Share

Chapter Forty

Penulis: Ellie Wynters
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-06-19 03:57:21

Grace’s POV

I stared at the pregnancy test in my hand, still sitting on the closed toilet lid where I’d been for the past twenty minutes.

Two pink lines.

Pregnant. There was no escaping the truth of the test lying there.

I was pregnant with Helena and Hunter’s baby.

The surrogacy had worked. The embryo transfer with Helena’s egg and Hunter’s sperm had taken. There was a tiny life growing inside me, a piece of my sister living on while she wasn’t.

I pressed a trembling hand to my still-flat stomach. A baby. Helena’s baby. The boy or girl she’d never know. I wasn’t getting symptoms yet because it was too soon. Only a few weeks. I’d taken one of these early tests because my period was late.

I couldn’t stop the tears then as they poured down my face.

I’d been so caught up in the guilt of Chicago, in the shame of what Hunter and I had done, that I hadn’t even considered how this would make me feel. That the surrogacy might have worked. That I might be carrying the child Helena and Hunter
Lanjutkan membaca buku ini secara gratis
Pindai kode untuk mengunduh Aplikasi
Bab Terkunci

Bab terbaru

  • Her Sister’s Surrogate   Chapter Forty

    Grace’s POVI stared at the pregnancy test in my hand, still sitting on the closed toilet lid where I’d been for the past twenty minutes.Two pink lines.Pregnant. There was no escaping the truth of the test lying there.I was pregnant with Helena and Hunter’s baby.The surrogacy had worked. The embryo transfer with Helena’s egg and Hunter’s sperm had taken. There was a tiny life growing inside me, a piece of my sister living on while she wasn’t.I pressed a trembling hand to my still-flat stomach. A baby. Helena’s baby. The boy or girl she’d never know. I wasn’t getting symptoms yet because it was too soon. Only a few weeks. I’d taken one of these early tests because my period was late.I couldn’t stop the tears then as they poured down my face. I’d been so caught up in the guilt of Chicago, in the shame of what Hunter and I had done, that I hadn’t even considered how this would make me feel. That the surrogacy might have worked. That I might be carrying the child Helena and Hunter

  • Her Sister’s Surrogate   Chapter Thirty-Nine

    Hunter’s POVThe whiskey wasn’t working anymore. I’d been drinking for three days straight, and all I had to show for it was a pounding headache and the same fucking thoughts circling my brain like vultures.Helena was dead.I’d betrayed her with Grace. I was a dirty bag.I set the glass down too hard. It cracked, a thin line appearing from base to rim. Figures. Everything I touched these days seemed to break or turn to shit.“Hunter?” My father’s voice, followed by a knock. “Son, we need to talk about the funeral.”I ignored him, staring at the cracked glass, at the amber liquid inside it. I didn’t want to talk about the funeral. Didn’t want to think about Helena in a box, lifeless.Even now, all I could think about was Grace. Which made me feel even worse and unable to look at her. I couldn’t get the image of her underneath me on that hotel couch out of my head. Grace’s soft gasps in my ear. Grace’s body responding to my touch while my wife was alive and breathing and somewhere in N

  • Her Sister’s Surrogate   Chapter Thirty-Eight

    Grace’s POVThree days. Helena had been dead for three days, and I still hadn't been able to cry properly. Just pathetic little hiccups that got lodged in my throat, making me sound like I was choking rather than grieving.Maybe I was choking. On guilt. On shame. Because of the memory of Hunter’s hands on me just hours before my sister died.I stood in front of the bathroom mirror, splashing cold water on my face for the third time that morning. I looked like shit. Pale. Hollow-eyed.I was two days late. My period was always right on time. I was scared to take a test and find out… if.“Grace?” Maya’s voice through the door. Hunter’s sister had barely left my side since the hospital. Hovering. Watching. Like she thought I might break. “You okay in there?”“Fine.” The word scraped my throat raw. I wasn’t fine. Nothing was fine. Nothing would ever be fine again.“Margo’s here,” Maya said. “With your dad.”Great. Just great. Just what I needed. My mother, with her razor-sharp grief and he

  • Her Sister’s Surrogate   Chapter Thirty-Seven

    Grace’s POVI must have dozed off, because suddenly Maya was shaking my shoulder.“Grace,” she whispered urgently. “Something’s happening.”I blinked awake, confused. The room was dimmer than before, only a small wall light casting shadows. Hunter was on his feet, leaning over Helena. A nurse was checking machines, moving quickly.“What’s going on?” I asked, rising.Maya shook her head. “I don’t know. Her monitors started going crazy.”The nurse pressed a button on the wall, and suddenly the room was flooded with activity. Dr. Patel appeared, barking orders. Someone pushed Hunter away from the bed.“Sir, you need to step back.”“What’s happening?” Hunter demanded. “What’s wrong with her?”“Please, Mr. Sinclair, let us look after her wife.”Maya grabbed Hunter’s arm, pulling him back. I stood frozen, watching the events unfold. Time stretched, seconds feeling like hours.And then, too quickly, it was over.Dr. Patel stepped away from the bed. The machines were silent.“Time of death, 2

  • Her Sister’s Surrogate   Chapter Thirty-Six

    Grace’s POVHunter had barely spoken a word since the phone call. He’d gone white, then moved like a man possessed—barking instructions at the driver. He had shut himself inside a shell.Now he strode ahead of me, leaving me half-jogging to keep up.“Hunter,” I called. “Hunter, wait—”He didn’t slow down. Maybe he couldn’t hear me over the thoughts that had to be circling in his head. Or maybe he was choosing not to hear me.The Emergency Department doors whooshed open. Hunter zeroed in on the reception desk and made a beeline.“Helena Sinclair,” he said, his voice rough. “Car accident. They called me—I’m her husband.”The receptionist’s eyes widened slightly in recognition. The Sinclairs were well known in New York. “Let me check, sir.”While she tapped on her keyboard, I caught up, standing behind Hunter. My heart hammered against my ribs. My sister. My sister was hurt. And here I was about to see her after almost sleeping with her husband.Jesus Christ. What kind of person was I? I

  • Her Sister’s Surrogate   Chapter Thirty-Five

    Grace’s POVA knock at the connecting bedroom door startled me.“Grace?” Hunter’s voice, muffled through the wood. He must have used his key to the connecting door. “We need to talk.”“Go away,” I called, hating the tremor in my voice.“Please. Just five minutes.”“There’s nothing to say.”Silence, then: “I’m not leaving until we talk.”I took a deep breath. I had to face him at some point. When I opened the door, Hunter was standing in the middle of the room, looking as wrecked as I felt.“Five minutes,” I said, keeping my distance. “Then you leave.”He ran a hand through his hair, a gesture I’d always found endearing. Now it just made my chest ache.“I’m sorry,” he began.“Don’t.” I cut him off. “Sorry doesn’t fix this.”“I know.” He took a step toward me, stopping when I backed away. “But I need you to know that I never meant for this to happen. I never intended—”“Intentions don’t matter,” I said, wrapping my arms around myself. “What matters is what we did. We betrayed Helena. We

Bab Lainnya
Jelajahi dan baca novel bagus secara gratis
Akses gratis ke berbagai novel bagus di aplikasi GoodNovel. Unduh buku yang kamu suka dan baca di mana saja & kapan saja.
Baca buku gratis di Aplikasi
Pindai kode untuk membaca di Aplikasi
DMCA.com Protection Status