The Dying Wife He Abandoned

3. Alone

SONIA

The only kindness Kayden showed me that night was paying my hospital bills, but I knew better than to think it was a gift. He didn't do it out of remorse or because he cared. No, he did it because he didn't want a scandal. With how hard Kayden had worked to fix his image, I knew for a fact that he wouldn't want anything smudging it, especially if it had to do with me.

I didn't recall a lot of things after the drama in the ward, but I knew after I was discharged, weak and stitched and hollow, I went back to the house that used to be my home. I told myself I just needed my things. I told myself I was going to grab some essentials, a suitcase, baby clothes, documents, and maybe another chance with Kayden.

A life.

Instead, I was pushed out into the rain. I'd barely taken a step onto the porch before I was pushed into the downpour. It poured mercilessly, soaking through the thin blanket wrapped around my newborn. I fought a shiver, pulling my baby closer to me, like that could make things any better.

My mother-in-law stood at the doorway, dry and composed, while I shivered on the marble steps, and maybe if I wasn't so hurt, I would have laughed at the irony of it all.

Her voice was cold, colder than the rain, and believe me when I said I wasn't exaggerating. “Who the hell told you, you could come back here?”

I parted my lips to speak, but before I could get the words out, she cut in again.

“With you gone,” she said smoothly, “Kayden can finally be with the girl I chose for him.”

The words barely registered in my ears. Behind her, standing in the living room like she belonged there, was Laila.

She wore one of Kayden’s shirts. She didn’t look ashamed, she looked victorious, like she'd won a lifetime battle. Maybe she had.

For the longest I had known Kayden, I knew Laila too. She was the ex he could never get rid off, not really because his mother practically worshipped this woman.

“Please,” I begged, this wasn’t the time to think of the past, there was more at stake at the moment. I swallowed my pride, my dignity, the little I had left. “Let me see him. Just once. I need to explain. Once he listens to me, he'd understand and….,”

“There’s nothing to explain, leave before I have you thrown out, Sonia. You don’t belong here anymore. You never did.” my mother-in-law replied sharply, cutting me off in the blink of an eye.

The pouring rain had already drenched me, but even with the rain, if she bothered to look, I was certain she could have seen my tears. “I didn’t cheat on him.” I hated how much I'd had to repeat these words tonight, but I was all out of options.

“If you don’t want that bastard to die in this rain,” she cut in coldly, glancing at my baby, “you’ll leave. Now.”

The word bastard sliced deeper than the surgical blade ever had and I recoiled. My heart pounded loudly in my chest as I looked down at my son. His tiny face scrunched as he whimpered, and for some strange reason, it stirred something in me.

Something I hadn’t felt in a long time.

Time seemed to slow to a standstill as my gaze darted from my baby to Kayden's mother, Laila, and back to my baby again. Her words echoed in my head, louder this time, so I did the only thing I could think of.

I rose to my feet, clutching my child against my chest where it was now soaked and I left. In the rain.

My head had been aching ever since I left Kayden's home. I refused to associate myself with it anymore, but it did nothing to dull the constant and pounding reminder of everything I’d lost.

It had been a week. One week since my life ended, and since fate had decided to play a silly prank on me that wasn’t close to being funny.

And I could afford was a rundown motel in a neighborhood where sirens replaced lullabies. The wallpaper peeled, the sheets smelled like old smoke, the lock barely worked, and the water? It smelled bad and looked like urine left out for days.

I stared at the cracked ceiling and wondered how I ended up here. From a mansion to this, from a wife to nothing, from luxury to barely scraping by. All because my husband believed a lie even I didn’t know who was behind it.

And that hurt more than anything.

Tears pricked at the corner of my eyes, but Oliver’s cry pulled me back to reality. I sat up slowly, biting back a groan as pain tore through my abdomen. I'd been enduring for a while now, but I was slowly getting to my breaking point. My stitches burned, and no matter how careful I was, the skin around them felt hot and tight. A little too red.

I pushed my own pain aside as I gathered him into my arms and nursed him. He was so small, too small, nothing short of a premature baby who hadn’t known proper care for days because his mother had been too broken to function.

“I won’t leave you,” I whispered into his soft hair. “I can’t.”

I couldn’t die. Not when he only had me. Those were the words I muttered as I gathered my things and set out to the hospital.

And getting there felt like climbing a mountain. I limped to the street with Oliver in my arms and flagged down a taxi. Every bump in the road sent pain radiating through my body, but I didn't stop. I couldn't.

As the taxi sped by and into the night, I felt the pain in my sides worsen. I was this close to losing it, but I bit down on my bottom lip to keep myself from screaming.

When we arrived, I stepped out, and my feet had barely kissed the ground, before the world tilted. The hospital entrance blurred, and my vision darkened at the edges. My grip on Oliver tightened as I leaned against the nearest car to steady myself, not even noticing what kind it was.

“Hey!” a sharp voice snapped. “Get your filthy hands away from that car!”

I blinked, dizzy as I pushed myself up from the car. I was standing straight now, barely, and that was all it took for me to realize that the car was probably worth a million times of my net worth, not that it was a lot though.

“Do you even know how much this cost?” From the inside, a man in a suit glared at me like I was dirt. “Do you know who owns it?”

“I…I’m sorry,” I mumbled weakly, pushing off the car. “I didn't mean to.”

My voice quivered and my knees buckled. I had only taken a couple of steps away from the vehicle when another voice cut in.

“Wait,” someone called from behind. The voice was deep and commanding that I had no idea but to turn toward it. I tried to though, but I never made it. One minute I was standing, and the next, the ground was rushing up to meet me, and a wave of darkness was the last thing I saw.

I wasn't sure how much time passed or how long I was out for, but I woke up screaming.