My Baby!

ALEXIS'S POV

My days in the house became one long, painful haze. I was drowning in exhaustion, both body and soul. 

At this point I was a stranger to sleep. Every night I lay in our big cold bed alone, listening to the distant murmurs and laughter coming from the other wing where Dyson now spent most of his time with Mandy. 

My pregnancy symptoms had grown worse under the constant stress. My back hurt constantly, my legs were swollen, and dizzy spells came without warning. Still, I kept moving. I kept trying.

This morning was no different.

I dragged myself out of bed at dawn, my head started spinning as I stood up. Black spots clouded my sight, but I held onto the wall until they cleared out. 

Dyson hadn’t come to bed again last night. The sheets on his side remained untouched and cold. I placed a trembling hand on my heavy belly, feeling the baby move weakly.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “Mommy’s trying.”

I made my way to the kitchen like every other morning. My hands moved on autopilot—cracking eggs, frying bacon, preparing fresh juice. 

But my sense of taste had changed so much because of the pregnancy, everything tasted weird lately. I kept adding seasoning, trying to get it right, but I couldn’t tell the taste itself anymore.

By the time the family came downstairs, breakfast was served.

Mandy was the first to taste the scrambled eggs. The moment the fork touched her lips, her eyes widened dramatically and she spat the food back onto the plate with a loud gasp.

“Oh my God!” she cried, clutching her throat. “It’s too spicy! What did you put in this? Are you trying to kill me and my baby?”

The entire room went dead silent for a second before the chaos started.

Helena stood up from her chair. “You useless woman! What have you done?”

“I… I didn’t mean to,” I stammered, I didn’t have the energy to fight back today. “My taste has been off because of the pregnancy. I didn’t realize—”

“Shut up!” Clarissa snapped, storming toward me. “You’ve always been jealous of Mandy. Now you’re trying to poison her?”

Before I could defend myself, Clarissa grabbed my arm roughly, digging her pointy nails into my arm. I winced in pain as Denise and Olivia surrounded me.

“You weak, pathetic Omega,” Denise hissed. “You don’t deserve to breathe the same air as us.”

Olivia scooped a big spoonful of the overspiced eggs. “If you made it, then you should eat it too!”

I struggled as they forced the spoon toward my mouth. The spicy food burned my lips and tongue the moment it touched me. I tried to turn my head away, but Clarissa held me in place while Denise shoved more into my mouth. 

I choked, coughing violently as tears streamed down my face, the heat from the eggs enveloped my throat like fire.

“Stop…please…” I begged between coughs.

Mandy stood a few steps away, one hand on her neat little bump, pretending to look concerned. “Girls, please… don’t be too harsh on her,” she said softly, but I saw the satisfied glint in her eyes. She was enjoying every second of my humiliation.

The struggle grew wilder. I twisted desperately in their grip, trying to break free. For one brief moment, I managed to yank my arm away from Clarissa. I stumbled backward, gasping for air, my sight was already going blurry from my tears and dizziness.

Then my foot missed the edge of the top step and at that moment time seemed to slow down.

I reached out desperately for the railing but my fingers only grazed it. My heavy body tilted backward, unbalanced by my pregnant belly and I screamed as I fell.

My world took a violent 360 spin.

Immense pain covered every part of me as I tumbled down the hard marble stairs. My shoulder hit first, then my back, my hip, my head. 

I tried to protect my belly but I couldn’t. The brutal continual impact sent agonizing pain through me and from the distance I heard screaming, I couldn’t tell if it was mine or theirs because everything sounded muffled. 

When I finally reached the bottom, my body landed with a sickening thud. 

For a few seconds, I couldn’t move. I lay there on the cold floor, staring up at the ceiling, gasping for air, pain had taken over my lower abdomen, it was worse than anything I had ever felt.

I tried to call for help but I could only make a weak whimper.

Then I felt it.

Warm liquid spreading under me. I slowly turned my head and saw the dark red blood spreading on the white marble floor, it was seeping from between my legs.

My baby…

“No…” I whispered brokenly, my hand weakly reaching down toward my belly as fresh tears rolled down my temples. “Please… not my baby…”