"Look at him. The spitting image of his father. Same curls. Same blue eyes. Perfect, isn't he?"
My chest felt tighter at the sight. I already knew this child was Darren's. But seeing him so close was agony.
Darren lied. From the start. He said Sally was a close childhood friend. Said her husband died in an accident.
When she found out she was a few weeks pregnant, he begged me to let her stay till the baby was born. I blindly agreed.
Sally's voice dropped low. "You poor fool. Do you know how many times Darren had me in your bed while you played housewife? How many appointments he skipped with you because he was holding my hand? You thought I was just a widowed friend? No, Eliana. I've always been his choice. You were just paperwork."
Every muscle in my body screamed to lash out.
But I didn’t.
I kept my voice level. “Then congratulations. That makes you nothing more than a mistress. I’m still his wife.”
Her smile sharpened. “Not for long. Besides, your dead baby’s heart beats in my child’s chest. How does that taste?”
Her words burned down my throat like acid.
“It’s fine,” I said coolly, extending the child back to her. “Enjoy your little nursery.”
But Sally didn’t take him.
Instead, she turned wild. She snatched at the rocking chair, lifting it like a mad woman, and hurled it at the window.
The glass shattered in an explosion of shards, the warm air rushing in.
I shielded the baby, heart pounding. "Sally, what the hell are you doing?!"
She dropped to her knees, sobbing, her voice loud enough to wake the dead.
"Eliana, please! Don't hurt my baby! I'll do anything— just don't throw him!"
Darren and Janine stormed in, horror stamped across their faces. In a second, Darren ripped the baby from my arms, clutching him tight. His eyes blazed.
"How could you, Eliana?!"
The edge of a broken glass bit into my forehead as he shoved me back. Warm blood slid into my eye.
Sally clutched her child, rocking and sobbing. "She tried to throw him, Darren! She's lost her mind!"
Janine's hand flew to her mouth. "You devil! Trying to kill an innocent baby just because yours didn't survive?"
My voice rasped. "It was her. Sally did this!"
But Darren's glare was merciless.
“You’ve gone too far, Eliana. All this, over a nursery?”
A laugh ripped from me, raw and bitter. "A nursery? It was our son’s, Darren. And you named her baby Alex?”