Chapter 2

I didn’t move from the window for a long time. The city lights blurred as fresh tears came, quiet this time. My hand stayed on my stomach. Just us.

A sound made me jump. The study door opened. Julian walked out. He didn’t look at me at first, just smoothed his suit jacket. Then his eyes flicked to me, standing there, a mess of tears in the dark.

For a second, his face changed. It softened. My stupid heart gave a wild, hopeful leap.

He walked toward me. “Sienna…” he said, his voice low. “I’m sorry… for stressing you, my love.”

My love.

The words were a warm blanket after years of ice. I couldn’t breathe. Did he mean it? Was the baby, the miracle, already changing things? Maybe the shock made him see. Maybe he remembered the man he was before the accident, the man who loved me.

A tiny smile touched my lips. The tears on my cheeks felt different now. “Julian?” I whispered.

But he walked right past me. He didn’t touch my shoulder. He didn’t look at my face. He went straight to the front door and opened it.

My smile froze. Confusion swirled in my head. Why did he say that if he was just leaving?

Then she walked in.

Chloe. My stepsister. Her blonde hair was perfect. She wore a smile I knew too well—the one that meant she’d won.

“Sorry I’m late, my love,” she said to Julian. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Right there. In front of me.

It wasn’t a friendly kiss. It was deep, and slow, and it said everything.

The world stopped making sense. I felt like I was watching a movie of my own life, a horrible, twisted movie. My legs trembled.

“What… what’s going on?” My voice was someone else’s, small and far away.

They broke apart. Julian kept his arm around Chloe. They looked at me. And then they laughed. A soft, cruel sound that filled the silent penthouse.

“Chloe? What are you doing here?” I managed to say, my voice rising.

She snuggled into Julian’s side. “What does it look like, Sienna? I’m with my man.”

My man. The words were knives.

I turned to Julian, my eyes begging him. “How long? How long has this been going on?”

He sighed, like I was a boring task he had to finish. “Chloe is the love of my life,” he said, so easily. “I met her last year. She’s… light. Peace. She doesn’t look at me and see a broken man, a burden. She doesn’t remind me of everything I lost.”

Each word was a punch. I clut my chest. “You’ve been cheating on me?” I whispered.

“It’s not cheating,” he said, cold as stone. “You stopped being my wife the day you became my nurse. The day you let your life revolve around my guilt.”

I couldn’t breathe. The walls were too close. “Julian… after my liver… after I almost died for you…”

Chloe stepped forward, her sweet smile turning nasty. “Oh, stop playing the hero,” she sneered. “You loved being the martyr. Poor, sick Julian and his loyal wife. You just wanted to trap a rich man.”

Rage, hot and red, mixed with my pain. “You… Your mother destroyed my family! And now you want to destroy what’s left of me?”

“ENOUGH!” Julian roared.

I flinched. He pointed a finger at me, his eyes blazing. “Don’t you dare talk to her like that. She’s more of a woman than you’ll ever be. She’s strong. She doesn’t cling.”

More of a woman. The tears came then, fast and hot. I let them fall. I wanted them to see what they were doing.

The front door opened again. Evelyn, Julian’s mother, swept in. My heart lurched with a crazy hope. She knows what I did for him. She’ll stop this.

“Evelyn, thank God—” I started.

She walked straight past me. She shoved me aside with her elbow like I was garbage blocking the hall. She went to Chloe and put a protective arm around her.

She turned her sharp eyes on me. “Why is she still here?” she asked Julian, as if I was a bad smell.

“I… the papers…” I stammered.

“I thought we were done with this,” Evelyn spat. Her voice was like glass. “You’ve been well compensated for your services. Now pack your bags and go. Let my son move on with his pregnant fiancée.”

The air vanished from the room.

Pregnant fiancée?

My head turned slowly, so slowly. Chloe was looking at me, her eyes shining with pure evil. She placed a hand on her flat stomach and gave it a little rub.

“Yes,” Julian said, his voice firm. “Chloe is pregnant. She’s giving me a family. A real future.”

My whole world cracked open. I stumbled back. “But… but I’m pregnant, Julian,” I sobbed, the truth tearing out of me. “It’s a miracle! I just found out today! Please, you have to believe me!”

He stared at me with pure disgust. “Don’t be pathetic, Sienna. We both know that’s a lie. You can’t have children. The doctors said so.”

“It’s true! Call Dr. Evans!”

Evelyn let out a harsh laugh. “Desperate lies from a desperate girl. It’s truly sad.”

