Tragedy in my reality.

~ DANIELLE ~

Terminal illness?

A baby?

Those weren’t just words anymore but had transitioned into another part of my painful reality.

The news was too much to grasp. I had no idea how to even handle or process anything. I’d left the house while racking my brain for a place to stay.

And now? I’d been forced to think about something more than just a roof over my head.

“Mrs. Harrington?”

Dr. Darcy called in concern from the other end, but I’d emotionally and mentally dissociated from the call.

The phone slammed against the taxi’s floorboards, a resounding echo to the collapse brewing inside of me.

My hands instinctively flew to my stomach, pressing against the life growing in there—a life I might not be there to nurture.

I was going to die in a few years. What was the point of bringing a baby into the world?

I’d badly wanted to experience motherhood. But when that doctor informed me about the impossibility of ever getting pregnant, I felt as though a vital part of me had been extinguished.

But now, that fear turned into anxiety.

I wanted a baby, and now that I was having one, another tragedy had struck.

A strange, icy numbness spread through my body. The world outside the window—blurring lights, distant horns, different voices…—felt impossibly far away, like a muted film playing on a screen I could barely see.

Through the fog of my despair, one thought screamed louder than the rest.

Elijah…

He had to know about this baby. His baby.

I couldn’t decide if it was right to tell him or not. A part of me wanted to inform him, because I still had hopes of rekindling our relationship, and maybe this baby could bring us back together.

Another thought halted me: What if he didn’t want the baby?

What if he denied responsibility?

That couldn’t happen—I’d been with no other man except him. And he was the only man who’d had me in his bed, with my hands gripping the sheets tightly while he ecstatically took my innocence and virginity.

A desperate, foolish hope flickered, despite everything he’d just done. My hands, still trembling, fumbled for the dropped phone.

I was ready to take another step even if it meant tarnishing my dignity for another chance at love. I loved Elijah… too much, such that it was becoming disrespectful to my existence.

My hands snatched the phone, and my slick, cold fingers punched his number. I couldn’t tell if he’d pick up or not, and I found myself eager to hear his alluring and deep voice once again.

Each ring was an unbearable stretch of time. I kept my eyes shut for the next few minutes, persistently dialing his number after each unanswered ring.

Ring. Ring. Voicemail.

My heart sank, and my thoughts spiraled into the illusion that he was deliberately avoiding talking to me.

I tried again, refusing to give up. He needed to pick up and hear the news of my pregnancy. He’s always talked about having a family, and this was it.

The same recording kept repeating, and it turned infuriating to hear. Elijah wasn’t picking up. He was already gone—unreachable.

He’d given up completely on us, and it was hurting to accept. I couldn’t let him forget me just like that, like I was a fling that wasn’t meant to stay for long.

Hot tears stung my eyes as past memories of us replayed in my mind. I couldn’t help the flash of pure fury that surged through my veins.

How could he?

How dare he be utterly unreachable, so… gone?

Was that how badly he’d wanted to get me out of his life?

I wanted to move on without thinking or calling him anymore, but I just couldn’t. I couldn’t just sit there and relax. I wouldn’t.

“Turn around.” My voice was raw and breaking as I instructed the driver. “Take me back to Harringtons Corp. now!”

He stared at me from the rearview mirror before turning slightly to look at me, a brief concerned glance that only heightened my tension.

“Ma’am, is everything alright?”

Did I look alright?

Physically—maybe, except for the messy eyeliner that had turned horrible on my face after my tears had streamed down my cheeks.

Emotionally and mentally? I was dead and merely a shadow of myself.

I didn’t respond to his question. I slumped back in my seat, allowing my silence to speak for me through my distress.

The taxi swerved, the tires protesting softly as he executed a U-turn. Each building appeared distant in my view as my mind began to race.

I couldn’t help but wonder what Elijah’s reaction would be. What would he say? How would he react to the news?

