CHAPTER 2
1080 Words
CARMILLE'S POV
I stood in the doorway, my hand still gripping the cold brass handle.
I felt like I was watching a movie of someone else’s life. Silas, the man I had spent five years building a life with, didn’t look ashamed.
He didn't jump up or try to fix his clothes. He looked at me with a cold, bored expression that hurt worse than the betrayal itself.
"A healthy heir?" I whispered, the words tasting like ash. "What about Elias? He’s your son, Silas. He’s right outside that door!"
Lila let out a small, mocking laugh. She adjusted her blouse, but she didn’t move from his lap.
"Elias is a sick little boy, Carmilla. Silas needs a son who can actually lead a company, not one who spends his life hooked up to a machine."
I looked at Silas, waiting for him to defend our child. Waiting for him to talk back in anger at her cruelty.
Instead, he leaned back and sighed. What should I have expected from someone who had cheated on me?
"She’s right, Carmilla. I’m tired of the hospital bills and I’m tired of wondering if this son of yours would live to see the next year. You’ve become as fragile and dull as that boy. I need more than a nurse for a wife."
The man I loved was gone. In his place stood a monster I had helped create. I had given him the money, the strategy, and the support to reach the top, and now that he was there, he was using his height to look down on me.
"Get out," I said, my voice surprisingly steady. "Get out of this office."
"This is my office, Carmilla," Silas reminded me, his voice sharp.
"I built Cooper Fabrics. You’re just the woman who stayed home. You have nothing. No job, no money of your own, and soon, no home. Now leave, before I have security drag you out in front of our son."
I didn't stay to argue. The air in the room felt poisonous. I turned and ran back into the hallway. Elias was sitting in the chair, his small legs dangling, a confused look on his face.
"Mommy? Is Daddy coming?"
"We have to go, Elias," I choked out, grabbing his hand. "We have to go right now."
I buckled Elias carefully into his car seat before shutting the door gently. My hands were trembling so badly I had to pause for a second against the side of the car just to breathe.
I couldn't stop hearing Silas’s voice in my head. A healthy heir. My chest felt tight as I slid into the driver's seat and started the engine.
"Mommy?" Elias asked softly from the backseat.
I forced myself to look at him through the mirror and managed a weak smile. "We're going home, baby. Okay?"
He nodded quietly, clutching the small toy dinosaur he always carried around.
I pulled carefully out of the Cooper Fabrics parking lot and onto the main road, trying to steady my breathing.
The traffic ahead was heavy, cars packed bumper to bumper near the intersection outside the company building.
Then suddenly, a black SUV came speeding out from the underground exit of Cooper Fabrics.
My stomach dropped.
I recognized Silas’s license plate instantly.
The SUV cut violently across lanes like whoever was driving didn't care who was in the way. A second later, I caught a glimpse of Silas behind the wheel with Lila beside him. He wasn't looking at the road.
"Silas...!"
Tires screeched.
His SUV slammed directly into the side of our car with a brutal force that made the entire vehicle spin.
Glass exploded everywhere. Metal crushed inward with a deafening sound.
“Mommy!” Elias screamed.
The world blurred violently around me as the car twisted across the road before everything finally went black.
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I woke up to the smell of bleach and the steady beep of a heart monitor. My head felt like it had been cracked open.
"Elias," I croaked. "Where is my son?"
A nurse appeared by my side, her face full of pity. "He’s in the pediatric ICU, Mrs. Cooper. He survived, but..."
"But what?" I sat up, ignoring the shooting pain in my ribs. "Is he okay? Can I see him?"
"He has suffered a severe psychological shock on top of his physical injuries," the doctor said, stepping into the room.
"Physically, he will heal. But the trauma... Carmilla, Elias has lost his voice. He isn't speaking. He isn't making any sound at all."
I fell back against the pillows, my heart breaking into a million pieces.
My sweet, gentle boy. Silas had destroyed our family and now his recklessness had nearly killed his own son.
I reached for my phone on the bedside table.
I needed Silas. No matter what he had done, he was the father. He had to care if it's not for me. He had caused this. He must have not known that it was us. I called him once, twice, ten times.
He never picked up.
Instead, a notification popped up on my screen. It was a message from an unknown number...a photo.
It was Silas and Lila. They were at the Golden Leaf Hotel, walking into a suite.
The time stamp was from an hour ago.
While I was in surgery and our son was lying mute in a hospital bed, Silas was celebrating his new "heir" in a hotel room.
He didn't bother with us that he had hit!
Something inside me snapped. The warmth, the softness, the "weak" Carmilla who wanted to please everyone... she died in that moment.
I wiped the tears from my face. My eyes feeling puffy. I picked up the phone again, but I didn't call Silas. I dialed a number I had memorized but never dared to use in five years.
It rang only once.
"Hello?" a deep, stern voice answered. It was my father’s lawyer.
"It’s Carmilla," I said, my voice cold and hard. "The six-year clause is up. My marriage is over."
There was a pause on the other end. "And the agreement, Miss Willows? You know the terms. If you return with nothing, you must marry the man your father chose."
I looked out through my window, wondering how much pain Elias had to endure. I thought of Silas’s smirk and Lila’s hand on her stomach.
"I don't care," I said. "Tell my father I’m coming home.”
- Writer
