Ch 1

"Julian, help me! My car... my car overturned!"

Clara’s voice trembled violently, gasping between searing pain and thick smoke that began filling the cabin. Her blood-soaked hand gripped the phone pressed to her ear. Around her, the windshield had shattered into countless shards, and the front of her silver sedan was crushed beyond recognition—smashed by a truck at a quiet, desolate intersection.

"Clara?! Where are you?!" Julian’s voice came through, sharp with panic.

"I... I crashed at the intersection leading to Maya’s apartment. Please, Julian... my leg is trapped, I can’t move..." Clara winced as a searing pain coiled around her lower abdomen. Her other hand instinctively stroked her still-flat stomach—where a weeks-old life was fighting to survive. Inside her handbag, thrown onto the passenger seat, lay a white envelope holding her positive pregnancy test—meant to be his gift for their fifth wedding anniversary tonight.

"Hold on, Clara! Don’t hang up, I’m so close!"

Faint sirines and roaring engines echoed from the distance, ending in a sharp screech of tires. Through the broken glass, Clara saw her husband’s headlights cutting through the night. Hope swelled in her chest. Tears of relief spilled down her dust-streaked, bloodied cheeks. He was here. Her Julian had come to save her.

Julian jumped out of his car, face as pale as death. He sprinted toward the wreckage—but his feet did not head straight for Clara’s silver sedan. His eyes locked onto another car caught in the crash: a small red hatchback, crumpled against the curb.

"Maya!" Julian screamed, his voice cracking with terror, as he spotted the woman slumped behind the wheel of the red car.

From behind the thickening smoke, Clara felt her heart stop. "Julian..." she whispered faintly into the phone. "Julian, I’m here..."

Julian ignored her. He fought to yank open the dented door of the red car, carefully pulled her out, and held her tight as she sobbed. Maya looked shaken and bruised—but she was unhurt, untrapped.

The sharp stench of gasoline began to fill the air. Beneath Clara’s hood, tiny sparks began to spread, licking at exposed wires and melted plastic.

"Julian! My car’s on fire! Help me!" Clara cried out with every last bit of strength she had left. Her voice broke, thick with terror as the flames drew closer.

Julian glanced over his shoulder, seeing the first small tongues of fire licking Clara’s car. Those sharp, usually cold eyes were now clouded with agonizing doubt. He looked at Maya, leaning weakly against his chest and whimpering in pain—then back at Clara, trapped in the smoke-choked cabin.

Hurriedly, Julian carried Maya a few steps toward Clara’s car, set her down in a seemingly safe spot behind him, then rushed to Clara’s jammed door. He wrenched the handle—but the frame was bent, wedged tight.

Thud! Thud!

He slammed his fist against the window—but the fire at the front grew larger, sending out dangerous small pops. The gasoline stench grew stronger, a warning the tank could explode at any second.

"Maya’s passed out, Clara! She’s in shock and bleeding!" Julian gasped, chest heaving. He stared at his wife, covered in blood, gasping as her leg was crushed beneath the dashboard.

"Julian... my leg is stuck... I can’t get out alone..." Clara begged through tears. She reached a bloodied hand through the broken glass, stretching toward him. "Please, Julian... have mercy on me..."

Julian looked at Clara’s outstretched hand—then glanced back at Maya, lying motionless on the asphalt. Fear etched itself deep into his face—the fear of losing the woman from his past.

He took one step back. His mind was made up, and his expression hardened into something unrecognizable.

"You’re a brilliant doctor, Clara! You know anatomy, you know how to handle emergencies!" Julian said, his voice rough and heavy, forcing logic over his own cruelty. "You’re strong. I know you can save yourself!"

Those words hit Clara harder than the crash itself. Her whole world shattered in an instant.

"Julian... no... don’t leave me..." she whispered, her voice almost swallowed by the roar of growing flames. "There... there’s something important I need to tell you..."

"Maya doesn’t have what you have, Clara! She could die if I don’t get her to a hospital right now!" Julian cut her off, no hesitation in his tone. He stopped listening. He turned his back on his wife’s burning car, ran back to Maya, lifted her into his arms, and carried her to his own vehicle.

"JULIAN!!!" Clara screamed, every last breath torn from her lungs.

Julian’s car door slammed shut. The engine roared to life—and within seconds, its taillights sped away, vanishing into the dark night—leaving Clara all alone in a metal trap that grew hotter by the second.

Tears streamed down her face, mixing with dried blood on her cheeks. The pain in her leg faded, replaced by a hollow, crushing emptiness in her chest. Five years of devotion, of striving to be the perfect wife, of putting her career aside for him—all repaid with cruel abandonment at death’s door.

The cabin grew unbearably hot. Fire raced across the seats. Clara stroked her stomach one last time with trembling fingers.

"I’m sorry, little one..." she whispered, surrendering to the pain as a fresh wave of agony tore through her lower body. The bleeding grew worse. Inside her handbag, now licking with flames, the pregnancy test slowly blackened and turned to ash.