chapter 2

Aliyah

“But why?” I asked desperately. “Why do you want a divorce? Just tell me what I did wrong. I deserve that much.”

He scoffed and shook his head like he was tired of me already. “Isn’t it obvious, Aliyah?” he said, his voice sharp and bitter. “I can’t continue living with a woman who can’t give me a child and besides…”

He paused and looked me straight in the eye, his words slicing through me like knives.

“You know I don’t love you. But you chose to suffocate me in my own house.”

I froze. The room went silent. I couldn’t hear anything except the sound of my heart breaking into a million pieces.

I stared at him, stunned, the tears rushing down my cheeks uncontrollably.

How could he say that?

After everything?

“Liam…” I choked out. “Did you just say that to me? You want to divorce me after everything I have done for you?”

I stepped closer, gripping the paper in my hand. “I gave you everything I had. I gave you my kidney, Liam. I risked my life for you. And you know...  you know that I can’t conceive because of that surgery.”

He didn’t flinch...  He didn’t even look guilty. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and said with cold finality, “And I gave you a luxury life you never could have afforded. I think that is enough compensation for whatever you think you have done for me.”

His voice was ice, no emotion, no remorse.

"What?!" I gasped like someone had struck me. I pressed a hand to my chest as the pain tightened around my heart.

He just reduced my sacrifices to a transaction… a trade for comfort.

So that’s all I was to him?

A debt he paid off with money?

My legs couldn’t hold me anymore as I held the table for support.

Tears spilled freely as I stared at the man I once called my husband… and wondered how love could turn so cruel.

I stared at the divorce papers in my hand, my vision blurry with tears as my heart felt like it had been ripped out of my chest and stomped on. I didn’t even know how I was still breathing.

Slowly, I lifted my eyes to look at Liam, the man I gave everything to. The man I once believed was a gift from God. The same man who just destroyed me with a few cold, cruel words.

“Liam…” my voice came out weak, shaking like a fragile branch in a storm. “What if I told you I’m pregnant?”

For a moment, there was silence... A cold silence that made my skin crawl.

Then… he laughed. A dry, mocking laugh that sent a chill to my bones.

“Pregnant?” he scoffed, narrowing his eyes at me. “You? Don’t be ridiculous.”

His words hit me like a slap.

He shook his head, his lips curled with disgust. “We both know that’s impossible. Your womb is damaged. The doctor confirmed it years ago. You can't have children.”

I swallowed hard, but the pain in my throat wouldn't let me speak.

“And even if by some miracle it could happen,” he continued, his voice laced with venom, “we only had sex once. That one stupid night. I was drunk, Aliyah! It was a mistake, one I regretted the second I woke up.”

His words sliced through me like a thousand blades, breaking my heart into pieces beyond repair.

Yes… he was right.

In four years of marriage, he only touched me once and that was last month. 

That night, he came home drunk. I remembered how he held me, how he kissed me, how for once in his life, he didn’t treat me like a stranger. He whispered things to me. He told me he was sorry for how he’d treated me… he said he loved me. But when morning came, it all changed.

He didn’t look at me the same way. He pushed me out of his room like I was a mistake he wanted to forget. He told me to never bring up that night again. And most of all… he made it clear he could never love me.

Yet I still stayed.

Still hoping.

Still loving.

Tears burned my eyes and spilled down my cheeks as I squeezed my chest, trying to hold the pieces of my heart together. The pain… it's unbearable.

“Wait,” he said suddenly, that cruel smirk still dancing on his lips. “Is this you trying to give yourself hope? Is this some sick little fantasy you have created for yourself? That you can get pregnant?”

His laughter filled the room again, cold and heartless.

I looked at him through my tears, and for the first time in a long time, I saw him clearly.

I saw the man behind the beautiful face... the arrogance, the selfishness, the utter lack of humanity.

I shook my head slowly. “No,” I whispered, lying through my teeth. “I’m not pregnant.”

I mean, What was the point of telling him the truth?

He didn’t love me,  he never would and I didn’t want my child to grow up in a house where love was only a stranger.

“Good,” he replied without a second thought. “Don’t forget to sign the papers.” With that, he turned and walked away, leaving me standing there like a broken shell of a woman.

As soon as he disappeared into his room, I dropped to the couch like my knees had finally given up on me.

I buried my face in my hands and wept.

God… how did I get here?

I couldn't believe I married an ungrateful, heartless bastard. And I didn’t even see it. I was so blinded by the love I had for him… so bound by the promise I made to his grandmother that I lost sight of myself.

The papers slipped from my hand and landed on the floor.

I looked at them through my tears, and suddenly, memories came flooding back... memories of our wedding day, the vows I whispered through trembling lips, the night I donated my kidney to save him, believing I was doing it for love.

But what kind of love destroys a person completely?

I rested my hand on my belly.

No matter what Liam says, no matter how he treats me… I know what’s growing inside me is real. A miracle. A heartbeat I never thought I would ever hear and from now on, I’m no longer living for Liam.

I’m living for this baby, for my child.