Return Of Billionaire Heiress

~Esperanza's POV~

The severe contractions had me lying on the table with a wracked body.

The room was buzzing with tension, but nobody could decide what was best for me.

I tried my best to catch a few whispered words around me, but all I could hear was the beeping sound of the machines and my own heartbeat.

Sweat and tears were rolling down my neck.

It wasn't easy to tell which one was taking a toll on my head.

"We need to do it fast... Her condition is worsening. But a normal delivery will risk the baby's life," The lead surgeon sharply said. "She isn't in a position to deliver the baby. The Ceasreon section would be safer."

Oh god...

My baby's life...?

They should do whatever it takes to save him. But I wasn't in a position to tell them this.

"Do caesarean!” A woman's sharp voice came from the outside, “I don't want anything to happen to my son! Cut her out and take my son out without any harm!"

Uh, what?

Her son?

Who was she?

Though the voice felt alien to my ear and I couldn't understand who could be deciding for my baby other than me, I internally prayed for my baby to come out safely.

I blinked back the tears that were threatening to escape.

The bone-wracking pain had me breaking from the inside but the moment my eyes found Carlos, I felt safe.

He had held my hair when I threw up for months. He had pressed oil on my swollen feet. He had whispered to my belly every night.

Carlos would never let anything happen to us.

"Doctor, do as she says. Perform ceasreon, we cannot afford any complications."

His voice was calm, but it was so firm that it flipped something inside me.

God...

This situation has taken a toll on him as well.

"Our baby will be okay..." He quietly whispered.

I smiled, not having the strength to form a word.

The clicking sounds of tools pierced my ears, but before I could gather energy to look around myself, an injection pierced my delicate ivory-skinned arm, and I found myself drifting into darkness.

*************************

My whole body stung like a heavy steel wire was tied tightly around my abdomen, pulling me whenever I shifted a little from my place.

But that didn't matter. My heart was at peace.

I would gladly go through this heart-wrenching pain if I got to be a mother over and over again.

A mother...

I was finally a mother!

I don't care how I looked or how my body was going to change; I was over the moon, thinking about my future with my husband and kids.

I waited for this day for a very long time...

But where's my baby?

I tried to sit, but couldn't move due to fresh stitches on my belly.

My eyes moved everywhere. Where was my baby? Why wasn't my son with me?

Wasn't he supposed to be by my side after his birth?

"Maybe he is with his father. He had been eagerly waiting for him, running after me like I was fragile as a feather," I smiled. "He must be over the moon, stroking his soft, tiny fingers with his rough ones."

I can't wait to see my handsome men.

The slow movement of the door caught my attention and my face instantly lit up.

It was Carlos.

"Hey..." I whispered, still in pain. "Where's our boy?"

He didn't answer. But the way his shoulders stiffened and his face turned void of emotions, something twisted in my gut.

"Carlos? Where's our baby? Is he healthy? Can I see him?" I called him weekly, terrified of what was about to come next.

“Stop acting,” Carlos said coldly. “This isn’t the time for your performance.”

Without warning, he threw a stack of papers on the bed.

My eyes widened. What the hell is it?

I gazed at him. He didn’t even look angry.

He looked… inconvenienced. Like I was a problem he wanted removed.

His changed behaviour terrorised me, my heart raced rapidly while my eyes were full of tears.

"Carlos-"

"I don't have a full day for this. Just sign and leave."

What does he want me to sign?

Wait... Leave?

Why would I leave him?

I gathered the courage to grab the papers and once my eyes landed on the words written in bold, my world shattered.

"What...? What is this?" My voice trembled.

I tried to sit up, wincing from the surgical pain, "Carlos, what's happening? Why are you angry with me? Did I do something wrong? I don't understand-"

Before he could answer, Juliana entered the room with a confident stride and moved to Carlos's side with obvious intimacy that made my blood boil.

She linked her arm with his, leaning her head on his shoulders while a victory smirk played on her lips.

"Baby, let's go," Juliana says, tangling her fingers with Carlos's. "We need to get home to prepare everything for our son."

My head started to spin.

"Are you sick? What are you saying to your brother, Juliana?" My voice rose due to utter shock. "Why are you-"

Juliana threw back her head and laughed. Her cruel, mocking sound filled the sterile room, "Brother? Oh, you sweet, delusional little girl! You actually believed that story?"

The words hit me hard, like a punch to my stomach, "What do you mean?"

Juliana's eyes shone with mean joy as she spoke the truth that shattered my whole life.

"Did you really think someone with your... condition... could win the heart of Carlos Mendoza so easily? That he marry you for love? A color-blind girl who can't even see the world properly?"

"What...?"

I didn't know what to say.

Carlos was my husband... He loved me. How could he let someone say such mean things about me?

"Carlos?"

Before he could respond, Juliana's hand flew across my face in a sharp slap.

The slap rang inside my skull. My vision blurred and my stitches screamed.

For a second, I thought they had torn open again.

"You fool!" Juliana hisses. "He only married you because I didn't want to spoil this perfect figure that he loves to touch."

She flipped her hair back, "Carlos was getting pressure from his father about the inheritance; he needed access to your mother's money. You were the perfect candidate; naive, trusting, and rich."

My eyes move towards Carlos, "It can't be true..."

“Sign it,” Carlos finally spoke. His voice was calm. “You were never meant to stay.”

What?

Was his love all for my money?

"We were only waiting for you to give birth to secure the inheritance completely. Carlos needed to be married with a child to get full access to his family's trust fund," Juliana chuckled. "But the child will be raised by us, not you. And now that he's here safely, your usefulness is finished."

"You can't do that to me! He is my baby!" I yelled but she snapped her fingers, and two security guards entered the room.

"Make her sign the divorce papers," She commanded.

I looked desperately at Carlos, "Carlos, why? Why did you do this to me? Were all your words lies? All those promises about our future together? All of that was a lie?"

But he stayed quiet. Silently enjoying the scene that was unfolding before him.

His stillness and dead eyes confirmed to me that this wasn't any nightmare, and no matter how much I tried, I wouldn't be able to get the life I desired with him.

With tears streaming down my face, I made a last plea, "Please... let me see my baby's face just once. If you do that, I'll sign anything you want. Just let me see him once."

Juliana's lips curve into a cruel smile, "Your baby? Oh, darling, he was never yours to begin with. But fine, if seeing him will make you sign faster..."

She pulled out her phone and made a video call. A nurse appears on the screen, holding a beautiful baby boy in her arms.

"Show her the baby's face," Juliana instructed playfully, holding the phone toward me.

I didn't know what to feel.

My heart broke and healed at the same time. I had never seen something so beautiful and so unreachable.

The first and last time I saw how perfect he was; tiny, sleeping peacefully, and the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

"My baby..." Tears poured down my face. "Please don't do this."

​"Sign now," Juliana demanded.

She inched closer to my ear and whispered, "The more you delay, the more he'll feel alone."

Her venomous voice shook me terribly.

I didn't know what she meant by that, but I couldn't let my baby cry.

​With shaking hands and a broken heart, I signed the divorce papers, tears falling on the documents one after another.

Once I was done with the signature, I quickly grabbed the phone to see my baby again.

​"My son," I cried, holding the screen tightly. "My beautiful baby..."

I knew this was the last time I was seeing him.

The last look at the child I carried and loved more than my life, but would never be allowed to raise.

I didn’t know how I would survive this.

But I knew one thing.

The woman who walked into this hospital as a wife… Would not be the woman who walked out.