Chapter 2

Natasha's POV

Louis stared at me in disbelief. "What did you say?" he asked.

Mom leaped to her feet. Confusion was written all across her face as she snapped, "Have you lost your mind? Why would you abort a perfectly healthy baby?"

I was just about to respond when Madison suddenly started swaying on her feet. Her knees buckled, sending her crumpling to the floor.

"Madison!"

"What's going on, Maddie?"

Two panicked voices resounded at the same time.

Louis immediately let go of me and lunged at Madison. Mom also rushed to Madison's side and supported her with all her strength, preventing Madison from collapsing on the floor. The attention that I had briefly gotten from my abortion had once again returned to Madison.

Mom anxiously offered a glass of warm water to Madison. She sounded deeply worried when she said, "Drink it slowly. Don't scare me. You're okay."

Meanwhile, Louis had sunk to one knee and was holding Madison firmly in his arms. "I'll call 911. The paramedics can give her a check-up."

He was just about to make the call when Madison's tightly shut eyes fluttered open. She grabbed Louis and said, "No… Don't call 911. I'm okay. I just got a little stressed out when I heard what Natty said. I'll be fine after resting for a little while."

Only then did Louis and Mom remember that I was still in the living room. Their eyes shone with displeasure as they looked at me in unison.

I was deathly pale, but none of them cared to ask about my condition.

Madison leaned against Louis' chest and said, "Louis, Mom, don't blame Natty. I'm the one who's too weak. I don't do well under stress."

She took a gentle breath before continuing, "I can leave right now if you don't like how close Louis and I are, Natty. But you shouldn't lie to us by saying that you got an abortion."

She then made a show of pushing herself out of Louis' embrace to leave after she was done speaking. As expected, Louis immediately tightened his hold on her when she moved, keeping her in place.

"Don't move. You're not well. Who told you that you're allowed to leave?"

Mom's eyes were full of disdain when she looked at me. "Are you done causing a fuss yet, Natasha Golding? Will you only be satisfied after you send Maddie to her death?"

"You're being very immature, Natty," Louis added. "How can you joke about something like this?"

"I really got an abortion," I said.

But no one believed me. They assumed that I was just being difficult because I was jealous, using the child to threaten them into giving me attention.

When I was younger, I was invited to join my school's annual award ceremony. However, Madison suddenly fainted without warning just as the ceremony was about to start.

Mom picked her up and rushed her to the hospital without any hesitation. As a result, she was absent from the award ceremony that I had been looking forward to for the entire year.

From that day on, my classmates ridiculed me, saying that I didn't have a mother.

After Louis and I got married, I planned out our entire honeymoon. Madison insisted on coming along with us on the day of our departure, but she suddenly developed altitude sickness halfway through the trip. As a result, we had to abandon the plans that I had meticulously made and return home.

In the beginning, Louis had aired his grievances to me. "What the hell is wrong with your sister?"

I didn't know when it started, but things began to change. Whenever he went shopping, he would buy one set for Madison if he bought one set for me. In fact, whatever he bought for me would be far inferior to whatever he bought for her.

Louis and I had gotten into a fight over his behavior in the past. He would always defend himself by saying that both items were about the same. He would then tell me to stop being so petty.

When I remained silent, the anger in Louis' eyes receded and was replaced by exhaustion. He let go of Madison and approached me. But when he tried to touch my shoulder, I reflexively dodged his touch.

His hand remained suspended in midair. He remained silent for a few moments before letting out a soft sigh. "You should get some rest. You're pregnant now, so you're prone to mood swings. I won't take what you said to heart, but don't joke about something like this again."