Chapter 3
668 Words
"I admit, Rachel was a mistake I made when I was young. But after all these years together, I truly have feelings for you. Are you really going to make such a fuss over something so small?"
I let out a bitter laugh at Nathan's words. "A small issue? You faked a marriage certificate to deceive me for eight years while keeping a secret wife and daughter, Nathan! If I hadn't stepped in back then, where would you be? Would you even be alive to enjoy this success?"
He slammed his fist against the steering wheel, the sound echoing in the cramped car. "Kiara Chapman, will you ever let it go? I rushed back here just to appease you. Isn't that enough? You only supported me for your own benefit anyway, so stop acting so high and mighty. Besides, I've worked tirelessly to give you a better life. Rachel and her daughter have only received a fraction of what you have. Stop being so dramatic."
I, the sole heiress of the wealthiest family in Belrun, had intervened out of sheer goodwill. I had lifted a penniless boy from the gutter and built him into a titan, only for him to claim it was for my own gain. My hands shook with a rage I couldn't contain.
Suddenly, Nathan's phone rang. The dashboard screen flashed the caller ID: Baby. He glanced at me, his eyes flickering with guilt, as he scrambled to switch the call to his handset.
But I still heard that soft, sweet voice: "Daddy, the house is so huge and pretty! When are you coming to stay with us?"
So, he had brought them to Belrun after all.
The rain intensified, a wall of water that even the wipers at full speed couldn't clear. Distracted, Nathan slammed the brakes at a red light. The car spun wildly out of control, flipping over before coming to a violent halt. I was pinned in the wreckage, a searing, white-hot pain shooting through my legs.
"Darling, are you okay?" He fumbled with my seatbelt, but then the voice on the phone pleaded again: "Daddy, the thunder is so loud! Mommy and I are scared. If you don't come right now, we're going back to Hanbir and we'll never speak to you again!"
Nathan climbed out of the wreckage, ignoring my muffled groans. "June, be a good girl. Wait for me with Mommy!"
Hanging up, he gripped my hand for a fleeting second. "Darling, June and Rachel need me right now. Just stay here. Someone will come for you." Without another word, he hailed a passing taxi and vanished into the storm without a backward glance.
Clenching my teeth through a haze of agony and pure hatred, I dragged myself from the twisted metal. The downpour soaked me to the bone, my fingers raw and bleeding from the asphalt, while the blood from between my legs was washed away by the rain.
It was only thanks to several Good Samaritans that I made it out alive.
At the hospital, the doctors rushed me toward the ER. "Ms. Chapman, you have severe injuries below the waist and you've suffered a miscarriage. We need to operate immediately, but we need a family member's consent. Where is your husband?"
I pressed my hand to my abdomen. A miscarriage. Again.
Years ago, Nathan had been on a field survey in the mountains when a storm caused a horrific collision. He arrived at the hospital covered in blood, hovering at death's door. With the blood bank empty, I—seven months pregnant—insisted the doctors transfuse him with my own blood. He survived, but the stress cost us the baby. It was a little boy; he was still whimpering when they induced labor.
Perhaps that child was never meant to live in this world.
I let out a ragged, bitter laugh as tears streaked my face. "I'll sign the forms myself."
The surgery was a success, though I was now confined to a wheelchair.
- Writer
