Episode 4

Nadia 

Greg has always loved the idea of having kids, it was the one thing he always talked about.

The one thing we had in common.

“What?” He asked and I swallowed. This wasn’t how I wanted to tell him about our miscarriage.

I stepped forward, my legs wobbly.

“That was why I was late to your report. I left the doctor’s office and it was bad, Greg,” my voice shook uncontrollably.

“This miscarriage was really bad, I may not be able to…” quiet sobs escaped my throat and my shoulders started to shake. 

I reached out to Greg for comfort but suddenly, a small smile spread across his face.

He evaded my hug and threw his hands up in the air like he’d won.

“Thank Goddess!” He shouted. Thelma laughed. I stood there, arms outstretched and horror plastered on my face.

“I was beginning to think, it wasn’t going to work,” he said to Thelma and she nodded in agreement.

That what wasn’t going to work?

I looked at Greg in confusion and shock and pain.

“You needed to focus on helping me heal. I don’t know who told you I needed a half baked breed bearing my kids. I was the one who terminated that pregnancy,” he said and my blood went still. 

“I told you, those drugs would be stronger. And she’s so dumb she didn’t see you put it in her food,” Thelma cackled in happiness as my world went still.

Greg…had caused the miscarriage?

“I couldn’t let you overshadow me when you’re nothing but a place holder for us,” Thelma suddenly said and rubbed her stomach in unison.

My eyes widened in horror. Was she…

No. No!

He didn’t… he wouldn’t!

I shook my head violently, trying to erase the jaw dropping revelation.

“You’re lying.” I suddenly said and Thelma scoffed.

“You would never harm your own child,” I spat and he leaned in closer “wanna bet?” 

I stepped back beyond horrified.

“And buckle up because we have a new house mate,” he gestured to Thelma and she giggled.

“You can’t do this. You stood at the altar and promised me, Greg. You said we’d fight for each other. You said I was your fucking home.” I roared.

Something flickered in his eyes, giving me some sort of hope.

“Please,” I whispered now, desperate and shaking. “We survived so much together. Remember? My parents disowned me. It was always you and me against the world.”

His gaze didn’t soften. Instead, it hardened.

He stepped back, letting out a breath like he was bored. “Actually, there was no marriage, Nadia.”

The ground shifted under me. “What?”

He chuckled bitterly, sounding annoyed. “It was never legal. I never filed the papers. You wanted the dress, the photos, and the ceremony, I gave it to you. Our marriage is fake.”

My knees gave out, and I crumpled.

I couldn't feel the coldness of the concrete under me. Couldn't feel the sharp sting in my still raw abdomen as I folded myself on the floor. All I felt was my breath leaving my lungs.

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “You’re lying.”

He shrugged like it meant nothing. “Well…”

My thoughts flashed through our five years of shared laughter, storms weathered together, arguments that ended in apologies, the soft kisses we shared. Our losses. All of it… fake?

No. No!

I folded into myself, pressing my forehead to my knees as silent tears poured freely. The shame. The grief. The humiliation..

A long, dramatic sigh sounded from above me.

“Oh, come on,” Thelma said, rolling her eyes. “Is she always this dramatic?”

I didn’t move. I made no move to answer.

She clicked her tongue in irritation. “One would think you’re the one who’s pregnant, the way you’re acting so extreme. Honestly, Greg, how did you put up with this emotional mess for so long?”

Greg remained silent.

Thelma scoffed again, stepping closer. “You’ve cried enough for ten women. It's pathetic, really.”

Still I didn’t respond. I just needed to stew in the sorrow of what I'd just realised. Everything had been a lie. But my silence seemed to irritate her even more.

“Oh, for goddess’s sake, get the fuck up!” she snapped. “No one’s going to pity you. You were just a placeholder and a useless one at that. No wolf, no powers. So of course he’d move on. You should too.”

I heard her heels click dangerously close.

“I mean, look at you,” she said coldly. “Crumpled on the floor like trash waiting to be taken out. It’s embarrassing.”

That struck something in me and I stood up from the floor, dizzy from everything that had happened to me today. But before I could fully stand, Thelma pushed me, hard.

The world seemed to turn upside down as my foot slipped.

Everything happened too fast.

There was a sharp animalistic cry that didn't sound like mine, then the crack of bone against stone. My head slammed into the edge of the garden step behind us, and everything went white.

~

My consciousness floated somewhere between pain and awareness. 

“Thelma, what the fuck have you done?!” Greg’s voice, filtered in.

I wanted to open my eyes, to see, but my body felt disconnected from me. My head throbbed with a dull pain swelling behind my skull.

“She…she just stood up too fast!” Thelma’s voice sounded like she was panicking. “I didn’t mean to push her that hard…she was in my face!”

Her voice lowered. Muffled. I couldn’t make out the words. All I could make out was the bitter taste of blood in my mouth and the dull, distant sensation of the cold ground.

Then I felt someone touching me. A pair of strong arms slid under me, lifting me up.

My body landed on a hard uneven surface, and then a door was shut, above me. I wanted to scream and rage, but all I could do was lie there, crumpled like a broken doll. The smell of motor oil and leather filled my nostrils. And then I realized, I didn’t know where he was taking me.