Chapter 5

Serena froze.

Ignoring the searing pain in her hand, she grabbed Marvin's arm.

“Marvin Grant, do you even hear yourself?

“That was our baby's room!”

Marvin frowned deeply.

“The baby was never even born. You miscarried. Why are you making such a big deal out of it?”

He shook off her hand.

And with that single gesture, he shattered the last bit of love she'd been holding on to.

All these years, Serena had believed that neither of them had ever truly recovered from losing their child.

But now she realized she'd been the only one trapped in that grief.

A bitter, heartbroken laugh escaped her lips.

Ignoring Grace, she pushed open the nursery door and began gathering the things they'd once prepared for their baby.

Tiny clothes in shades of blue and pink.

A lace-trimmed bassinet.

Stuffed animals she'd specially spritzed with perfume.

And a stack of prenatal examination reports on the little desk.

They were the only proof that her child had ever existed.

The ultrasound images were the only pictures she'd ever had of her baby.

Not long after that ultrasound, she'd lost the pregnancy.

Serena's eyes reddened.

She was about to carefully gather the reports when a hand suddenly shoved her aside.

“It's him! It's the baby! He's been blaming me all along! He hates me for not wanting him! For what I did to him!”

Rip!

Grace began tearing the papers apart in a frenzy.

She ripped them into tiny pieces and flung them into the air, sending scraps of paper fluttering everywhere.

Serena's eyes turned bloodshot with fury.

She lunged forward and shoved Grace away.

Grace stumbled into the corner of the desk and let out a piercing scream.

“Marvin! It hurts!”

Marvin rushed over immediately.

“Serena Spencer, what the hell is wrong with you?

“They're just a few pieces of paper! Did you really have to shove Grace over them?”

He wrapped an arm around Grace and stood over Serena as she knelt on the floor, desperately gathering the torn scraps.

Grace burst into tears, looking frightened and deeply hurt.

“Marvin, please don't blame Serena. It's not her fault. I just can't get past what happened to me.”

Her voice broke.

“If only I'd never gone overseas. If I'd stayed here, I never would've met those people.”

Marvin's gaze grew darker and colder.

A wave of irritation washed over him.

Without warning, he pulled out a lighter, flicked it on, and tossed it toward the pile of papers Serena had painstakingly pieced back together.

Whoosh!

The flames surged upward, consuming the papers in seconds.

The last traces of the child who'd once existed in this world crumbled into ashes.

Serena stared in stunned silence.

Then a scream of utter despair tore from her throat.

“My baby!”

She reached straight into the flames, desperately trying to put out the fire.

But the scorching heat only left angry red blisters across her palms.

It felt as though a gaping wound had been torn through her chest.

Serena trembled uncontrollably as tears poured down her face.

“It's gone. Everything's gone.”

She tried to gather the ashes into her arms, but they slipped through her fingers.

Gradually, the anguish in her eyes gave way to a chilling emptiness.

Marvin left her with one final remark.

“That baby has been gone for a long time.

“What's the point of putting on this whole performance? Who are you trying to impress besides yourself?”

Serena didn't turn around.

She simply sat there all night, staring at the ashes.

When dawn finally broke, the cleaning crew Marvin had hired arrived.

They cleared everything out of the nursery.

And threw it all in the trash.