Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Sidney’s Pov

 “Mrs. Blackwood…” “Mrs. Blackwood”

I didn't hear the doctor. I stared blankly at him, my trembling hand almost letting my phone slip from my grasp.

“Mrs. Blackwood, your son’s condition is very critical.”

I shook my head before he could finish, “No…” “No, that's not possible; he was fine this morning.”

“The infection has already spread more quickly than we anticipated. We are doing all we can, but we can’t guarantee anything positive for now.”

My heart pounded at the sight of the little glass window that opened onto the intensive care unit. My son's hospital bed was surrounded by tiny machines, and they kept beeping like gunshots in my head. Arthur looked tiny beneath the white blankets and tubes and wires that surrounded his little body. His curls were on his face, wet with sweat, and the oxygen mask over his small face made him look frail, breakable.

My baby. My innocent little boy.

“He's just a baby”, I sobbed. Please… please save my son, I can’t live without him.”

The doctor lowered his eyes. “We're going to do our level best.” The doctor walked into the ICU, leaving me alone in my world of confusion. I reached for my phone one more time and called Damian's number, for the hundredth time that night.

No response. I pressed the phone to my ear. Nothing, not even a text.

The maid who accompanied us to the hospital came up to me gently, she held my hand, trying to comfort me. “Mrs. Blackwood, maybe sir is busy at work…”

“Our son is dying,” I sobbed quietly. “How can he possibly be too busy for us?”

I let go of the phone, and as I did, I felt a mix of anger and sorrow creep in. Hours had passed painfully. The sun had gone all the way down, and the waiting room was now in the dark, and the noise was hushed.

Then suddenly, the doors of the ICU were flung open.

“What happened?” I asked frantically. But no one responded to me right away.

The doctor slowly removed his gloves with sadness on his face.

“Mrs. Blackwood…,” he said softly. “We’re very sorry.” “There was too much damage caused by the lung infection, we…we couldn’t save him.”

I looked at the doctor, blankly, and didn't understand a word he said.

My baby was gone. “No!” I screamed with everything I had, and it went through the corridor.

Our son was dead, but Damian was not here with me, and it was as if gasoline had been poured on a fire.

I took my car keys and drove out of the hospital premises to Damian’s house. When I got to the mansion, the storm was raging, but I didn’t go inside. I made my way up the steps to the terrace on the roof. I felt the cold wind blowing through my hair, threatening to knock me over as I moved towards the edge. I looked down at the long driveway beneath me and waited.

The headlights soon came through the gates, and my breath quickened instantly. Damian's black car rolled slowly through the driveway and stopped close to the entrance.

 “DAMIAN!” I could hear my voice piercing through the storm.

He came out and froze immediately, turning his gaze up. He spotted me at the very edge of the roof, his face drained of color.

“SIDNEY!”

“Our son is dead!” I was screaming like glass shards were breaking from my throat.

Damian's eyes grew wide with horror. “What?”

“You weren’t there!” I screamed hysterically. “He needed you, and you weren't there!

 “Sidney, get away from the edge!”

“No!”

“Please,” he said desperately, his voice shaking for the first time in his life that I knew him. “Please come down, let’s talk about everything, I promise I’ll listen to everything you want to say, just come down please...”

“You chose her!” I cried. “You picked a woman over your son! I pick my son over you! You picked Diane instead of your son!”

His face changed expression completely. “What are you talking about? Sidney, I don’t know…”

“He died waiting for you!” I yelled

That was a lie. Arthur could not speak for himself because of his feeble condition, but at that time, I wanted Damion to hurt the way I hurt.

“Sidney!... That can’t be true, my son isn’t dead. I know I hurt you, but please don't play such games with me.”

Slowly, Damian came closer under the roof. “Sidney! Don't do this, please!”

My eyes filled with tears, as my body shivered in the wet cold. “No more, I can’t keep living this way. You have never loved me! You never loved us!” I continued screaming and crying.

Damian's face shattered with terror.  “Princess! he shouted hoarsely, “Please.”

Princess? That word irritated the hell out of me, and I couldn't help but let out a sharp, painful cry as I retreated one last time.

Damian’s eyes widened. “SIDNEY!”

Then… I jumped.