Novels by livingfaith237

Beeping.That was the first thing I heard. A steady, rhythmic beeping that pulled me out of darkness.I tried to open my eyes. My eyelids felt like they weighed a thousand pounds. Everything hurt, a distant, fuzzy hurt, like my body was wrapped in cotton but someone was pressing bruises underneath.The beeping continued. A heart monitor, my brain supplied through the fog. I was hearing a heart monitor.Which meant I was alive.But Alice had poisoned me. Lucas had sat in that chair and told me I would die. I remembered the cold, remembered my heart failing, remembered the darkness swallowing me whole.So why was there a heart monitor?I forced my eyes open.White ceiling. Fluorescent lights. The astringent smell of hospital disinfectant. I was in a hospital room, but not the same one. This room was smaller, more clinical. No windows. Just machines and monitors and...Someone gasped.I turned my head, the movement agonizingly slow. A nurse stood in the doorway, young, with wide eyes and

The first symptom was the cold.I lay in the hospital bed, watching Ethan sleep, and felt ice spreading through my body. It started in my arm where Alice had injected the IV port, then crawled up to my shoulder, across my chest, down into my stomach.I tried pressing the call button. Still dead.I tried my phone. Gone. Alice must have taken it.I tried to stand. My legs wouldn't support my weight. I collapsed back onto the bed, gasping, tears streaming down my face."Help," I called out, but my voice came out weak and thin. "Someone help me."No one came.The hospital corridor outside my room was quiet. It was past midnight now, the dead hours when staff was minimal and patients slept. Alice had chosen her timing perfectly.My thoughts raced, tripping over each other. Lucas had planned this. My husband, the man I'd loved, the man I'd given everything to, had plotted my murder. How long had he been planning it? Since I got pregnant? Since we got married? Had any of it been real?Two ye

I woke to the sound of footsteps.The hospital room was dim, lit only by the glow of monitors and the parking lot lights filtering through half-closed blinds. The clock on the wall read 11:47 PM. Ethan slept in the bassinet beside my bed, his tiny chest rising and falling with perfect rhythm.I'd been dreaming about Lucas. In the dream, he'd come back to the room and held our son. He'd smiled, really smiled, and told me he was sorry. That he loved us both. That everything would be different now.Then I'd woken up, and the other side of my bed was still empty.The footsteps grew closer. My eyes adjusted to the darkness. A figure moved in the doorway, tall, slender, wearing white."Nurse?" My voice came out hoarse. "Is something wrong?"The woman stepped into the room, and my breath caught.She was beautiful. Not pretty. Beautiful in the way that hurt to look at. Long dark hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail. Sharp cheekbones. Full lips painted a deep red that shouldn't have worked wit

The contractions started during breakfast.I gripped the edge of the marble kitchen counter, my knuckles white against the cold stone. The pain rolled through me like a wave, stealing my breath for ten seconds that felt like ten minutes. When it passed, I found Lucas staring at his phone, his coffee cooling in his hand."Lucas," I whispered. "It's time."He didn't look up. "Time for what?""The baby. The contractions are five minutes apart now."My husband's jaw tightened. For a moment, I thought I saw something like annoyance flash across his perfect face. Then he stood, pocketing his phone with deliberate slowness."I'll get the car," he said, his voice flat. No excitement. No fear. Nothing.I watched him walk away, designer shoes clicking against marble floors, and felt the familiar ache that had nothing to do with labor. Three years of marriage had taught me that Lucas Hart gave his emotions to everyone except his wife.Another contraction hit. I gasped, my hand moving instinctive