Chapter 188

Rhodes POV

“Where they wanted to rape me before performing the abortion,” Troy said, his voice hollow. “Because that’s what places like that do. They prey on desperate omegas who have nowhere else to turn. And I was so convinced that I was the problem, that this pregnancy was going to destroy our family, that I was willing to go through with it.”

We’d found Troy just in time. Rafael had tracked his phone, had mobilized all of us—including Lake, who’d recognized the address as a place he’d once tried to go to abort Ollie. We’d burst into that clinic moments before the procedure, had gotten Troy out safely.

And then Samuel had shown up. Had stabbed Troy. Had kidnapped Lake and Ollie. The whole nightmare had spiraled from Troy’s conviction that he was a burden I didn’t want to carry.

“But I was wrong,” Troy continued. “I wasn’t trapping you. This pregnancy—” he touched his stomach again, “—it’s not a burden. It’s a blessing. And you weren’t going to resen