I couldn’t stand there for another second. I mumbled something about feeling dizzy and went upstairs before my face gave everything away.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on my door.

Loriana again. Of course.

She came in holding a steaming bowl, smiling that same gentle, fake smile. “Dominic made this for you,” she said softly. “He told me to bring it up. It’s a tonic for your pregnancy. You should drink it while it’s still warm.”

The smell hit me before she even handed it over: bitter, sharp, heavy. I felt my stomach turn.

“Thanks, I don't wanna drink it. Give that back to him.”

But she just tilted her head, looking around my room like she owned it. “You two didn’t pick any baby names yet, did you?” she asked, pretending to sound curious. “It’s funny… Dominic and I once came up with names for our future kids. Dom for a boy, Loralie for a girl. Cute, right?”

My hand trembled.

Those were the exact names Dominic said when we talked about our baby. The same ones. He’d even smiled when he said them, like he’d just thought of something special.

Now I realized he hadn’t.

Nothing was ever really ours. Not even our unborn child. Just another leftover from her.

My heart felt like it was splitting open. I couldn’t breathe.

Then suddenly, the bowl slipped from Loriana's hands and she gasped dramatically. “Oh no!” she pretended to panic when the hot liquid splashed across my arm and chest going down to my stomach. The pain shot through me so fast I screamed.

“Ahh!”

“Careful!” she said quickly, reaching for me with that fake worried face. “I didn’t mean to! I’m so clumsy—are you okay?”

The skin on my arm was already turning red, the blisters rising. I could barely hear her through the pain. My breath came in short gasps as I turned and stumbled toward the stairs, desperate to get to the bathroom, to the ointment or anything to stop the burning.

But before I could reach the first step, something hit me hard from behind.

I didn’t even have time to scream properly. Just one sharp sound when my body went flying forward.

Everything blurred.

Then pain. Crashing. My body hit each step before landing flat on the cold floor.

For a moment, I couldn’t move. I just saw red spreading on the carpet under me. It took me a few seconds to realize it was blood. My blood.

Then Loriana’s scream filled the house. “Rosie!”