In the hospital, I begged the doctors not to take my baby. But the impact had been too much, my body was too battered. When they wheeled me in, I heard a voice cut through my sobbing.
“Just go ahead and kill the baby,” Xander told the doctor. “I don’t really care. Let both of them die for all I care.”
The doctor hesitated. “Sir, are you sure about this? It’s your heir—”
Xander scoffed, that cruel laugh I used to mistake for warmth. “I never wanted an heir that comes from her. I’ve regretted marrying her since day one. If it weren’t for Nadia leaving me for her career, none of this would’ve happened. She seduced me so I had a night with her, our parents forced us to marry, but it doesn’t matter now.”
Nadia’s voice drifted in, sweet and false. “Are you sure, Xander? It’s your baby… what do you think she would feel?”
He barely looked at her. “It’s better this way. I was already planning to slip something in her drink to get rid of the baby and her. Now I don’t have to. You know, you’re the only one I want, Nadia.”
Nadia whimpered, a pathetic, guilty laugh. “I’m sorry… for leaving you. For everything.”
Xander’s tone turned gentle. “It’s okay. As long as you promise you’ll never leave me again.”
“I promise,” she breathed.
And the last thing I heard was the steady beep of the monitor, mocking me as the life I carried inside me was scraped away while they planned the rest of their perfect life without me.
I snapped out of the memory when the door swung open. Xander stood there, a plastic smile on his perfect lips, carrying flowers and a tray of food like he was the devoted husband the world still believed him to be.
“Baby,” he said, voice dripping sweet poison. “I’m sorry I couldn’t come sooner, you know how the company is, so much to do. But I’m here now.”
Liar. In my mind, I could see him in Nadia’s bed, her red nails raking his back while my body lay here, stitched and empty.
“I made you shrimp,” he said, placing the tray on my lap. “Your favorite.”
I stared at the plate. Nadia loved shrimp. I was allergic.
“I don’t want it.”
He stiffened, eyes flashing. “Don’t be dramatic. Isn’t it enough that our daughter died because of you? Shouldn’t you apologize to me?”
Before I could speak, his phone buzzed. He didn’t even hide the name. Nadia.
“I’m going to answer this. Eat. Don’t make this harder than it already is,” he hissed. “I’ll be back.”