Chapter 3

A Few Months Later

Laura Sterling

“How much more do I have to suffer before this ends?”

I whispered the words into the damp, freezing air of my cell, my voice barely audible over the constant drip of water from a cracked pipe somewhere in the darkness. four months. four endless, soul-crushing years in this hellhole, and every day felt like a fresh punishment designed just for me.

The guards had been especially cruel tonight. They had “forgotten” to bring me dinner again, laughing as they passed my cell.

“Look at the rich bitch now,” one of them sneered, rattling his baton against the bars. “Used to own half the city, and now she can’t even stand up straight. Pathetic.”

Another guard joined in, his voice dripping with mockery. “Hey, wheelchair queen! Still crying over that husband who dumped you? Bet he’s living like a king while you rot in here. Serves you right for trying to poison him.”

I curled tighter into the thin, filthy blanket, ignoring the horrible pains shooting through my abdomen.

’Love had made me look foolish in the end, it has crippled me... in so many ways I could never seem to understand anymore.’ I thought.

The pills Derick had ordered them to force down my throat every single day had left me weaker than ever. My legs were almost completely numb now, and the dizziness never fully left.

But tonight, something felt different and wrong as a wave of nausea hit me hard, followed by cramps so intense I gasped and doubled over. There was so much blood. More than there should be.

“No… no, please,” I moaned, pressing my hands to my stomach as hot tears burned my eyes. The realization crashed over me like ice water.

“I’m pregnant.“

It must have happened that last night before the arrest....the night Derick had taken what he wanted regardless of my grief.

This explained the morning sickness which I excused as a mare Illness, and rye constant urination that I couldn't explain at first. I tried to stay in denial, hoping maybe the signs would go away..

There was a tiny life had been growing inside me all this time, hidden despite the pain and the drugs.

For one fragile moment, a spark of something like hope flickered in my chest.

“A baby. My baby. Maybe this is the reason I’ve held on… something good coming from all this darkness.“

But the hope died as quickly as it came after moments of bleeding and no one seemed to care about me.

They always gave the other female mates sanitary pads, but I was ignored like a flu. And in this tiny little cell, which barely had a window and a proper toilet. I was doomed to face this shame.

The cramps grew vicious such that I couldn't help but groan in pain.....I felt like they were tearing through my tummy like knives. I cried out like a baby, curling into a ball on the hard cot as blood soaked through my thin prison uniform and onto the wheelchair.

“Guard!” I screamed weakly, my voice hoarse. “Please… something’s wrong! Help me!”

One of the guards finally sauntered over, shining a flashlight into my cell with a bored expression. “What’s your problem now, murderer?”

“I’m bleeding… I think I’m losing a baby,” I sobbed, clutching my stomach. “Please, I need a doctor. It hurts so much.”

He laughed coldly, shaking his head. “Pregnant? From who? Your imaginary lover? You’re just trying to get special treatment. Shut up and deal with it. Derick’s orders were clear....no pampering for you.”

I begged and cried for hours as the pain intensified, but no one came.

After what felt like hours, the miscarriage was complete. The tiny life that had been my only secret light in this darkness was gone....washed away in blood and agony because of the filth, the lack of medical care, and the constant poison in my system.

But the nightmare wasn’t over even though I lost my own baby in my womb.

An Infection set in fast.

I had fever which burned through me, and the pain in my lower belly became unbearable.

When they finally dragged me to the prison infirmary days later, the doctor’s face was grim.

I couldn't move or fight. I felt tremendous pain as I laid down on the perfectly made bed. Something that felt like a luxury now.

“We have to remove your uterus,” he said flatly, as if discussing the weather. “The infection is too advanced. You’ll never carry a child again.”

I lay there on the cold table, staring at the cracked ceiling, tears sliding silently down my temples.

“Gone. Everything is gone. My family, my freedom, my body… and now any chance of ever holding my own child.“

The hatred for Derick ignited like a wildfire in my chest....I felt like live wires tying my heart.

“He did this to me. He stole my life, my strength, my future. I hate him. I hate him with every broken piece of me.“

They decided to take me back to my cell, even though the doctor suggested I am put on observation for a while.... The guards didn’t let me forget my new reality.

“ barren bitch,” one of them taunted as he shoved my daily pills through the bars. “No wonder your husband got rid of you. Who wants a broken, empty woman like you?”

Another laughed loudly. “Wheelchair whore! Can’t walk, can’t breed, can’t do anything right. Derick must be laughing his ass off right now.”

I didn’t respond. I just lay there, staring at the wall, letting their cruel words wash over me while the deep, aching pain of losing my pregnancy carved itself permanently into my soul.

That tiny, innocent life had been the last fragile thread of hope I had left. Now even that was ripped away.

“How do I keep breathing after this?“

The hatred burned brighter, mixing with a helplessness so profound it felt like drowning.

“I will never forgive you, Derick,” I whispered to the empty cell, my voice trembling with raw hatred. “One day… somehow… you’ll pay for every tear, every scar, every life you stole from me.”