2. Downhill

Scarlet

I wake to the sound of shouting.

At first, it feels like a dream — voices muffled, distant, tangled with the heaviness still weighing down my limbs. My head throbs, a dull ache pulsing behind my eyes as I try to move.

I can’t.

My body feels foreign. Heavy. Unresponsive.

The mattress dips beside me.

“Get the hell out of my bed!”

Elijah’s voice cuts through the fog like a blade.

My eyes snap open.

The room spins violently, my stomach lurching as I turn my head. It takes a moment for my vision to clear — for shapes to become people — and when it does, my breath catches painfully in my throat.

There is a man beside me.

Half-naked. Panic written all over his face as he scrambles away from me, tugging at his clothes like his life depends on it.

“What—?” My voice comes out hoarse. Weak.

Elijah stands at the foot of the bed, fury etched into every sharp line of his face. His chest rises and falls heavily, hands clenched into fists at his sides.

I’ve never seen him look at me like this.

Not once in three years of marriage.

“Elijah,” I whisper, pushing myself upright with effort. My limbs tremble. “What’s going on?”

The man stammers, eyes darting between us. “I—I didn’t know she was married. I swear. If I had known—”

“Shut up!” Elijah roars.

My heart slams against my ribs.

“What is he talking about?” I ask, confusion tightening around my chest. “I don’t know this man. I’ve never seen him before.”

Elijah laughs.

It’s sharp. Bitter. Nothing like him.

“You expect me to believe that?” he snaps. “I come home and find you in our bed with another man, and you don’t know who he is?”

I shake my head frantically. “No. Elijah, listen to me. I had dinner with your mother. I felt dizzy—”

The door flies open.

Alice rushes in, hand pressed dramatically to her chest. “What on earth is happening?” she gasps.

Her gaze lands on the man, and her eyes widen in what looks like genuine shock.

“Oh my God,” she whispers. “Scarlet… what have you done?”

My stomach drops.

“Ask her,” I plead, turning to Elijah. “Ask your mother. She was here. She cooked dinner. Something was wrong with the food, I swear—”

“I was barely here,” Alice interrupts smoothly. “I didn’t even see Scarlet after she came downstairs. I left shortly after.”

My head snaps toward her. “That’s not true!”

The man takes advantage of the chaos, edging toward the door. “I should go—”

“Get out,” Elijah growls.

The man doesn’t need to be told twice.

As the door slams shut behind him, silence crashes into the room — thick and suffocating.

“Elijah,” I say softly, tears blurring my vision. “Please. I would never cheat on you. Never.”

Alice scoffs.

“Oh, spare us the act,” she says coldly. “I always warned you, Elijah. She’s exactly what I said she was.”

I swing my legs over the side of the bed, intent on standing — on grabbing the pregnancy test, on showing him the proof that I could never betray him like this.

Alice moves faster.

Her hand strikes my face with a sharp crack.

The force knocks me backward, pain exploding across my cheek as I hit the floor.

I gasp, stunned.

“Elijah!” I cry.

He doesn’t move.

Doesn’t stop her.

This can’t be happening. Everything was going well just before my nap. Tears stung my eyes. I wanted to beat myself up for falling asleep. Even worse, for having no idea how I ended up in such a situation.

“You filthy, shameless girl,” Alice spits. “Sleeping around in my son’s house like a common whore.”

“Elijah,” I sob, scrambling to my knees. “Please. Please listen to me.”

He looks down at me with pure contempt.

“I should have known,” he says quietly. “Everything that’s gone wrong in my life started when I married you.”

The words slice deeper than the slap.

“You’re bad luck,” he continues. “A curse.”

I shake my head, choking on my tears. “No!” I struggle to let out. “That’s not true.”

“It is,” he snaps. “And now I can finally be with the woman I was meant to be with.”

My heart stutters.

“What… what do you mean?”

“Elise is back,” he says flatly. “She came to see me recently. Wanted a second chance.”

The room tilts.

Elise…. His ex? N-no

“I turned her down,” he adds cruelly. “But after tonight? After seeing this?” His lips curl. “I see now that that my mother was right about you.”

Alice smiles.

“And unlike you,” Elijah continues, “she’ll actually give me a child.”

The words echo in my skull.

“I’m not barren,” I whisper.

He laughs. “Sure.”

I stare at him — the man I love, the man whose child I’m carrying — and something inside me breaks completely.

Without another word, I rise unsteadily and begin packing.

Alice throws my clothes at me as I move, hurling insults with each item. I don’t respond. I can’t.

It hurts too much.

Once my bag is full, I walk downstairs with them trailing behind me, their voices a blur of cruelty and accusation.

At the door, I turn back one last time.

“I never cheated on you,” I say quietly.

Elijah looks away.

I leave.

——-

The motel room smells like stale air and regret.

I sit on the edge of the bed, hands resting over my stomach as tears finally fall freely.

My father warned me.

He begged me not to marry Elijah. Promised to give me everything if I walked away.

I didn’t listen. I was in love.

Tomorrow, I’ll sign the divorce papers.

Tomorrow, I’ll leave this town.

But tonight, I curl on the bed in a fetal position, arms around my unborn child and whisper softly, “It’s just you and me now, little one.”

And somehow… that’s enough to keep me alive.