Chapter 4: The Last Staw

THE LAST STRAW

QUINN

“Well, I found out that Seraphina is pregnant. She is carrying Jasper’s child; that is why he rushed the divorce.”

My world tilted. For a second, I couldn’t process the words; they didn’t make sense together. Seraphina pregnant? Jasper? My mind tried to reject it, but my heart already understood.

“What…?” My voice barely came out.

My hand shook as I tightened my grip around the phone, but the line had already gone dead. I stood there, frozen.

Pregnant.

The word echoed in my head over and over again. A bitter laugh almost escaped me. So that was it, three years of trying, waiting and being blamed. But she got it without effort.

A sudden wave of nausea hit me again. It was stronger this time. Harder than the first. I stumbled forward, grabbing onto the nearest wall. This wasn’t just a shock anymore. My body was trying to tell me something.

“What is wrong with me…” I muttered.

I made my way to the hospital.

The visit was a blur, just the usual white walls, people pacing up and down and soft voices. I barely remembered sitting down or when the test was taken.

Every second stretched endlessly. I tried to prepare myself for both answers. Negative, and I walk away, clean. Positive and everything changes. I didn’t know which one scared me more.

I waited till the doctor came out with the chart in her hands.

“Congratulations, Mrs. Jasper,” she said, “you are about five weeks pregnant.”

The word echoed in my head, but it didn’t feel real. Pregnant? Why now? After all the waiting and silent prayers. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen.

My fingers instinctively moved to my abdomen, slowly and carefully. There was nothing I could feel, and yet, everything felt different. A life was in there.

I walked out of the hospital, clutching the result tightly. The paper trembled in my hand. This was supposed to be good news; the news Jasper had wanted, the child we had tried for, for years.

A soft, hollow laugh escaped my lips.

“So this is it…” I whispered. “Your final gift to me, Jasper.”

A cruel one. Because now, even if I wanted to walk away cleanly, I couldn’t.

The wind brushed past me gently, but I felt nothing. I should have been happy and relieved. This was everything I had been waiting for. So why did it feel like a burden? The child came; the right thing came at the wrong time.

I remembered what I read in an online forum of married women: “Protect your home. But if you’ve done your best and it still fails, walk away, for your life.”

I had done my best, even more than my best, and it still wasn’t enough. 

My hand tightened over the result. “No,” I whispered, “this wasn’t how it was supposed to end.”

At least, not like this. I needed answers.

That evening, I returned to the Finn estate. Not as a wife or someone who belonged there. But as someone who deserved the truth.. The guards hesitated when they saw me, but they didn’t stop me. 

Inside, everything was the same, just as I left the last night: luxurious, clean, perfect and untouched.

Just as I placed my hand on the door handle, I heard voices echo from the living room. I wasn’t prepared for what I was about to hear, but something told me I wouldn’t leave this place the same.

“...the doctor said the fetus is stable.”

I heard Seraphina say, it was her voice. Thin and lowly. My chest tightened.

“You need to be more careful,” Jasper’s voice followed, low and concerned. “As long as the child is fine, nothing else matters.”

I froze. Nothing else, not even me, who stood by him for three years during the marriage.

“What about her?” Seraphina asked.

“She took the money,” Jasper replied flatly. “Rejected the villa.”

Seraphina laughed softly.

“Low life with a big ego. At least she knows her place.”

That word again, place. I had had enough and was not going to cry over spilled milk. It was enough that she was pregnant. Enough that he chose her over me. Enough that I was no longer needed.

I pushed the door open.

My heels echoed sharply against the floor as I entered. Both of them turned, and shock flashed across Seraphina’s face. Jasper just looked, calmly annoyed.

“So this is it,” I said quietly.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

I ignored the question and stepped closer. “I came to confirm something.”

Seraphina moved forward. “Excuse me—”

Smack!

My hand connected with her cheek. She tried to retaliate, but I caught her wrist mid-air.

“You’ve always wanted what was mine,” I said coldly. “Now you have it.”

Even as children, it had always been the same. If I had something, she would take it. And somehow, I was always the one blamed for losing it.

“Let me go!”

Jasper stepped in between us. “Enough, Quinn. This is over. Leave.”

“Oh, shut up,” I snapped. “We’re still legally married.”

Seraphina laughed. “So what?” she said. “You’ve been paid. Take your money and disappear.”

Her words didn’t hurt anymore, not like before.

I turned to Jasper. “You’ve been sleeping with my stepsister,” I said. “And now she’s pregnant.”

He did not move, nor did he say a word.

“Do you love her?” I asked, “Or is it because of the child?”

He hesitated just for a second. But I saw it; that hesitation told me everything.

My hand slowly moved to my abdomen. I felt it again, the quiet, fragile presence. Should I tell him? If he knew, would he stop this? Would everything change?

My lips parted. “If I were pregnant…”

The words hung in the air.

“What would you do?”

Jasper didn’t hesitate this time.

“Get rid of it.”

The words didn’t just hurt; they destroyed every lingering doubt and remaining hope.

There was absolute silence. I looked at him, then I smiled softly. My hand rested slightly on my abdomen.

This time, there was no confusion, hesitation or doubt. I knew exactly what to do, I turned and walked away.