Betrayal

Chapter One

Cassie remembered the flutter in her stomach, not the baby, but her excitement.

She had left the doctor’s office with trembling hands pressed against her belly and joy swelling in her chest.

The test results were real.

She was pregnant. Her child... Their child... A heartbeat had flickered on that screen, a tiny life pulsing inside her. And for the first time in a long while, she had felt hope.

Hope that things would change. Maybe this was the miracle that could fix the pieces of her broken marriage. That maybe, just maybe, Raymond would look at her with love again.

She had held the ultrasound printout in her hands the whole way home, rehearsing how she’d tell him. She couldn't even stop smiling. Her first real smile was in months.

But as she stepped into the house, everything changed. Something seemed off.

The door hadn’t been locked, and the curtains were drawn. What's going on?

And then she heard it. Grunting... Moaning... Flesh against flesh.

At first, her brain refused to accept it. She thought it was the TV, or maybe she was imagining it. But her feet moved forward, step by step, one breath at a time until the truth unfolded in front of her like a slow, cruel nightmare.

There they were... he was there... on their bed, between the sheets she had once called home. Her husband, the man she had loved. The man she had given her fortune, her heart, and now, her unborn child.

And above him, moving with no shame was Rachael... her best friend.

Cassie didn’t scream. At first, she just stood there in silence. Frozen to even speak.

Her heart didn’t break all at once. It shattered in delayed echoes, like the aftershocks of an earthquake.

Rachael looked up first, her expression unbothered, even smug. She didn’t even bother to cover herself, nor did she flinch.

Raymond, on the other hand, just groaned and pushed Rachael off him, not in shame but in irritation.

“What the hell are you doing home early?” he spat.

Cassie’s mouth parted. But no words came out. Just air and disbelief.

Her fingers crumpled the ultrasound photo in her hand.

“ I-I was coming to tell you—” Her voice was barely a whisper. “I’m pregnant.”

Rachael just laughed. It sounded like a mock.

Cassie felt her knees wobble, and she nearly collapsed.

Raymond rolled his eyes. “Pregnant? That’s stupid.”

Cassie took a step forward. “How could you… with her? She was...she’s... Rachael, I trusted you!”

Rachael rolled off the bed, grabbing a robe that belonged to Cassie. “Don’t act like you didn’t see this coming. You’ve been nothing but a burden for the last three years.”

Cassie’s voice rose now, trembling. “I put up with your family’s insults! Your mother always calls me useless, and your sister says I wasn’t good enough. But I stayed... For you.”

Raymond stood, naked, with no shame in his stance. “I never asked you to. You were always desperate to prove yourself. You married me like I was your savior.”

“No!” Cassie cried. “I married you because I loved you.”

Raquel snorted. “Yeah, well, love doesn’t buy happiness. Wealth does! And you didn't have that anymore. What's the use of you?”

The words struck like blades.

Cassie felt something twist inside her stomach. Her hand instinctively reached down.

“Please…” Her voice cracked, tears spilling. “I’m carrying your child.”

Raymond scoffed. “Not anymore, you’re not. I don't believe you.”

Before she could react, he shoved her hard.

Cassie stumbled backward, her foot catching on the edge of the rug. She suddenly fell with a loud thud.

The pain in her abdomen was instant and blinding like fire tearing through her insides.

"Aaaaggghhhhh!" She screamed in pain.

Blood soaked through her jeans and panic settled in.

She reached out, begging and sobbing. “Help me… please… Take me to the hospital…”

Rachael stared at her, expressionless.

Raymond just picked up a cigarette from the nightstand and lit it, ignoring her cries, and they walked out.

They left her there bleeding, screaming, alone.

*********

Cassie didn’t remember how she managed to call Harlow, her best friend.

Her vision blurred with tears and agony, her fingers slippery with blood. She had pressed her friend’s number and barely whispered the words.

Harlow came to her rescue. Thank God, he came.

The next hours were a blur of white lights, urgent voices, and sterile smells. But nothing drowned out the single sentence that tore her soul apart:

“I’m sorry, Miss McCarthy. We couldn’t save the baby.”

Cassie didn’t scream.

She didn’t cry.

She just… ceased.

Everything inside her went still.

*********

Now, a few days later, she stood before what used to be her home.

The rain had begun to fall, slow at first, then heavier. Her hair clung to her skin, her clothes were soaked, and her heels sank slightly into the muddy gravel.

Before her, on the steps of the mansion, lay her belongings, scattered and tossed.

Her dresses, her notebooks, her shoes, her letters. Some are in boxes, and some are thrown in garbage bags like trash.

On top of the pile sat an envelope.

Inside: "Divorce papers."

Cassie stood there, not able to move a muscle.

Her body shook, not just from the cold but from devastation.

They hadn’t even bothered to tell her.

They had discarded her like trash. Was that her life now?

And somehow, that hurt more than the cheating, more than the miscarriage, more than the betrayal. It was the utter disregard. Like she had never mattered.

Her hands trembled as she pulled the envelope open. Her name is printed in bold black letters. A signature line waiting for her.

Cassie stared at it for a long time. The pen felt heavy as she pulled it from her bag.

Then, with a trembling hand, she signed.

Her tears mixed with the rain, dripping onto the paper, smudging her name. Maybe this is for the best.

She told herself that lie, but it didn’t feel like freedom. It felt like a funeral. Like her end.

She looked up at the house one last time. There they were... Raymond and Rachael are on the balcony, watching her.

Rachael was smirking as Raymond had his arm around her waist.

Cassie stared at them through the rain.

Something inside her gave way. Not anger! Not hatred! Just… emptiness.

She turned around to leave. She left everything. Her jewelry, her photos, her shoes. She didn’t need any of it. She had already lost what mattered... her child.

*******

The rain pounded harder on Cassie as she walked.

She didn’t know where she was going. Or what she was supposed to do with her life now.

The city blurred around her, cars splashing water as they passed, neon lights bleeding into the storm. But none mattered to her.

She walked with her arms wrapped around herself, sobbing, trembling, whispering prayers she didn’t believe in.

Maybe it’s time to go. Maybe I should die. Maybe I’ll see them again—Mom… Dad… my baby.

She stepped into the street without looking. She was ready to let everything go. Death is the solution now for her.

There was a scream. The a horn, and then a screech of tires, followed by impact.

Cassie flew across the street as the world spun around her.

Pain lanced through her side, her head hit the pavement, and the taste of blood filled her mouth.

And yet… she smiled.

Finally!

The pain was fading, her vision growing dim. She felt warm... Weightless.

She was ready to go. She was leaving to meet those who truly cared about her... her parents!

But... Cassie suddenly saw something strange in her blurred vision.

A tall man, pale, impossibly handsome, stood above her in the pouring rain, staring down at her with unreadable eyes but concern written all over his face.

He wasn’t a doctor! Not a paramedic! He wore a blue tuxedo. And he didn’t speak. He just watched her. Or... he was speaking, but Cassie wasn't hearing anything.

Cassie blinked through the haze as she tried to speak one last time.

“Are you… The... Grim... Reaper?” she choked out as blood spewed from her mouth.

Cassie tried to laugh through her pain, but no words came out of her again.

The darkness soon claimed her, and she went limp. Death was within her reach now.