Matrimonial Bed

Lily POV

The blood wouldn't stop. I crawled across the bedroom floor, leaving a red trail behind me, my nightgown soaked and sticking to my skin. Every movement sent sharp pain through my stomach, but I had to get help. I had to survive this.

My phone was downstairs. The stairs looked impossible, but I dragged myself to them anyway, gripping the banister and pulling myself down step by step. Each step was agony. Each breath was a struggle.

By the time I reached the bottom, I was dizzy and weak. I grabbed my phone with shaking hands and called for a taxi. The driver took one look at me and drove straight to the hospital emergency room.

"Help me," I whispered to the nurse at the front desk. "I'm bleeding."

Everything happened fast after that. Nurses, doctors, bright lights, questions I could barely answer. They put me on a bed and started checking me over.

"Ma'am, when was your last period?" the doctor asked.

"I... I don't remember. Maybe six weeks ago?"

The doctor looked at the other nurse. "We need to run some tests."

I lay there waiting, praying, hoping I would be okay. The bleeding had slowed down, but the pain was still there.

The doctor came back with a clipboard and a sad expression. "Mrs. Williams, I have some difficult news."

"What is it?"

"You were pregnant. About four weeks along. But due to the trauma to your abdomen, you've had a miscarriage. I'm very sorry."

The words hit me like a truck. "Pregnant?"

"You didn't know?"

I shook my head, tears streaming down my face. "I... no. I didn't know."

A baby. I had been carrying Alex's baby, and now it was gone. For seven years of marriage, every time I brought up having children, Alex would shut me down.

"We don't need kids, Lily. They're expensive and annoying."

"But Alex, I've always wanted to be a mother."

"Well, I don't want to be a father. Drop it."

And I always did. I always dropped it because I thought maybe someday he would change his mind. Maybe someday he would want a family with me.

Now I had been pregnant, and I didn't even know. And because of what Alex did to me, because he pushed me and hurt me, my baby was gone.

"We need to do a procedure to clean everything out," the doctor said gently. "It's necessary to prevent infection."

I nodded, unable to speak. I had lost everything in one day. My husband, my marriage, and now a baby I never even knew I was carrying.

Three hours later, they discharged me. "Take it easy for a few days. No heavy lifting. Come back if you have any complications."

I took a taxi home, my body sore and my heart completely shattered. All I wanted was to crawl into bed and cry for the baby I had lost, for the life that had been taken from me.

But when I got to my house, the front door was open. Just slightly, but it was definitely open.

My heart started racing. Had someone broken in? Was Alex back?

I pushed the door open slowly and stepped inside. The house was quiet, but I could hear something. Soft sounds coming from upstairs. From my bedroom.

I walked toward the stairs, my legs still shaky from everything that had happened. The sounds got louder as I climbed. Moaning. Breathing. The bed creaking.

No. Please, no.

I reached the top of the stairs and saw that my bedroom door was wide open. And there, on my bed, on the sheets I had picked out for our wedding, was Alex. With Sarah. Having sex.

"Oh God!" I screamed.

They both looked up. Alex didn't even stop. He just looked at me with annoyance, like I was interrupting something important.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he snapped.

"This is my house! My bed!" I was sobbing, screaming, shaking all over.

Sarah laughed. Actually laughed. "Not for much longer, sweetie."

Alex finally pulled away from her and stood up, not even bothering to cover himself. "I thought you'd be gone by now."

"Gone? This is my home!"

"Not anymore." He started putting on his clothes. "Sarah is moving in today. This is our house now."

"You can't do that! We're still married!"

Sarah sat up on the bed, pulling a sheet around herself. "Oh honey, you really are as pathetic as Alex said. Look at yourself. You're bleeding, crying, making a scene. No wonder he never loved you."

"Shut up!" I screamed at her. "You don't know anything about our marriage!"

"I know he was thinking about me on your wedding night," she said with a cruel smile. "I know he told me you were boring in bed. I know he said you just lay there like a dead fish."

Each word was like a slap. I looked at Alex, waiting for him to defend me, to tell her to stop. But he just stood there, buttoning his shirt.

"Is that true?" I whispered.

He shrugged. "Sarah knows how to please a man. You never did."

I felt like I was dying inside. "Alex, I lost... I was pregnant. I lost our baby today because of what you did to me."

For a second, just a second, something flickered across his face. But then it was gone.

"Probably for the best," he said coldly. "I told you I don't want kids."

Sarah clapped her hands together. "Oh good! I hate children. They're so messy and loud."

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. I stumbled out of the room and down the stairs, collapsing on the couch in the living room. My baby was gone. My husband was upstairs with another woman in my bed. My whole life was destroyed.

I sat there for what felt like hours, listening to them upstairs, crying until I had no tears left.

Finally, they came downstairs. Alex was dressed, and Sarah was wearing one of my robes. My robe…

"Lily," Alex said, like he was talking to a servant. "Go make dinner for Sarah. She's hungry."

I stared at him. "What?"

"You heard me. Make dinner. Something good. Sarah has been traveling all day."

"Make your own dinner," I whispered.

"Excuse me?"

"I said make your own damn dinner!" I stood up, my whole body shaking with rage. "I'm not your maid!"

Sarah laughed. "Oh, this is rich. The little wife is having a tantrum."

"Alex, I lost our baby today. I had a miscarriage because you pushed me. And you bring this woman into my house, into my bed, and now you want me to cook for her?"

"It's not your house anymore," Alex said, his voice getting dangerous. "And it's not your bed. Everything here belongs to me."

"I helped pay for this house! I worked two jobs to help with the down payment!"

"With money I gave you," he snapped. "Everything you have, everything you are, is because of me."

"That's not true!"

"Isn't it?" He stepped closer to me. "Before me, you were nobody. You lived in that crappy apartment, eating ramen noodles, wearing the same three outfits to work. I saved you from that pathetic life."

"You didn't save me! You trapped me!"

Sarah was watching us like we were entertainment. "Alex, baby, she's getting hysterical. Maybe you should calm her down."

"I'm not hysterical!" I screamed. "I'm angry! I'm furious! You destroyed my life! Both of you!"

Alex's face went dark. "Watch your tone."

"Or what? You'll push me again? You'll hurt me again? You already killed my baby!"

"That baby was probably better off dead than having you as a mother," Sarah said casually.

I lost it completely. "You evil witch! How dare you! How dare you come into my house, sleep with my husband, and talk about my dead baby!"

"Your husband?" Sarah stood up. "Honey, he was never really yours. He was always mine. I was just letting you borrow him for a while."

"Get out!" I screamed. "Both of you, get out of my house!"

"We're not going anywhere," Alex said. "You are."

"This is my home!"

"Not anymore." He started walking toward me. "I want you out. Tonight."

"No."

"What did you say?"

"I said no. I'm not leaving. If you want a divorce, fine. But I'm not leaving my house."

"You ungrateful little.." Alex grabbed me by the throat.

His fingers closed around my neck, cutting off my air. I clawed at his hands, trying to breathe, trying to get free.

"Alex!" I gasped. "Let go!"

But his grip only tightened…