What Lies Between Us

3

Nora’s POV

The first thing I felt was the shaking.

My entire body trembled beneath the thin hospital blanket, even though I could feel warmth around me.

I tried to open my eyes, but my eyelids felt impossibly heavy.

I forced them open and everything around me was white.

The ceiling. The walls. The curtains.

Then I felt something holding my wrist.

I turned my head slowly.

A young man was sitting beside my bed, his fingers gently pressed against my wrist as he watched me.

The moment he noticed my eyes were open, his expression changed.

“You’re awake.” He’s said, relieved.

I swallowed. My throat felt dry and painful.

“Where… where am I?” I asked him.

His hand immediately released my wrist.

“You’re in the hospital.”

I stared at him.

“A hospital?”

“Yes.”

I tried to move, but pain shot through my side.

I gasped.

“Don’t move too quickly,” he warned.

I looked down at myself.

There was a thick bandage wrapped around my shoulder.

A sudden wave of fear rushed through me.

“What happened to me?” I asked, panic flooding through me.

The young man hesitated.

“You don’t remember?”

I shook my head. Then I looked at him again.

“Are you my doctor?”

He smiled faintly. “No. I’m just an intern.”

An intern. For some reason, that made me feel slightly calmer.

“Then where is my doctor?” I asked.

“He’ll be here shortly. I was checking your vitals.”

I stared at him. My mind felt foggy.

There was something I was supposed to remember.

Something terrible. He seemed to notice the confusion on my face.

“You were found unconscious in a hotel suite,” he explained gently. “Someone found you and called for help, and you were rushed here.”

“A hotel suite?”

“Yes. You had lost a lot of blood.”

He glanced at the chart in his hand. “You were very lucky.” He continued.

“Lucky?” I whispered.

“The stab wound was serious, but thankfully, it wasn’t close to your heart. A few inches in the wrong direction and…” He stopped himself. “You wouldn’t have made it.”

My heart began pounding. A stab wound.

The words seemed to unlock something inside my mind.

Suddenly, I remembered the knife. The woman.

Her tears. Her voice.

“You want to steal him from me!”

I sucked in a sharp breath. My hand flew to my side.

“Chris.”

The name escaped my lips before I could stop it.

The young man looked at me.

“Chris?” He repeated, confused.

I closed my eyes. Everything came rushing back.

The private lounge. The champagne sitting untouched on the table.

The woman standing in front of me. The knife buried inside my body.

Her tears. Her anger.

And then the words that had destroyed everything I thought I knew.

Chris. Her husband.

My fiancé. My Chris.

My stomach twisted.

He had a wife.

All this time, Chris had been married.

And I had been planning to marry him.

I opened my eyes. Tears gathered in them.

I remembered the way the woman had looked at me.

She hadn’t been lying. She had been hurt.

Betrayed.And somehow, so was I.

Chris had lied to both of us.

I clenched my fists beneath the blanket.

I had trusted him. I had loved him.

I had planned my entire future around him.

And he had been living another life behind my back.

But then another memory came.

Something even more important.

My hand slowly moved toward my stomach.

The young intern noticed.

“Are you in pain?” He asked, concerned.

I didn’t answer.

My heart was pounding.

I was pregnant. I was carrying Chris’s baby.

I had found out only a few days ago.

I had been so happy and I had planned to tell him tonight when we were to meet.

That was why I had gone to the hotel in the first place.

I had wanted to surprise him. I had imagined his face when I told him.

I had imagined him pulling me into his arms.

I had imagined our wedding. Our home. Our child. Our future.

All of it had been a lie. A bitter laugh escaped my lips.

The intern looked concerned.

“Are you okay?”

I turned my face away. A tear slipped down my cheek.

I wasn’t okay. I had almost died because of a man who had never even been honest with me.

And now I was carrying his child.

The only innocent thing in all of this.

I thought about Chris. I thought about his wife.

I thought about the life they had built while I stood outside it, believing every lie he told me.

My sadness slowly turned into something colder.

Anger.

A deep, burning anger that made my entire body feel different.

I had spent the last few days dreaming about telling Chris I was pregnant.

Now, I wanted him to suffer.

I wanted him to lose everything.

I wanted him to lose his marriage. His reputation. His money. His perfect little life.

And then my eyes dropped to my stomach again.

A terrible thought entered my mind.

If I wanted to destroy Chris completely, there was one thing I could take from him for a start. His baby.

I swallowed hard. My heart broke at the thought.

But the anger inside me was louder and stronger.

I looked toward the young intern.

“Can I be alone for a moment?”

He hesitated before nodding.

“Of course. I’ll let the doctor know you’re awake.”

He walked toward the door and I waited until he disappeared. Then I placed both hands over my stomach.

Tears streamed down my face.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

I didn’t know whether I was apologizing to myself or the baby.

Maybe both. I closed my eyes in pain.

Chris had taken away my future. His wife had nearly taken my life.

But they had made one mistake. They had left me alive.

And I wasn’t going to waste the second chance they had accidentally given me.

I would completely destroy Chris.

And the first thing I would do was start by destroying his baby inside me.