Chapter 2:

Skylar

My mind rejected the image before my eyes could fully accept it.

No. That wasn’t real. It couldn’t be.

I shook my head slowly, one hand pressed against the car for support as the ground seemed to tilt beneath me. My breathing came shallow and ragged, each inhale burning in my throat.

My heart pounded. Not Kate. Not the cousin who had hugged me just minutes ago inside the hall, laughing like we were still the girls who used to share secrets during family gatherings.

The door clicked open.

Alex stepped out, shirt hastily buttoned, hair disheveled. His eyes widened when they landed on me.

“Skylar—”

He muttered a curse under his breath and quickly shut the door behind him, as if that could erase what I had already seen.

I couldn’t speak. My chest felt too tight, like something was crushing it from the inside. Tears stung my eyes, hot.

“What are you doing out here?” he asked, voice edged with irritation as he adjusted his collar.

The question was so absurd it almost made me laugh. Almost.

“What am I doing?” My voice cracked. “What are YOU doing, Alex?”

Kate emerged from the backseat a moment later, smoothing her dress with surprising composure. She didn’t look ashamed. She barely looked surprised.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she said lightly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “He’s the one who came to me.”

The casual tone hit deeper than any shout could have. This was the same Kate who had once stayed up with me during my worst nights, promising we’d always have each other’s backs.

My stomach churned.

Alex let out a heavy sigh, rubbing the back of his neck. “Skylar, relax. It’s not that deep. Don’t overreact.”

I stared at him, waiting for something, anything that resembled remorse. An apology. Even a flicker of guilt.

There was none.

“You’re not even going to say sorry?” I whispered.

He looked at me like I was being unreasonable. “There’s nothing to apologize for. Let’s be honest… we didn’t exactly marry for love, did we?”

The words landed like a slow punch to the gut. My legs felt unsteady.

“I got bored,” he continued, his tone flat but defensive, as if he were explaining something casually. “You’re… plain, predictable. I needed variety. Don’t overthink it.”

Plain. Predictable.

The memory of my father’s debt flashed through my mind. The Blackwoods’ offer: marry Alex and the debt vanishes. I had agreed without hesitation, sacrificing my final year of college, my dreams, my freedom, just because I couldn’t watch my father be destroyed.

And this was what it had all been for.

I turned away, legs moving despite being so shaky.

“Skylar!” Alex called after me, annoyance clear in his voice. He caught up quickly and grabbed my arm. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Inside,” I said, voice trembling. “Or anywhere that isn’t here.”

He scoffed, eyes flicking toward the hotel entrance. “Like that? With your face swollen and tears everywhere? You want to embarrass me in front of everyone?”

A broken sound escaped me… half laugh, half sob. “You already took care of that yourself.”

Before he could respond, sharp heels clicked against the pavement.

“What is all this noise?”

Cecilia Blackwood’s voice made my body run cold like ice water. She stopped a few feet away, her gaze sweeping over the three of us with an unreadable gaze.

I looked at her, tears streaming freely now. “I… I saw Alex with Kate. In the car.”

Cecilia stared at me for a long moment. Then she let out a soft, humourless laugh.

“So?” she said calmly, as if I had complained about the weather. “Why are you making such a scene?”

The dismissal made something twist painfully in my chest.

She stepped closer, her expression cool and assessing. “I never understood why my husband initiated this marriage in the first place. You’ve always been… out of place here.”

Each word was delivered quietly.

“You changed everything about yourself to fit into this family. You gave up your studies. You reshaped your entire life. And still…” She tilted her head slightly. “It wasn’t enough, was it?”

For two years, I had been reshaping myself for this family piece by piece, until I barely recognized the woman I used to be.

I stopped wearing clothes Alex didn’t approve of. I learned how to smile softly instead of laughing too loudly because Cecilia once called it embarrassing. I stopped speaking about going back to college after Alex told me there was no need for his wife to work.

Even my old dreams slowly disappeared.

Somewhere along the way, I became careful about everything, how I spoke, how I sat, how much space I took up around them. I kept adjusting myself, thinking that if I loved Alex enough, if I became easier, quieter, and “better”… eventually this family would accept me.

And standing there now, with Cecilia looking at me like I was still beneath them after everything I had sacrificed, I realized none of it had ever mattered.

Cecilia’s eyes moved over me slowly. “Perhaps if you had tried harder to be the kind of woman this family needs, he wouldn’t have needed to look elsewhere.”

The implication sank deep and cold.

I staggered back a step, my hand instinctively moving to my stomach. The pregnancy test still hidden in my purse felt like metal.

I was going to tell him tonight. I thought this baby might have fixed us.

The realization crashed over me, making me feel slightly dizzy. There was no fixing this. There never had been.

I don’t remember breaking away from them. One moment I was standing there, the next I was back at the car, fingers shaking as I pulled the door open. The keys were still in the ignition.

I slid behind the wheel of the same car where my husband had just been with my cousin. The scent of perfume and sweat still lingered faintly. My stomach twisted.

The engine roared to life.

I just needed to get away. Far away.

The road blurred as tears kept falling, no matter how many times I wiped them. Streetlights stretched into hazy streaks. Rain began to fall, light at first, then heavy, pounding against the windshield like the chaos inside my chest.

My hands gripped the steering wheel until my knuckles ached.

“I was going to tell you today…” I whispered brokenly to the empty seat beside me. “We were supposed to have a baby, Alex.”

A sob escaped my throat. The pain was so sharp it felt physical, like something tearing apart inside me.

The rain intensified. My vision swam. The tires lost traction on the wet road.

For one terrifying second, everything slowed.

Then the car spun violently. Metal screamed. The world tilted as the vehicle slammed into something solid.

My body jerked forward, the seatbelt pressing across my chest. A blinding pain exploded through my head. Warm liquid rolled down my temple.

The last thing I felt before darkness swallowed everything was the crushing fear for the tiny life I hadn’t even told him about yet.