Chapter 916

Alexander Hamilton had been wanting to call about Evelyn Carter's prenatal checkup all day, but urgent company matters kept him occupied.

His concern for Evelyn bordered on obsession. If work hadn't demanded his attention, he would've stayed by her side every minute.

Of course, Evelyn would never allow that.

Olivia Lightfoot was prepared when the call came. She cleared her throat. "Don't worry, mother and baby are safe. Everything's normal."

Silence filled the line. Alexander frowned—how could it be "mother and baby" when the child wasn't born yet? He softened his tone. "How's the fetal development? Besides accompanying her to classes, what else can I do?"

He desperately wanted to make up for past neglect, even through small gestures.

"All developmental markers are standard," Olivia answered carefully, avoiding any hint about the twins.

"Could you send me the ultrasound report?" Alexander's voice was tender. "At three months, we should see the outline."

His knowledge of pregnancy surprised Olivia.

"No!" The word escaped before she could stop it.

At three months, the head and limbs were clearly visible. Anyone—let alone someone who'd studied prenatal development—could spot twins immediately.

Alexander's grip tightened on his phone, knuckles whitening. "Is there a problem—"

He couldn't bear to finish the thought. If anything happened to the baby, Evelyn would be devastated.

Olivia realized her mistake and backpedaled. "I swear the baby is healthy! If there were any issues, may I get hit by a car!"

She emphasized "healthy" while avoiding any mention of quantity.

Alexander relaxed slightly. "I just wanted to see our child's first photo."

Olivia tugged at her hair in frustration. Worried he might request the records directly from the hospital director, she improvised: "An ultrasound isn't a real photo! You can take all the pictures you want after birth. Hospital policy, you know how Evelyn hates special privileges."

She adopted a righteous tone. After a pause, Alexander finally conceded. "Alright, I understand."

Hanging up, Olivia exhaled sharply and dialed Evelyn's extension. "I never thought he'd obey you so readily. I should've invoked your name earlier."

Evelyn was reviewing discharge records, phone cradled against her shoulder. "Don't joke. We barely got away with it this time."

She knew the real reason but chose to ignore it. Pregnancy hormones were unpredictable; she had to stay doubly rational.

As her prenatal yoga classes became routine, disaster struck the hospital.

The patient who'd faked medication adherence to secure surgery had died during emergency treatment.

Evelyn, fresh off night shift, snapped to alertness and immediately contacted Dr. Porter from Internal Medicine.

Dr. Porter sounded harried. "Your warning made no difference. The patient pretended to take her meds, even fooling the nurses. Her husband admitted they wanted better lung donor priority."

Worse, the deceased's social media posts were going viral. The Medical Affairs Department scrambled between compensation negotiations and PR damage control.

Evelyn sighed, thinking of the soon-to-retire hospital director. She never imagined this scandal would reach her.

That afternoon, a Medical Affairs colleague hesitated before speaking. "Dr. Carter, you're almost four months along?"

"Approximately."

"Regulations allow early maternity leave..."

Evelyn understood. "Need me to lay low? No problem."

The colleague visibly relaxed, processing the paperwork swiftly. Forcing a smile, Evelyn prepared to leave early.

As she exited the outpatient building, Alexander's familiar figure stood waiting beside his car.