Silenced

**CALISTA**

Pain.

It ripped through my chest like a blade, leaving nothing but the fragile life budding inside me.

I burst through the door into the kitchen, trying and failing to catch my breath. The smell of rotting food and unwashed dishes heaved my stomach.

“Calista, no, let me explain!”

Nobody could have prepared me for the haunting image of my twin sister's legs wrapped tight around my husband's waist.

I had stood rigid in our bedroom, watching their naked bodies shiver under the sheets.

They didn't even notice me standing there until I slammed the door hard, and if I hadn't returned early from my trip, I would have never known.

Now he's followed me into the kitchen, begging for the audience he doesn't deserve.

“Calista!” His hand grabbed my arm, whirling me around to look at his stupid face.

“Let me go, you…bastard!” I pushed him away.

There was NOTHING to explain.

Astrid rushed into the brightly lit kitchen, the sheets still wrapped around her naked body.

“Sister…”

“How long has this been going on?” My voice shuddered, and from the look they shared, the answer was far worse than I imagined.

“It was just one time, I —”

“Are you serious?” Astrid blurted, face contorted in an exhausted frown.

“Tell her!”

“Tell me what?” My hands gripped the counter, heart pounding furiously. I had news of my own, news that made me cancel every meeting I had and rush home from my trip to the man I thought I loved.

The same man who was now standing before me, jaw working as if the words were too heavy to say.

“Calista, I am…so sorry. So very sorry that… you had to find out this way.”

My stomach churned.

“What do you mean? What— what's going on?”

“What's going on,” Astrid butted in, “is that you have been replaced and your services are no longer needed…”

“Astrid!” Merrick protested weakly, but she paid him no mind.

“You…you always take everything from me!” my voice shook.

A look of disdain crossed her face.

“No, sister. I only take what should have been mine. We both know Merrick only married you because you are the heiress. But he has always belonged to me. Always.”

My jaw hung open, void of the right expression to match the ache in my chest.

Merrick and Astrid. I should have known.

He had always been so taken by her, clinging to her every word—something he never once did with me.

Now I finally understood why.

I shut my eyes tight and told myself that this wasn't real.

But when I opened them, I was forced to face reality.

“I am the heiress of this household. You can't just…you can't do this.”

“We can do whatever we want, Calista. You made that perfectly clear when you killed our father!” her eyes brimmed with hatred, and I was reminded of how wicked I had been, how selfish I had been to cause our father's death.

I wished more than anything that I could remember what happened, but the more meds I took, the more the memories had faded.

With time, I stopped trying to remember, and focused all my energy on regaining my family's forgiveness.

“What?” Astrid advanced on me, letting the sheets fall to the floor.

“Cat got your tongue?” She drew closer.

In a vain effort to avoid her naked body, my eyes darted to Merrick, but he just stood there, watching my sister do the things he never had the gall to do.

“You should be thanking me, for letting you enjoy your little slice of heaven. But you of all people must know that there is no true peace for the wicked.”

“Stop it.” I backed against the sink, elbow brushing the towering dishes that reeked of spoiled eggs.

“Astrid, that's enough.” Merrick's voice sounded weary, like he was the victim.

She stopped short a few inches from me, breath reeking of whiskey and sex.

I wanted to say something, anything, to curse them out and burn their world to the ground, but how?

I was the reason she was so broken, so fucked up. My mistake, my recklessness, they had created a ripple effect that was hitting me in harsh waves now.

“You slept with MY husband, sister.” My voice choked, “you could have had anyone. You could have had anything…”

“I don't want ANYONE if they're not connected to you. Don't you see it?” Her voice dropped.

“Everything that will ever be yours, will always be mine.”

“Astrid.” Merrick groaned.

My hand flew to my stomach, holding on to the only thing that might ever truly be mine.

After years of trying to fix our marriage, of surrendering my body to invasive tests and treatments, of enduring months of disappointment, nausea, and ridicule from both families…this was supposed to mean something.

