Chapter 4

The crowd went quiet for a moment, but before I could say anything else, Yvette shoved her way through the reporters and slapped me across the other cheek.

My skin burned beneath my palm as I stared at her in disbelief.

She didn't look at me again. Instead, she turned toward the cameras with reddened eyes and apologized to the reporters.

"I'm sorry you all had to witness this. The truth is, my sister has been in love with Mr. Pierce for years, but he's never returned her feelings. I just never thought she'd write something this disgusting and then turn around and accuse him of being responsible for it."

Before I could recover from that betrayal, Yale came through the crowd with Julian.

"Yara, how low can you go?" he snapped. "Nora's husband is the one man you couldn't stay away from?"

There was guilt in Julian's eyes when he looked at me, but he buried it before facing the cameras.

"Ms. Lane and I are nothing more than ordinary friends. There has never been anything inappropriate between us. Nora is the only woman I have ever considered my wife."

Any faint hope that Julian would at least tell the truth disappeared with those words.

The crowd immediately turned on me.

"I knew it. Why would Mr. Pierce ever marry someone like her, much less write all that?"

"She goes after her best friend's husband, then tries to smear the couple when she doesn't get what she wants. What kind of person does that?"

The insults kept coming from every direction. In the confusion, someone shoved me hard enough to knock me off balance, and I hit the ground.

Julian's expression changed as he started toward me, but Nora grabbed his arm before he could reach me.

"Julian, my head's suddenly hurting."

All three of them were focused on her in an instant. Julian helped her away while Yvette and Yale hurried after them, leaving me where I'd fallen.

That was when I noticed the blood slowly spreading beneath me.

The sight of it finally scared the crowd into backing off. People began to disperse, but the pain was already so severe that I could barely stay conscious. Just before everything went dark, my phone lit up with a message from Julian.

[If Nora finds out the truth, the shock could make her condition worse.]

[I've sent someone to take you to the hospital. Let what happened today teach you a lesson.]

[Don't say things like that again.]

I stared at the screen through the haze of pain.

Julian, you got what you wanted.

There wouldn't be a next time.

When I woke, a doctor was standing beside my bed with a form in her hand.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Lane. We couldn't save the baby."

For a few seconds, I couldn't understand what she meant. Then she handed me the paperwork, and the truth sank in.

I had been two months pregnant.

I hadn't even known there was a baby inside me, and by the time I found out she existed, I'd already lost her.

The grief cut so deeply that I could hardly breathe.

Then my phone buzzed.

Nora had sent me a photo of her own pregnancy report.

My body went rigid as her messages continued to appear.

[Yara, I'll tell you the truth. My memory came back six months ago.]

[But by then I'd already fallen in love with Julian, so I chose to keep it a secret and let everyone continue believing the lie.]

[I saw your medical report. I knew you were pregnant. What happened today was deliberate. I'm the only one who gets to have Julian's child.]

[See? Everyone is already waiting for my baby. In this world of five, you're the one who doesn't belong.]

Then she sent me screenshots from another group chat.

It was called "No One's Extra Here," of which I wasn't a member.

I scrolled through the conversation. In only three hours, the four of them had exchanged thousands of messages, talking about everything from whether the baby should have a godfather or godmother first to how the nursery should be decorated. They discussed names and wondered whether the child would take after Julian or Nora.

By the time I reached the end, whatever attachment I'd still had to the four of them was gone.

I signed the hospital paperwork confirming the miscarriage, then placed my resignation letter with it and handed both to the doctor.

"Could you please give these to Julian Pierce for me?"

If I was the extra person in their world of five, then there was no reason to save a place for any of them in the rest of my life.

...

Third-Person POV

Elsewhere in the hospital, Nora sat surrounded by the other three, smiling as she rested a hand over her stomach.

Julian watched her and felt a headache coming on.

He'd been drunk that night, drunk enough to mistake Nora for Yara, and he still couldn't believe that one drunken encounter had been enough to get her pregnant.

After a long sigh, he reassured himself that it would be fine. Yara would understand. He would make it up to her afterward, just as he had every other time.

Even so, a vague uneasiness refused to leave him.

Eventually, he made an excuse about needing some air and stepped into the hallway to call Yara. The call wouldn't go through. She had blocked his number.

He tried messaging her instead, only to discover that she'd blocked him there too.

The uneasiness in his chest grew stronger.

Before he could decide what to do, a doctor came hurrying toward him with a grave expression.

"Mr. Pierce, we've reviewed Ms. Sinclair's records. Her memory returned six months ago."

Julian stared at her. "How is that possible?"

The doctor hesitated before continuing. "There's something else. Ms. Lane asked me to give you these."

He took the papers with a frown, but it was the resignation letter on top that made his heart lurch. Then he turned to the next document and saw the hospital paperwork confirming Yara's miscarriage.

A chill went straight through him.