Chapter 1

"Please, God, let me live. Let them live." Calla whispered to herself just as the surgical team took over. 

They worked carefully while she lay still with her eyes fixed above her. She couldn't feel anything in her lower abdomen, all thanks to the epidural anesthesia. But suddenly, two cries pierced the air.

Tears slipped down her cheeks as her heart swelled with joy and sheer relief. It was successful! The surgery was successful, despite the numbness in her body.

With her chest rising and falling weakly, she watched the nurses tend to the two small bundles lying under the lights. Her babies. Hers. And Norman's. Even in her fatigue, the thought made her lips curve into a tiny smile.

Unfortunately, he hadn't been by her side through the pregnancy, not for a single moment. He hadn't been there during the vomiting, the loneliness, the nights she cried into her pillow. But none of that mattered now.

He would be proud. He'd see them, these perfect, tiny lives and he'd love her. Because this... this was proof she had always belonged to him.

Calla blinked and the lights above her blurred again as exhaustion pulled at her limbs. She turned her face toward the glass incubators, searching for their little faces.

But suddenly... something felt off.

The nurses had grown tense, including their movements which seemed rushed and quickened like they were in the middle of an emergency. Calla's weak smile faded.

One of the nurses reached for an equipment in a flurry and another held something up to the light. A monitor also began to beep frantically and that was when she saw it. One of the babies, her baby, was limp. His tiny body wasn't moving no matter what they did. 

Panic gripped her at once. 

"W...What's happening?" She asked hoarsely and tried to sit up, but no one responded. 

No one even looked her way. They were all bent over the baby, calling names, switching tools, and working as fast as possible.

"What's happening to my baby?!" Calla asked, raising her voice this time.

But still, she got nothing.

Pushing against the bedrails, she forced herself upright as her muscles screamed in protest. The pain in her abdomen was unbearable, but she swung her legs over the side of the bed, determined to get to her baby.

But then, she slipped.

Her knees buckled and her body hit the floor with a thud. That finally caught the nurses' attention as they turned at once. Two of them then rushed over to carry her up.

"No...no! Let me go!" Calla sobbed. "Please...please let me hold them!" 

She thrashed as best as her body would allow, reaching for the bassinets, but they held her back. "My baby... please... give him to me!" 

"Miss Calla, please lie down..."

"No! I want my baby! I want to hold him... he needs me!"

They didn’t respond and refused to let her go, despite her pleas. Just then, she saw one of the nurses approaching with a syringe.

"No," She whimpered, backing against the hospital bed. "Don't. Please... please don't..." 

But it fell on deaf ears. 

A firm hand pinned her arm down and another one gripped her wrist as the nurse finally got to where she was. "You need to rest now, Miss Calla." 

With that, the needle pierced her skin.

"We need to get her stable, she's losing a lot of blood." Dr. Hansen said urgently as the medical team began working frantically around her.

"No... no... my baby..." 

Calla's words slurred as the sedative hit her bloodstream. Her vision smeared, turning the fluorescent ceiling into watercolors and her limbs into lead.

Her cries softened into whimpers. 

"Norman…" 

"Norman, please... help me..."

Everything spun and blurred, then went dark.

****

A FEW HOURS LATER•••

Calla moved like a ghost and settled slowly into the farthest chair, away from the two women who glared at her like she had committed a crime. If eyes could kill, she would've been dead the moment she stepped into the office.

Sensing the tension in the room, the doctor glanced between the women, then at Calla, before clearing his throat.

"Your delivery was... complicated, just as we anticipated" He began gently. "But, physically, you pulled through. However, just as we discussed before the surgery, there were complications. After the twins were delivered, we encountered severe bleeding, which led to hemorrhagic shock."

Calla stared at him in shock, but he continued.

"To control the bleeding, we performed an emergency procedure to remove part of your reproductive system. You're going to be okay, but you'll need some time to recover."

"I can't have children again," Calla said more to herself, but everyone in the room heard it.

"I'm afraid not." The doctor replied with a sigh. "Your body can no longer support a pregnancy in the same way as before."

For a moment, she didn't react. Then she smiled faintly. "That's okay, I did it for Norman. I was prepared."

When she didn't get any response, she wiped the smile off her face and asked. "But they're healthy, right? My babies... Can I hold them now?"

She looked eagerly toward Norman's mother, Mrs Lena, expecting a softening, a kind word, or anything. But instead, there was a pause, followed by cold silence. She was cradling a small bundle in her arms, a sleeping baby wrapped in blue. 

Her baby.

One of the twins.

Her smile faltered.

