Chapter2
1251 Words
A sharp pain tore through my stomach.
It wasn’t normal.
It wasn’t the dull ache I’d read about, the stretching and shifting my body was supposed to go through.
This was different.
It was wrong.
I pressed a hand against my belly as I stepped out of the cab, my fingers trembling. My other arm was broken, and my head was bleeding. Even like that, Gabriel kicked me out.
But I wasn’t going to panic. Not yet. I just needed to lie down. Rest.
This was all a nightmare. I would wake up and still be okay.
I stumbled. My knees hit the pavement.
No.
I gasped, my vision tilting.
No, it wasn't a nightmare. It was real life.
A few people turned to look, their voices muffled, distant.
“My baby.” The words came out strangled. A whisper. A plea. “My baby..”
This can’t be happening.
Not now. Not after everything.
I reached for my phone, my fingers slick, but the pain hit again. My stomach felt as if it was being ripped into two.
The world is blurred.
Someone was shouting. A hand touched my shoulder, but my body was slipping and sinking.
“My baby.”
The words tasted like salt and iron.
Darkness swam at the edges of my vision.
I tried to fight it.
Tried to hold on.
Tried to save what was left of me.
But everything faded.
And then—
Nothing.
****
I woke up to the sound of beeping.
Sharp, rhythmic, cutting through the numbness in my body. My eyelids felt heavy like they’d been glued shut, but I forced them open. The hospital room was cold, sterile, and empty.
My fingers twitched against the stiff sheets. Why was I here?
I frowned. Something felt wrong.
Then it hit me.
I bolted upright, or at least I tried to. A harsh pain tore through my lower abdomen, locking me in place. My breath caught in my throat, and I pressed a hand to my stomach, my mind screaming at me to feel something anything.
But there was nothing.
Just flat, aching emptiness.
The door creaked open, and a doctor stepped in, flipping through a chart. She barely glanced at me before speaking.
“The miscarriage was inevitable.”
Her voice was calm. Detached.
I stared at her, the words slamming into my chest with a force that stole the air from my lungs.
I shook my head. “No. No, that’s not—”
Her eyes finally met mine, and for a moment, I swore there was something close to pity in them. But it didn’t matter.
Because the truth already settled in my bones, cold and irreversible.
My baby was gone.
A choked sound crawled up my throat. My fingers curled into the sheets, gripping them so tight my knuckles went white.
The doctor sighed, shifting uncomfortably. “I’m sorry for your loss. Given the stress and trauma—”
Trauma.
I barely heard the rest.
There were explanations. Medical terms. Something about hemorrhaging and shock. But none of it mattered.
Because at the end of it all, I had lost everything.
The doctor checked the monitor beside me before scribbling something on her clipboard. “You’ll be discharged tomorrow. There’s paperwork to sign.”
I swallowed the bile rising in my throat. “My family—” My voice cracked. “Gabriel… Did they—”
She didn’t need to answer. The silence was enough.
They hadn’t come.
I felt hollow.
The doctor must have noticed because she hesitated, then said, “I can call someone if you need—”
“No.”
The word came out sharply. Cold.
It wasn’t like there was anyone left to call.
She nodded, not pushing further, then left the room.
I stared at the ceiling, blinking hard, forcing back the sting behind my eyes.
I wouldn’t cry.
I wouldn’t give them that.
I didn’t know how much time passed. Minutes. Hours. Maybe longer.
Then the door opened again.
And I immediately wished I was still unconscious.
Anaya.
She glided into the room, her red hair cascading over her shoulders, her designer heels clicking against the floor.
She looked stunning. Like a woman who had everything.
I hated her for it. She had always been like that. The girl with the life, while I was the one from the slumps.
She wasn't meant to do that. I was. If not for the fact we were mixed up at birth, Anaya should be the one in that village and I…living her life.
But as always, life was unfair to me.
She stopped at the foot of my bed, tilting her head. “You look awful.”
I didn’t say anything. Didn’t move.
Her lips curled, her voice dripping with fake sympathy.
“Now you have nothing.” She leaned in, her voice soft, almost delicate. “Just like you should.”
I exhaled slowly, staring at her. “Why are you here?”
She shrugged, feigning innocence. “I thought I should check on you.”
“Bullshit.”
Her smirk widened. “You’re catching on.”
I wanted to rip the satisfaction off her face.
My fingers twitched, itching to grab something, to throw something. But I refused to give her the satisfaction of seeing me break.
Instead, I forced myself to sit up, ignoring the sharp pain in my body.
Anaya’s eyes flickered to my stomach. Then back to my face.
She smiled. “Such a shame.”
The rage that surged inside me was unlike anything I had ever felt before.
I clenched my jaw. “Get out.”
She pouted. “So ungrateful. I did come all this way.”
I sucked in a breath, fighting the burning behind my eyes. “You got what you wanted, Anaya. You and Gabriel can live forever happily ever after. The baby is gone. Congratulations.”
Her smirk deepened. “Oh, sweetie. This was never just about Gabriel.”
I went still.
Anaya stepped closer, her nails tapping against the metal railing of my hospital bed.
“I wasn’t going to let you take what was mine,” she murmured. “You don’t belong in my family. You never did. And you did not deserve a man like that.”
Something inside me snapped.
I lunged.
Pain tore through my stomach, but I didn’t care. My fingers clawed at her, but she stepped back, laughing.
“That’s the spirit.” Her gaze flickered over me, amusement flickering in her cold, red eyes. “Maybe if you had fought like this before, you wouldn’t have lost.”
I was shaking.
Trembling with rage.
But she was right.
I had lost.
Anaya adjusted the strap of her purse. “Gabriel and I are leaving for Paris tomorrow. Our engagement party is next week.”
I didn’t react.
She smiled. “I’ll send you pictures.”
The pure cruelty in her tone made my stomach turn.
She had won. She knew it.
And she wanted me to know it too.
I looked at her one last time.
I took in the victorious gleam in her eyes, the smug way she carried herself, the utter certainty that she had destroyed me beyond repair.
I let her believe it.
Because if there was one thing I had learned from losing everything—
It was that I had nothing left to lose.
And that made me dangerous.
She reached for the door handle. “Goodbye, Aria.”
- Writer
