Love Beyond the Mask by Adelaide Sinclair

Chapter 1171

Ludwik's face changed ever so slightly, clearly dreading what she might bring up next.

He only heard her mumble, trying to defend herself, "It's not like I'm purposely poking at your sore spot, alright? But honestly, who told you to keep running your mouth when you're sick as a dog. You'd better be a little nicer to me, or you can just hire your own nurse and see how that works out for you."

With that, she pretended she was about to get up.

He shot her a look, voice turning soft and sulky, "Where are you even going? I'm practically on my deathbed here, and you just want to walk out? Do you even have a heart?"

Whitney wasn't buying it for a second. This wasn't the first time he tried to milk his illness for sympathy.

Suddenly, memories flashed through her mind-four years ago, he'd taken a blow to the head on a construction site, saving her from a falling pane of glass. Back then, she'd been so young and foolish, absolutely overwhelmed by gratitude.

While he was in the hospital, that cunning wolf milked every bit of sympathy he could get, guilt-tripping her into running all sorts of errands.

But if those memories

tried to make sense of her tangled

frustration in her eyes and looked back at his infuriatingly handsome face, softening her tone just a touch. "I'm going to check on the baby... you know,

as if she was making a deliberate choice, saying it with a rare

At that, Ludwik froze.

almost as if

swallowed hard, voice rough. "Whitney, you've

got my mom settled yesterday afternoon, I rushed to the NICU and stayed with her through her procedure. I was terrified I'd screw it

The oxygen issues are under control now. Once she can breathe on

"That's incredible."

"I knew you wouldn't forget about her. You only act tough. Whitney, you're amazing. She's so lucky

her face. "I owe her. Even if I never wanted to have your baby in the first place, she was already growing