Chapter 1: THE DEATH OF MY UNBORN CHILD

POV: PHINA 

CHAPTER 1 — THE DEATH OF MY UNBORN CHILD

POV: PHINA

My husband left me and our unborn child to die in the storm while he was with another woman.  

I sat curled in a ball on the ice-slicked concrete of the rooftop helipad, my shivering arms wrapped tightly around my swollen stomach. I was seven months pregnant. For months, as the global weather collapsed and the world drowned in frost, I had given away my rations, my heavy coats, and my medicine. I had starved myself so Harrison could maintain his strength. I had bled to secure antibiotic injections for his sickly mother. I had endured every humiliation, believing with every fiber of my being that my husband loved me, and that when the ultimate survival moment arrived, he would protect our unborn child.  

The deafening roar of the private evac helicopter's rotor blades cut through the storm overhead. A single rescue transport had arrived.  

"There's only room for two passengers!" the pilot yelled through the freezing wind, waving his arm frantically. "We're taking off in thirty seconds!"  

I squeezed my eyes shut, relief washing through me as I reached up, expecting Harrison to lift me into the cabin. "Harrison... please, take the baby and me," I begged, my voice trembling, tears freezing against my pale cheeks. "I can't hold out much longer..."  

A cold hand grabbed my shoulder, but it didn't lift me. It shoved me backward.  

I slammed hard against the icy roof, pain shooting through my spine. I gasped, clutching my belly as I looked up in disbelief.  

Harrison stood over me, his face impassive, adjusting his heavy wool coat. Beside him stood Vera Williams. She wasn't shivering. She was wrapped in my stolen mink coat, her hands gently resting over her own flat stomach.  

"I'm sorry, Phina," Harrison said, his tone flat, completely stripped of warmth. "Vera is pregnant with my heir. She's carrying a Bennet, and she's too delicate to survive out here. You've always been tough. You'll manage."  

"Harrison... no!" I shrieked, a sound of pure, unadulterated agony tearing from my throat as I reached for his pant leg. "I'm carrying your child too! Our baby will die out here! Please!"  

"Your baby is a risk we can't afford," Vera chimed in, her sweet, delicate voice dripping with venom. She leaned over Harrison's shoulder, smiling down at me as he helped her up the helicopter ladder. "Besides, Harrison never loved you, Phina. He only married you because your family's trust fund kept his company afloat. Now that we have what we need, you and that little mistake in your stomach are useless."  

Harrison didn't even turn around. He stepped into the cabin, pulled the door shut, and the helicopter lifted into the grey, ash-filled sky, leaving me behind in the snow.  

"Harrison!" I screamed until my vocal cords ruptured.  

I lay in the freezing drift as the sub-zero wind buried my body. The cold seeped deep into my abdomen. Inside me, the faint, frantic flutterings of my unborn baby began to slow... then weaker... until finally, the tiny heartbeat stopped entirely.  

They hadn't just abandoned me; they had murdered my child. I had been treated as nothing more than a bank account, an unpaid nurse, and a piece of trash to be discarded when the end of the world arrived.  

As my vision dimmed into absolute darkness, my soul burned with a consuming, poisonous hatred.  

If there is an afterlife... I will tear you both to pieces...  

I woke with a violent gasp, my eyes flying open as my chest heaved.

My eyes flew open, my chest heaving as air surged into my lungs.  

I scrambled backward on instinct, my hands flying to my stomach, expecting the cold, hard swell of my seven-month pregnancy and the phantom sensation of my dead baby.

But there was nothing.

My belly was completely flat. There was no swollen curve. No movement. No life.

The suffocating bite of sub-zero frost was gone. The howling wind had vanished. Instead, the room was bathed in warm, soft sunlight pouring through floor-to-ceiling silk curtains. The air smelled of fresh white lilies and expensive room diffusers.

I scrambled off the bed, my knees weak as I stumbled toward the full-length vanity mirror.

The woman staring back at me wasn't the gaunt, frostbitten ghost who had died in the snow. My skin was smooth and radiant, my hair thick and healthy.

My gaze darted to the nightstand. Sitting beside a vase of fresh flowers was my smartphone. I snatched it up, my trembling thumb pressing the screen.

October 14, 08:30 AM.

My breath caught in my throat.

I was back. Ninety days before the super-typhoon would strike the coast, triggering the global freeze that would wipe out three-quarters of humanity.

And I wasn't pregnant yet.

I had come back. But the child I had carried through the frost was gone forever.

A silent, suffocating wave of heartbreak crashed over me. A soundless sob tore from my throat as hot, bitter tears flooded my eyes, blurring my vision. I curled in on myself right there on the rug, my fingers clutching my flat stomach in absolute agony.

Then I remembered them.

Harrison. Vera.

They had left me and my unborn baby to die on that freezing roof while they stole my life, my money, and my future.

Slowly, the desperate grief that had hollowed me out began to burn, replaced by a hatred so cold and lethal it made my entire body tremble. The universe had given me a second chance, not just to survive, but to exact my revenge.

This time, I would make them pay for every drop of blood, every tear, and every moment of agony they caused me.

Before the shock and poisonous hatred could fully settle into my veins, the quiet safety of the bedroom was shattered.

The door to the master suite swung open without a knock.  

Harrison Bennet stepped into the room. He looked immaculate, wearing a tailored navy suit, adjusting his platinum watch with that familiar, arrogant tilt of his head. He didn't look at me as he walked toward the closet, his voice carrying the exact same casually dismissive tone he had used for five years.  

"Phina, why aren't you dressed yet?" he demanded, frowning slightly. "Vera's flight landed an hour ago. I had my driver pick her up."  

He stopped, turning to face me, expecting me to immediately jump up to cater to him.  

"Her new apartment's air conditioning is broken, and she gets sick easily," Harrison continued, waving his hand dismissively. "She’s staying in the primary guest suite until further notice. Tell the kitchen to prepare that organic broth she likes, and make sure her luggage is brought upstairs. You know how fragile she is."  

In my previous life, I would have swallowed the bitter jealousy in my throat. I would have put on a smile, cooked the meal myself, and tried my best to be the sweet, understanding wife, foolishly hoping he would notice my devotion.  

Now, looking at the monster who had left me in the snow, the tears on my face dried into a cold, lethal flame. The love, the longing, the desire for his approval, all of it had been burned away, replaced by a pure, terrifying clarity.

I slowly straightened my spine, standing tall in the center of the sunlit room. I looked directly into the eyes of the man who thought he owned me.  

"Phina? Did you hear me?" Harrison snapped, his eyebrows pulling together in annoyance at my silence. "Stop staring like an idiot and go take care of Vera."  

A cold, razor-sharp smile touched the corners of my lips.  

"Harrison," I said, looking him dead in the eye. "I want a divorce."