Chloe just smirked and rested her head on Julian’s shoulder.

Julian looked from Chloe to his mother, a real smile on his face—a smile I hadn’t seen in years. “Let’s go upstairs,” he said softly to them. “You need to rest.”

The three of them turned. They walked to the staircase together, a perfect, happy little unit. They left me standing there in the ruins of my life.

I fell to my knees. The sob that came out was an animal sound of pain. I wrapped my arms around my belly.

I gave him everything. My love, my health, a piece of my body. I waited. I hoped.

And for what? To be thrown away for my stepsister? To have my miracle called a lie?

The pain was too big. It was everywhere.

---

After the tears were gone, leaving me hollow and shaking, I forced myself up. My body felt numb. I picked up the divorce papers from the floor.

There was nothing here for me anymore.

I needed a pen to sign them. To end this. My legs were heavy as I walked to the stairs. Each step up was a mountain. No stress, the doctor had said. A crazy, broken laugh bubbled in my throat.

I was halfway up when I saw her. Chloe was waiting at the top, leaning against the wall, blocking the way to the study.

“Leaving so soon, sister?” she asked, her voice like honey and poison.

I said nothing. I tried to walk around her. She moved in front of me.

“Aren’t you going to congratulate me?” she whispered. “I’m giving Julian his heir. The one thing you failed at.”

I clenched my teeth. “Get out of my way, Chloe.”

“Or what?” she hissed, her face getting close to mine. “You’ll cry? You’re just like your weak mother. Couldn’t keep a man then, can’t keep one now.”

Something in me snapped. “Don’t you talk about my mother!” I yelled, my hand swinging up.

She caught my wrist in a grip like iron. Her eyes were cold and excited. “You want to hit me?” she whispered. “Let me help you.”

With her other hand, she pulled a small, sharp needle from her pocket. Before I could move, she jabbed it into the inside of my wrist.

“Ah!” I gasped, yanking my arm back. A tiny dot of blood appeared. “What did you do?!”

She didn’t answer. Instead, she slapped her own face. Hard. Once, twice, three times. Red marks flared on her cheek.

Then she screamed. A blood-curdling scream. She threw herself backwards onto the floor, clutching her stomach. “HELP! SHE ATTACKED ME! SHE’S TRYING TO KILL MY BABY!”

My blood turned to ice. No. No, no, no.

Footsteps pounded. Julian and Evelyn ran down the hall.

“Chloe!” Julian fell to his knees beside her.

“She… she pushed me!” Chloe cried, pointing a trembling finger at me. “She hates me! She hates our baby!”

Julian’s head whipped toward me. His face was pure rage. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!”

“Nothing! She’s lying!” I cried, holding my throbbing wrist. “She had a needle! She injected me!”

“Oh, for God’s sake,” Evelyn snarled. “Now she’s inventing needles? You vicious girl!”

“Julian, I swear!”

He stood up, his eyes dead and cold. “You’re sick, Sienna. Truly sick.” He strode toward me.

“No, please, listen...” The plea died in my throat.

His hand cracked across my face. The force was unbelievable. My head snapped back. My feet slipped on the polished step.

Time slowed. I reached out, grabbing at nothing but air.

Then I was falling.

Tumbling.

A crash of pain as my side,my back, my head hit the hard marble steps.

Then a final,crushing thud as I landed on the floor below.

A scream ripped from me, not from the bruises, but from a sudden, tearing agony in my very core. A hot, wet flood spread beneath me.

“MY BABY!” I shrieked, curling around my stomach. “NO!”

Through the blur of pain, I saw them at the top of the stairs. Evelyn’s face was twisted in hate. “Serves you right, you wicked creature!”

Julian looked down at me, at the blood, with no more feeling than if he’d seen a spilled glass of water. He turned back to Chloe.

“My stomach… it hurts!” Chloe moaned from the floor.

That got them moving. “The baby! We have to get to the hospital!” Evelyn shrieked.

They helped Chloe up, fussing over her. They walked past the top of the stairs. Not one of them looked down at me again.

The front door opened and closed.

Silence.

I was alone. So cold. The pool of blood grew. I couldn’t move. The world was getting fuzzy at the edges.

“Help… my baby…” I whimpered into the empty, cold air.

Just as the darkness started to swallow me, I felt arms. Gentle arms, trying to lift me. A voice, filled with tears and fear.

“Mrs. Vance… oh, please. Hold on. Please hold on.”