Chapter 3

Jenny slid into the front passenger seat with practiced ease, while Derek dumped me into the back. My head struck the inside of the car door, drawing a muffled groan from me, but he did not spare me so much as a glance before starting the engine.

"Derek! Open the door!"

Grace pounded hard on the window. Instead, Derek floored the accelerator, and the sudden movement sent her stumbling backward.

"Zoe Sullivan, did Grace put this divorce nonsense in your head?" he demanded.

"She got divorced herself, so now she's trying to talk you into doing the same and turn you against me. Is that it?"

His voice carried the smug certainty of a man who believed he had already figured everything out.

I forced myself upright and answered calmly, "This has nothing to do with Grace. I'm the one who wants to divorce you."

"It doesn't matter whether you admit it."

Derek picked up his phone and issued an order to someone on the other end. "Keep an eye on Grace Reed. Don't let her have any further contact with my wife."

"What gives you the right to control who I see or speak to?"

As my anger rose, the dull ache in my lower abdomen suddenly sharpened into vicious cramps.

In the rearview mirror, I caught sight of Derek leaning over to take a piece of gum directly from Jenny's lips. The two of them looked sickeningly sweet together.

My vision began to blur. When I lowered my eyes, I saw blood spreading across the white upholstery beneath me, the vivid red impossible to miss.

"Turn around and take me to the hospital..."

I reached forward and tapped Derek's shoulder, but he did not look back.

Jenny twisted around in her seat to inspect me.

"What is it?" Derek asked her.

"Nothing," she replied. "Zoe just got her period."

She grabbed several sheets of scrap printer paper and shoved them at me. "Put these underneath you for now, or you'll get blood everywhere."

Derek clicked his tongue in disgust. Covering his nose with one hand, he lowered the window before tossing his coat into the back.

"Use this too. Don't get any more blood on my car. It's disgusting."

Every word out of his mouth made me realize that I had never truly known him. But the pain had already forced me to curl into myself, leaving me with no strength to respond.

With trembling hands, I called emergency services.

"I need an ambulance..."

The phone was suddenly snatched from my grasp.

"Zoe, I'm a woman too. I get periods too, and I've never heard of anyone calling an ambulance over one," Jenny scoffed.

"You're being so dramatic. If you don't want to help me, just say so. There's no need to pretend you're dying."

Derek glanced at me through the rearview mirror. My face had gone deathly pale, and cold sweat glistened across my forehead.

He gradually slowed the car and pulled over, apparently intending to check on me, but Jenny hurriedly caught hold of him.

"Derek, she's obviously faking it! She's deliberately stalling so she won't have to take us to see Professor Harper.

"The competition is only two days away. What am I supposed to do about my entry?

"Didn't you promise me that I would take first place?"

Derek looked conflicted. "Let me check on her first."

"No!" Jenny snapped, immediately throwing a tantrum.

"If you pay her any more attention, I'll strip right here and let everyone passing by see me!"

She began lifting the hem of her top, and Derek hurriedly wrapped his arms around her.

"Don't! We'll go right now!"

The scenery began racing past the window once more. As I watched it blur together, it struck me that my seven years with Derek had been nothing but a cruel joke, rotten to the core.

Even a stranger would have shown me a hundred times more concern than he had.

When the car finally stopped, Derek opened the rear door and ordered, "Get out."

I did not move. The pain had drained every ounce of strength from my body.

Then Grace appeared in my fading field of vision, panting heavily as she rushed toward us.

"Derek! She just had an abortion, and this is how you treat her?"

She shoved him aside, her voice catching as she reached for me.

"Don't be afraid. I'm taking you to the hospital."

A loud ringing filled my ears, and then everything went black.