2

RUBY

I lost my baby. I had lost my child. 

The words didn't sound real no matter how many times I repeated them in my head. Those words didn't belong to me, I told myself over and over again. They couldn't. They probably belonged to someone else, some other woman whose life hadn't just been ripped open and left bleeding on the floor.

I wiped my cheeks again, for what felt like the hundredth time, but the tears kept coming anyway. My body ached in a way I had never known before. It was deep and hollow, like something essential had been scooped out of me and discarded, and in a way, that was probably the case scenario. 

"I'm so sorry, ma'am." The doctor's voice chose this exact moment to start replaying itself in my head. "You…"

"You can't be sorry." I remember cutting him off before he could finish. "There's no need to be sorry. Just tell me everything's okay. Tell me my baby is fine."

I begged him, but all he did was stare at me in silence, sadness shining in his orbs. He didn't say anything after that, and I just knew. This wasn't a cruel joke or a prank. He actually meant what he'd just said. 

When the doctor finally let me leave, I had only one thought in my mind.

I needed to go home.

Maybe some stupid, broken part of me believed that if I walked through those doors, everything would rewind. That Troy would be there, that he would see my face and understand what had been lost. That maybe, just maybe he would realize his mistake and perhaps ask for my forgiveness. That someone would ask me what had happened, but to my greatest surprise, none of that happened. 

Not even close. 

Troy wasn't home when I arrived, and I guess I should have taken that as my first clue that something was about to go terribly wrong. 

"Oh hello, Ruby," The housekeeper greeted me with the same warm smile she always did. It was warm, but not for me "Welcome back."

I opened my mouth to return it, but nothing came out, and could you blame me? 

In the space of a few hours, my entire life had collapsed. My mate was now engaged to my sister. I had been rejected, publicly, and I had lost my baby. The same baby I thought was going to bring me and Troy together 

My heart squeezed at the thought of it all. It was shredded that was for sure, and I doubt there was anything I could do to bring it back. Like I hadn't already been through enough, my body felt like it was barely holding together, like one wrong breath might cause it to give up entirely.

I wasn't sure what was waiting for me back in the house, but I'd at least hoped for a little bit of quiet. However, voices drifted through the house as I stepped inside.

There were too many voices, and I just knew everyone was here.

Had the party already ended?

Alana was the first to appear, gliding toward me with a smile so serene it made my stomach churn. She looked radiant, untouched, and dare I say friendly, like she hadn't destroyed me hours earlier.

"Oh, Ruby," she said lightly. "You're back."

Her words came as a slash straight to the heart. You would think that after ruining my life, she would at least be more sober, but I guess I was wrong. 

Very, very wrong. 

I stared at her, searching her face for something, anything, that resembled guilt, but there was nothing.

"Troy?" I asked hoarsely, even though something deep inside me was whispering that I was asking the wrong question. "Where is he?

"He's not home yet," she replied, too quickly. "He had things to take care of." 

The words had barely slid past her lips before more footsteps echoed from behind. In the blink of an eye, our parents joined her, followed by Troy's. They stood together like this was some sort of family meeting, like I was a stranger interrupting something important, and I could only hear my heart break all the more. 

"You're here, and just in time too." My mother cleared her throat. The absence of emotions in her tone had me wondering if she really was my own mother or just Alana's. "We've decided it's time for Alana to move in."

The words didn't register at first.

"And you," Troy's mother added, avoiding my eyes, "will need to move out."

"What?" I blinked, not wanting to believe the words that had just slid past their lips. "Move out? What do you…."

"Yes." Troy's mother added again. "And it has to be tonight." 

"It's only appropriate," my father said. "Given the circumstances."

"Circumstances..." I swallowed, but the bile in my throat just wouldn't leave. I can go home. Just for a while. Or so I thought.

I wasn't sure why I'd said that, but it was too late to take it back now. If they didn't want me in the family house, I could at least go back to ours. Or so I thought.

The room went quiet, and for a moment, I actually thought they were considering it, until Spencer laughed that is. 

"Don't bother with the act, Ruby." 

My brother, Spencer, stepped forward, arms crossed, eyes cold. "We already know."

"Know what?" My voice trembled despite my effort to steady it.

"The blood. The dramatics. This is just another one of your tricks, isn't it?" He gestured vaguely toward me. "Trying to guilt Alana and Troy into breaking their engagement because you were his so-called true mate."

I felt something inside me snap at his words. 

"That's not…" I started. "I was bleeding because…"

"Enough," my mother cut in sharply. "We're not doing this tonight. We've really had enough of your shenanigans." 

The finality in her tone stung, but I forced myself to look at each of them, waiting for someone, anyone, to ask if I was okay.

No one did.

"Troy has already given the go ahead," my father said, his voice pulling me back to the present. "You're to gather your things and leave tonight. Alana needs the space."

I parted my lips to speak, but I pressed it shut again. What was I going to say? Was I going to argue? Yell and scream till they listened to me? 

While all of those sounded like really good choices, I already knew how things were going to end. My legs felt weak as I turned away.

This had always been the way it went. Whatever Alana wanted, Alana got, even when it hurt. Even when it destroyed someone else. They loved the adopted daughter more than they had ever loved their own blood.

I packed in silence after that. My hands shook as I folded clothes into bags. My skin felt pale and tight, my body heavy and fragile, but I had to stay put. Every movement sent a dull ache through my lower abdomen, a cruel reminder of what I couldn't tell them, and each time, I felt the urge to burst into tears. 

I couldn't tell them about the baby, not because I didn't want to, but because I knew them.

They wouldn't mourn it, they would celebrate it, and that was the last thing I needed right now. 

When I dragged my bags downstairs, another couple had joined the gathering. I didn't know who they were, and quite frankly, I didn't care. They were simply more witnesses to my erasure.

Troy still wasn't home.

I set my bags down in the living room, my vision swimming, before my father spoke again.

"One more thing," he said. "Don't bother going home," 

"Why?" I looked up slowly. "What do you mean?"

"Sign these." He handed me a thin stack of papers. "Then leave."

I snuck him one more glance before my fingers closed around them automatically. For a quick second, I struggled to read the words, until the title swam into focus.

Relationship Severance Agreement.

My breath hitched. I didn't want to believe it, but no matter how hard I blinked, nothing changed. The wordings on the paper didn't as much as flinch. 

"Father?" I looked up at him, my voice almost quiet and my hands trembling. "You're… disowning me?"

"You're no longer part of this family, Ruby." His face was blank. "This is for the best."

The room spun immediately the words slid past his lips. 

In one night, I had lost my mate, my child, and now, my family. My world was crashing faster than I could do anything about it. 

I stood there, holding the papers, realizing with brutal clarity that I had never truly belonged anywhere at all.