Without hesitation, Alexander dove in and pulled Victoria from the pool, carrying her in his arms like a rescued princess.
He didn't even glance back as I desperately fought to reach the surface, swallowing water as my strength faded.
My fingertips just grazed the pool's edge before darkness consumed me.
——
Two hours later, after ensuring Victoria was perfectly fine according to three separate doctors he'd summoned to the house, Alexander finally remembered my existence.
He searched every room, growing increasingly agitated when I was nowhere to be found.
By midnight, I was seated in the quiet corner of a 24-hour diner fifty miles away, nursing a cup of coffee as I waited for the mysterious contact to text me.
My burner phone vibrated with a text.
[Unknown number: Your car is waiting three blocks outside the pack. Everything's arranged as discussed.]
I deleted the message just as another notification appeared—a text from Alexander.
[I don't have time to track down a drowning victim. Don't make me file a missing persons report.]
[Bring her medical records to the healer tomorrow at 2 p.m. He needs to confirm if her condition is genetic. The baby can't have any defects.]
I stared at the message, my thumb hovering over the screen. Instead of replying, I removed the SIM card and dropped it into the diner's cold coffee cup, watching it sink like my former life.
'Alexander—our story ends today. The woman you broke no longer exists.'
The next morning, at healer Medical Center—
"Alexander, is something wrong with the baby?" Victoria clutched her barely-showing stomach.
Alexander immediately crossed the private waiting room, enveloping her in his arms as though she might shatter.
"Nothing's wrong, sweetheart. The ultrasound shows perfect development. The fall into the pool didn't cause any harm."
"Thank God," she whispered. "You've been checking your phone obsessively since we arrived. I was terrified you were hiding bad news from me."
Alexander's jaw tightened, Anyone else would have missed it, but I'd spent years noticing his microexpressions to predict his moods.
He pulled out his phone again, scrolling through unanswered messages. The slight tremor in his hand betrayed his rising anger.