She turned back to the doctor, who was now looking down at his hands. No...no...no. Something was wrong, terribly wrong. Why wasn't anyone answering?

"Doctor...? Where's the other baby?" 

"You have one healthy baby" The Doctor replied, his expression turning somber. "Unfortunately, we did everything we could to save both babies, but... I'm sorry."

The words felt like steel through her chest.

"The other twin did not survive." The Doctor continued softly. "He went into cardiac arrest minutes later, and didn't respond to resuscitation."

Calla stared blankly as her heart shattered into a million pieces. Her baby did not survive... "No...no, that's not possible. I heard him... I heard him cry, I heard his little voice. They were both..."

"Don't sit there and act like you didn't have a hand in this." Mrs Lena cut in coldly. "You killed him. You destroyed him before he ever had a chance to see the world his father built for him"

The words hit like a blade and Calla's breath caught in her throat. She opened her mouth to speak, to yell, to defend herself, but no sound came.

"No... no, that's not possible. I would never kill my own child... I did everything..."

"It wasn't enough!" Delaney, Norman's sister spat angrily. "You should've done more than risking your life. You should've protected our family's bloodline, you should've given your worthless life in place of his."

"You should be grateful one lived," Mrs Lena snapped. "But of course, you had to ruin even that."

Calla turned to look at them in disbelief. "I risked my life... I almost died for them..."

"But still, you couldn’t even do that properly. You couldn't even do what you were paid to do. You were given everything. A roof, a luxury your miserable life could never afford, a chance, and you ruined it. You couldn't even do this one thing right."

"I didn't do it to get paid," Calla cried out. "I did it for Norman. I did it because I love..."

"Don't you ever speak my son's name again. You think love matters in this world? You think love makes you worthy to bear his child? You were nothing but an orphan, a charity case, a womb to be used and discarded. You destroyed everything! And now you expect what? A sympathy? A fûcking thank you?"

Calla's lips trembled as her heart broke further. Was that all she meant to them? To Norman? Is that why he never showed up during the pregnancy and stayed away?

"I... please, let me see them," Calla pleaded as her voice shook violently. "I… I just want to hold them, just for a moment..."

"No," Both mother and daughter said at once.

"You don't deserve that, you've done enough already." Delaney shot back. "You don't even deserve the one who lives."

"Take her back to her room," Mrs Lena told the Doctor and stood slowly, tightening the blanket around the baby. "She's no longer needed here. We'll handle the rest."

As they began to leave, Calla stood up immediately. "You can't take him from me." 

"Oh, sweetheart, he was never yours. You were just a vessel, that’s all. And now that you’re no longer needed... your job is done."

Hot tears blurred Calla's vision as she stumbled forward, following Mrs Lena and Delaney down the hallway. One child was gone and the other was taken away from her. They wouldn't even let her see him.

And Norman... Where was he?

"Please... please! Let me see him! I need to hold my baby!"

But the women didn't stop. They didn't even look back. When they reached the door, two men in black suits stepped in front of Calla to block her path.

"Stop,"

Calla pulled at their sleeves, still moving forward. "Let me see him! Please, he’s my son!" 

They tried to hold her back, but she shoved and screamed and cried. Finally, Mrs Lena paused and turned to glare hard at her. The girl was grating on her very last nerve and she wanted nothing more than to get rid of her.

"You want to hold the child so badly?" With a signal, she gestured to the doctor. "I'll give you a minute." 

The Doctor stepped forward and everybody followed him into a nearby ward, including Calla. With hope flaring in her chest, she watched as the doctor moved to a small, private nursery room. He lifted a baby wrapped in a blanket and placed him gently in Calla’s arms.

"My baby..." Calla half-smiled through her tears as she cradled the infant against her chest and rocked him.

"Everything is alright, you're safe," She whispered, stroking his cheek. But then, she noticed the baby wasn't moving. He was cold and looked pale and... "He…he's not breathing." 

Mrs Lena rolled her eyes, "Because he's the dead one, dûmbass. And that's what you get to hold."

A gasp escaped Calla lips as she sank to her knees, clutching his still body to her chest. She sobbed so hard, she couldn't breathe.

"No... my baby... my sweet little boy…" She whispered, rocking him gently. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." 

She repeated it quietly, again and again, while trembling. Finally, a nurse stepped forward to take the still infant from her arms. Left alone with the two women who did nothing, but glare at her, Calla forced herself to stand.

"Please... please, give me the second child. Please..."

"You really think you deserve that privilege?" Delaney asked, her voice dripping with contempt. "After costing us a future heir?”