s right? What if I do make everything worse?”
<Book 3 Major Penalty
“Then you learn from it and do better next time.”
“What if there isn’t a next time?”
Katie was quiet for a moment. “Do you want there to be?”
Emma thought about Alek’s face when she’d left, the hurt and anger and love all mixed together.
“I don’t know that either.”
<b>+25 </b>Points
“Well, figure it out while you’re gone. Because those babies need their parents to work things out, one way or another.”
Emma’s flight was called before she could respond. As she boarded the ne, she wondered if she was running toward something or away from it.
Either way, she was alone in a way she hadn’t been since before Franklin died.
<i>And </i>for the first time in years, she had no idea what came next.
Three hours into the flight, Emma woke up to sharp cramping in her abdomen. She stumbled to the airne bathroom, her hands shaking as she checked for bleeding.
When she saw the spots of blood, her world tiltedpletely off its axis.
“Please,” she whispered to whatever forces might be listening. “Not now. Not like this.”
But her body wasn’t listening to prayers.
By the time the nended in Seattle, Emma Mitchell–Volkov – who had survived pregnancy loss, built a hockey empire, and buried the grandfather who taught her to be strong – was quietly losing the baby she hadn’t known she wanted until it was toote.
And she was utterly,pletely alone.
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