Chapter 4: The call

“ Call the fucking ambulance!”

Skyler heard a voice thunder, it was not Nathaniel's. The voice was deeper, more enraged. But her trembling body wouldn't let her look at who it was.

More tears streamed down her cheeks as she kept shaking, staring at the blood with trembling lips.

“ Hey, hey Sky, are you okay?” Someone held her arm.

“ Please..” She glanced up to see Ethan kneeling beside her. “ Please, save my baby.”

“ Baby. What baby?” Nathaniel took a step closer, eyes widened in shock.

But before he could get any answers, Ethan scooped her up into his arms, in a bridal style, and without waiting for anybody, he rushed her out of the house.

“ Please..ple..” Her pleads quietly died down as her vision went fuzzy.

Her head spun, her hands clutching desperately at her stomach, but slowly, no matter how much she fought it, darkness washed over her, and she slumped in his arms.

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

By the time Skyler regained consciousness, she was already at the hospital. Her chest kept pounding brutally as she sat still, looking at the doctor with two nurses.

“ Wh..what about my baby?” She asked, palms sweaty.

“ We're so sorry Mrs. Sterling. You lost the baby.” The doctor muttered softly.

But no matter how soft he said it, it still landed hard, freezing her breath for a second.

Her body went still, but hot tears dropped down her cheek.

“ I'm.. asking about my baby, I was pregnant, I had a baby in my stomach.” She moved closer to them on the bed. “Please, please check again, my baby..”

When she saw the way their eyes dropped, a raw, bitter whimper tore from her.

Skyler wept profusely. Clutching at her chest as if to drag out the suffocating pain.

“ We're so sorry.” The doctor said again, eyes filled with pity, and due to the pain and grief she's currently going through, he realized it won't be okay to tell her about her condition of getting pregnant again, yet.

Not until she's calm.

And so, they left her alone in the ward.

Tears pooled from her eyes. For two years, she's known no happiness, fighting for crumbs she'd never get, loving a man who doesn't even if anything happens to her.

And when she was finally happy, finally had a baby…

The image of how he shoved her flashed across her mind.

He took it from her. He took her baby.

Her fingers curled against the sheet tightly, anger flaring hot in her.

“ You would pay. I swear Nathaniel, you would pay for this…” Her phone rang just then.

She glanced at it and saw that it was from an unknown number.

Right then, she heard the indistinct voice of someone saying outside.

“ You don't even know your wife was pregnant?”

“ How would I know? She never told me.” She heard Nathaniel's voice replying coldly outside and her teeth gritted.

She picked her phone and answered the call.

“ Child.”

A familiar elderly voice came through softly.

For a moment, she froze, then burst into another round of tears, crying her heart out, sobbing and sniffing.

“ Grandpa.” She called amidst tears.

“ What have they done to you? Come home. Come back to me.” His voice said, full of worry.

Skyler nodded, as if she was tired of everything, tired of what she was shown.

She had run away from home, after the death of her parents, she wanted nothing but to lead a normal life, a life from everyone who seemed like a threat. And she had done a perfect job in hiding and making everyone believe she had no one.

But not anymore.

“ I'm coming home.”

“ Hm. It's about time.”

Her breath trembled as she hung up the call. She glanced towards the door with utmost hatred and anger in her eyes.

The door opened and Nathaniel walked in, even the sight of him made her stomach churn.

He kept his distance, hands tucked in his pockets, his expression remained unreadable.

“ The doctor says you'll be fine.”

Her teeth clenched so hard.

He adjusted his cuff awkwardly. “ I…” For the first time, he looked uncertain. “ I didn't know you were pregnant.”

Skyler exhaled shakily, the more he spoke, the more she wanted to pounce on him.

“ I would have my driver send a check over.” He added after a moment. “ For everything.”

Everything.

As if their baby could be compensated financially.

And then she realized. Pouncing on him would never be enough.

“ Nathaniel.” She called, glaring up at him. “ Send the divorce papers over.”

His eyes twitched in surprise. “ Skyler.”

“ Get out. And return with the papers.”

“ You're not serious about that. You're just being emotional, right?”

Her lashes fluttered.

Emotional?

He inhaled softly. “ You'll calm down in a few days.”

“ I'm emotional? You standing here makes me sick.” She drew in a shaky breath. “ It's about time, isn't it? Let's divorce.”

Nathaniel scoffed in disbelief.

‘ As if you can actually sign it. You have nowhere to go.’ he said in his mind, and nodded nonchalantly.

“ Fine. Suit yourself.”

And with that, he walked away.

That evening, his driver arrived with the papers.

“ Boss has signed it, he said you should keep it and sign whenever you're ready.” He said.

Without delaying, she snatched the papers from him.

“ Your pen.” She demanded.

The driver, Daniel, furrowed his brow in surprise. He knew how much his boss’s wife loved his boss and believed she would never divorce him.

He reluctantly gave her the pen and waited for some hesitation or change of mind, but instead, Skyler signed it instantly.

His lips parted in shock.

After signing, she wrote beneath the divorce terms.

Net settlement: Zero.

‘ I want no money from you. Not a dollar. Or a penny. But I promise you Nathaniel Sterling. I would ruin you. Your empire, that very thing that makes you happy, everything you spent your life building. I would make you beg, crawl, weep.’

She glanced at her stomach and added in her mind. ‘ You took my baby. Now watch me take everything from you.’

She handed the papers back to Daniel.

Then she picked up her phone.

"Book me the first flight home.”