Big mistake.

Astrid's gaze dropped instantly, eyes narrowing as if she could see through my belly to the baby hidden in my womb.

“Are you…”

“No.” I lied, cold creeping up my skin at the wild look in her eyes.

“She’s fucking pregnant?” Astrid's neck snaps to Merrick standing in the doorway.

“You were fucking her too?” Her voice raised to a screech.

“Of course not!” He spat, glaring at me like I was something he had scraped off his shoe.

“Like I would ever touch her! She has been sleeping around, haven't you, Calista?”

“Shut up, Merrick. You liar. We both know that Calista does not have what it takes to make a man look twice.”

I did not know which hurt worse—my husband accusing me of cheating, or my twin sister shaming me right after being in the sheets with him.

“It is yours, Merrick. You know that I would never—”

Astrid whirled around to face me, something cold building in her eyes.

“It seems we are at an impasse. The Winslow empire cannot have two heirs.”

My blood ran cold, and I forced my eyes to rest on her naked stomach, and I saw the soft swell of flesh, mocking me.

“You are…”

“Pregnant, yes. Merrick and I have been very busy while you were off on your many trips.”

He had always been so dismissive of my travels, but I assumed he was eager to get to running the company in my absence.

I did not know…

This…bastard!

My body moved then, tunnel vision leading straight to Merrick.

“How could you do this to me? How could you?” My fists pummeled against his hard chest, and he tried and failed to hold my wrists together.

Maybe I should have turned around and left, or at least looked back when the hairs on my neck stood on end.

“Calista, stop it. Stop!”

“Baby, hold still!” Astrid cried, and I turned on my heel to find her poised before me, something shiny in her left hand.

A knife.

Oh god…

Everything in me screamed to run, but something snagged around my elbows.

“Stop it! She has a knife!” I jerked violently against Merrick's grip, panic building with each step she took towards me.

“Merrick!” My voice cried. “Please…our child…”

“Astrid, what do I do?” he asked, grip loosening lightly.

“Hold still, pussy!” Her eyes flashed.

She was going to kill me, and he was helping her. He’s…

God, please, save me from this.

A heavy wind billowed against the kitchen windows, toppling over a plate that shattered loudly, just like my heart.

“Astrid, sister…you can have the company. You can have my husband. Take whatever you want, just please —” my chest heaved with the effort to breathe.

For a moment, her eyes softened. For a moment, I was going to have my life.

But her softness morphed into an eerie stillness, and I felt my heart drop when she said,

“Say hi to father for me.”

“We’re having a baby, Merrick,” I whispered desperately, bucking against him.

“You’re going to be a father—NO!”

I watched the knife plunge into me, and the pain came after. White, blinding pain that exploded in my stomach, rending a sharp cry from my throat.

“Don’t fight it, don't fight it…” Merrick whispered over and over as the blood poured out of me, blood that should have been my child. My future.

Like a child with a toy, Astrid's eyes brightened as the knife stabbed into me over and over. Until my vision started to blur and the pain began to fade.

Merrick released me, and my legs gave out.

My body crumpled to the floor, and something metallic swelled in my throat, dribbling down my chin in light gushes.

My eyes blinked over and over, and a sob choked from my throat when the darkness reached for me.

I lay there, body jerking as my life oozed out of me. I felt the cold tiles on my cheeks, and the heat of my breath in my wet hair.

My blood formed an ever growing pool, and their muffled arguments filtered through my ears.

“... did not have to kill her. We had plans!” Merrick hissed.

“Relax. We can make this look like a break-in…”

The perfect murder, the perfect lie. The perfect victim who will never be missed.

With my dying breath, I cursed them. I prayed that my spirit would haunt their every waking moment, that my death would loom over them like a dark cloud and force them into the light.

I prayed…for a second chance.

For my child. For the life they stole from me.

And when the darkness finally swallowed me whole, I swore that if fate gave me another life—

I would destroy them both.