Just as I prepared myself to face the familiar skyscraper of Harringtons Corp, my phone buzzed in my hands with an incoming message.

I sat upright immediately, a sensation running through my heart as I hoped it was a response from Elijah.

But I was wrong.

Not a call from Elijah, but a notification from a strange number. My stomach lurched as my fidgeting fingers tapped on my phone screen.

I furrowed my brows in curiosity.

It was an image, and I found my breath stopping for a split second. I opened the message and immediately felt my eyes almost popping out of their sockets.

A photograph—Elijah had his head thrown back in laughter, his perfect dimple on full display. Next to him was a woman, her arm possessively around his waist.

I knew who it was without looking twice.

Sorayah Gates.

Blonde hair, sharp smile, her eyes sparkling up at him. They were too close, too intimate. And I found my heart instantly sinking into my stomach.

So, that was the reason?

Sorayah?

Another photo popped in before I could fully comprehend what I was feeling.

Their lips meeting, undeniable, raw, and intense. He was almost reaching to enter her skin.

The air vanished from my lungs, and I felt something tightening in my chest. My jaw dropped, but no words could exit my quivering lips.

The Heartbreak. The tears. The pain.

Everything left the world vague in my view. The horns and buildings that felt so close turned distant once again, and my tears ran down my face in full force.

I felt pangs of regret churning in my stomach. It felt like a stupid and pointless move—returning to meet Elijah and hoping for another chance.

He’d moved on quickly, and it was barely an hour after our divorce. He couldn’t even wait for a day.

The world outside the taxi window became a meaningless blur of light and shadow, sound and silence. The image of Elijah and Sorayah burned behind my eyelids, and I found myself unintentionally registering that wrenching image in my memory.

“H-How could you do this to me?” I wailed, slumping back into my seat as I dropped my phone for the second time.

Elijah had always said he saw me as Sorayah, his first love, and I hadn’t taken those words seriously until… now.

It was all making sense. The constant care, the food and diet, and the medicine he always had Carmen carrying for me. Everything aligned with the way Sorayah had taught him to care for her.

And I was a victim of living in her shadow while I mistook his gestures for love.

The betrayal left my body weaker than the thoughts of the illness that had taken over me. His actions killed me quicker than the news of my few years on earth.

I tried to sound like nothing happened, wiping the tears off my face as I announced to the driver.

“Please take me back to my earlier destination.”

But it was impossible for him to do that.

I was so engrossed in my pains that I hadn’t realized how the driver was struggling and fighting with the wheels.

“I—I lost control of my brakes, Ma’am.”

His brakes?

How?

Fear took over my whole body as I forced myself up and the hazy vision threatened to blind me.

My voice was extremely shaky. “W-what do you mean?”

I knew that I’d receive news about dying in a few years, but I didn’t envision the thoughts of dying now.

I couldn’t die now. Absolutely not.

“Ma’am, I…”

“Do something!”

Then, a screech, not the usual drifting sound, but a violent tearing shriek of tires on asphalt.

The car raced with the speed of light, and my heart ran alongside at a breakneck pace. I could see the company’s building a few blocks away and the hefty truck that carried metals in front of it.

Another thing was—we were heading directly for the truck!

“Stop the car!” I screeched, grabbing his leather seat from behind.

His voice sounded more fearful than I was. “I… I can’t.”

I tried to scream, but my breath caught up in my throat. Against my will and with the uncontrollable speed, I was thrown forward, then back. Another sickening lurch stole my breath as I panted heavily.

We headed for the truck directly, our screams uniting in the same high-pitched tone. The world spun; glasses shattered, breaking and falling over my body as the shards pierced into my skin.

The feeling of the shard entering my skin was undeniably painful, but what felt more painful was the thought of life growing within me.

Darkness, swift and absolute, consumed me after descending on my eyes. The last thing I registered was a searing pain in my left side and a primal scream that hung in my throat.

My thoughts began to turn vague, and all I could think of was…

“My baby.”

Then… nothing.