The Scorned Wife's Return

CHAPTER 3

Luke

“She F*cking stabbed me!” Williams cursed as he held his now bleeding right hand in his left palm. The syringe was thin but Mira had ruthlessly stabbed it in his palm, he probably needed to have it checked out for any punctured vein. But that was the last thing on my head at the moment.

“Oh my… Williams your hand.. oh my.” Chloe screamed at the sight of the bright red blood. The noise, the curses, the abrupt situation … all hit me at once and I could faintly feel a migraine coming.

I would have continued in my daydream if the nurses, who I didn't even know had entered, hadn't pushed me away as they crowded Mira. They flustered over her, checking her pulse and trying to re-attach another syringe to the drip while checking her already swelling arm.

“Try to stabilise her, we need to move her to the ER stat.” Said a nurse who was already shifting Mira’s head to a better position and propping the bed. Then she turned to us “Aren't you all her family, how could you let something like this happen?”

Williams scoffed. “Don't associate me with that snake, can't you see what she did to my hand.” He waved his injured hand. “What sort of sh*tty hospital is this, can't you see I need treatment immediately?”

The nurse paused for a second, taking a moment to let his words sink in before a look of disgust showed on her face.

“She just had a miscarriage, yet…” The nurse didn't continue, she just shook her head before turning to Mira, who was looking more pale by the second.

Miscarriage?, the word sounded like a hammer to my skull. So she really had… the child we were expecting was gone?

“It's gone.”

Mira's voice rang in my head as those words were replayed again and again like a broken track.

“I lost the only thing that held us together.”

I didn't hear Chloe gasp in shock, or notice William’s look of suspicion. She was fine this morning, so how would a short fall cause something like this…?

Suddenly I could see how pale her face was, I could spot some bruises over the uncovered skin of her body, especially a large purplish one that extended from her clothes to her arm.

How could I not have noticed this before? I wondered as the nurses started to roll Mira out of the room, with Williams storming off to look for a doctor after the nurses ignored him.

I instinctively wanted to follow but then Chloe grabbed my hand as she started to sob into my arm. “This… this can't be happening, it's all my fault.”

My heart tightened. “Don’t worry, It's not your fault Chloe, none of us wanted this.” I said as I hugged her close, her sweet lavender perfume reaching my nose. She didn't deserve any of this.

Mira’s Pov.

The world swam back into focus slowly. The pain from ‘everywhere’ was the first thing to hit me, I groaned slightly before the smell of antiseptic and the beeping sound of the monitor reminded me of where I was. And what had happened.

I opened my eyes but it took a while before I could register my surroundings. It was just as blinding white as before but now the room was more plush - a private suite - unmistakably Parker Group Luxury. Luke's doing.

A slight shuffling of feet from the corner drew my attention and I turned to see Luke standing up.

“How are you feeling now?” He said, sounding oddly tense. A quick glance made me notice that his collar was slightly rumpled and he had a tired look on his face. So he had been waiting for me to come to. A day before, this would have been the highlight of my day, a slight hope that all wasn't lost and I could still build something with Luke.

But now… It was just that, a glance and nothing more. The familiar ache in my chest was still there, but buried so deep down that I wasn't sure I could find it even if I cared to.

I wasn't even angry at him, just tired of it all.

“Better.” I replied. My brain couldn't think of anything better at the moment so I just went for whatever came. The feeling of falling down the stairs, the slip and crash. It was still clouding my thoughts, like a nightmare that didn't want to go away.

Luke gave a curt nod as he shifted. If he was uncomfortable by my short response, he didn't show it.

"About last night…" he began, pausing as if trying to find the best words to use. Like I was some business associate he needed to placate. "I’m sorry. If I’d known… how it would end…" He trailed off, unable to voice the horrific chain reaction his choices had triggered.

“What would you have done?”

Luke paused, clearly taken aback by the question. Well I couldn't blame him, I was also surprised I asked. But then even if I no longer saw a future with him, even if I wished I had never met him - It didn’t change the fact that I spent the last three years of my life trying to please him. A part of me that hadn't died, wanted to know the answer to that question.

“I would have come right back for you.” Luke said as he combed through his hair with his hand, scattering it. “This is our child Mira, just what did you take me for?I'm not some monster—”

“But you knew I was pregnant.” I said cutting him short. “Yet you ignored my calls. Didn't you?” The accusation hung in the air, charged and undeniable. I leaned forward slightly, and looked straight into his eyes, daring him to lie. “You even silenced your phone. Because you didn’t want me bothering you while you were playing knight to her.”

I paused for a beat to let my words sink in. Luke stared at me, speechlessly - his brain probably thinking of something to say but coming up empty each time. His expression at the moment would have seemed funny to anyone but me.

But it didn't last long, finally his face shifted back to that infuriatingly calm look.

“What is going on with you Mira, you weren't like this before. You even made Chloe cry and blame herself for something you cau..” Luke paused, jaw clenching. “Let's not do this, the doctor said you needed rest.”

"Luke," My voice cut through whatever else he was planning to say. I didn't have the strength to continue as I already had my answer. And truthfully I had made up my mind from the moment I lost my child. It was truly the only thing keeping Luke and I together.

"Our three-year agreement is almost up."

Luke finally stuttered. His eyebrows bunching up as his face twisted into a frown. “Mira, why are you bringing this up?”

I slowly turned to face the window. The sun seemed to just be coming out, not going in. Was it already morning?... Another day of my Life wasted on my family and Luke. Never again.

"There are three months left. Then the mandatory cooling-off period.” I said, recalling the exact words on the contract we both signed on the day I sold myself to him. Or rather, my family sold me to him and I followed, just like a lamb to slaughter. Too scared to say no, while Chloe got to have her freedom.

The three years clause indicated that I was not to initiate a divorce unless under extreme circumstances, until the three years was up. After that, I was free to decide whether to leave or stay… I wasn't planning on staying anymore.

The colour on Luke's face drained away. Even though he might be dull sometimes, he was still the CEO of Parker's group, a multi-million dollar company. He understood immediately, but still I might have overestimated his intelligence because he spoke once more.

"We can have another baby,” he gave me a quick once-over before nodding as if to reassure himself. "We don't need to go that far, You’re strong. You’ll recover. We can…”

My cold stare made him swallow his next words as my hand tightened on the blanket. Another baby?, was it so easy… to just have another baby. I looked at him carefully, a part of me expecting that he would start laughing and call what he said a joke because that would be more believable than the defensive look on his face.

“Pfftt.” I tried to hold it in, but I couldn't last a second as the laughter came back. That self mocking laughter that made my body almost double over.

Tears streamed down my cheeks - whether I was crying from the pain as my ribs ached, or the laughter, I didn't know. But the thought of me giving Luke access to my body again, filled me with so much revulsion that even the laughter stopped.

"It’s true," I said. "I will have a child someday." Then I took his hand in mine as I said as gently as possible. "But it sure as hell won’t be yours.”