When You Loved Me, I Was Gone

Chapter 3

The living room fell silent.

Colton stood there looking at Sofia, and Sofia looked right back at him. Neither of them gave an inch.

A long moment later, the front door opened, and Hazel Gentry walked in wearing a custom evening gown and an expression cold enough to freeze the room.

The second she saw Sofia, she strode straight toward her and slapped her across the face.

The c***k of the slap echoed through the house!

Sofia's head snapped to the side, and blood immediately poured from her nose, streaking over her lips and collar before dripping onto the floor.

Colton's brow tightened. He stepped forward, tipped Sofia's chin up, and called to the staff without looking away from her. "Get me ice. And tissues."

Hazel had not expected that reaction. She faltered for the briefest second before her contempt settled back into place. "After all the money I've spent on you, you still let yourself get into this state. Just looking at you is bad luck!"

Sofia took the tissues from the servant and avoided Colton's hand. A faint, mocking smile touched her mouth. "You're right. If you're going to keep using me as your punching bag, I might as well take enough money to make it worth the abuse!"

Then she glanced at Colton.

"I actually feel bad for you, Colton. Your childhood must've been rough." After that, she stopped paying attention to either of them and headed for the guest room on the first floor.

Behind her, Hazel's voice rang out again. "It's Benjamin's birthday, and she had the nerve to let Rivka in after everything that happened. Hasn't this family already been humiliated enough?"

Sofia nearly laughed. Hazel did not dare confront her son, so all that rage had to land somewhere, and Sofia had always been the easiest target.

The moment she shut the door behind her, the pain hit all at once. Her knees gave out. She slid to the floor and sat there with her head tipped back, dragging in one shaky breath after another.

Blood kept streaming from her nose. It smeared across half her face, but she did not bother wiping it away.

At least the pain proved she was still alive, however miserably.

Her phone rang. It was the private investigator handling the search for her biological family.

She had to steady herself before she answered. "Hello?"

"The test results are back. Congratulations. You found your biological parents."

Sofia leaned her head against the wall. For several seconds, she said nothing at all.

Then she finally forced the words out. "Say that again."

The investigator kept talking, but after that first sentence, most of it blurred together into noise. 'You found your biological parents.'

'Now? When I'm terminally ill and running out of time?'

A knock came at the door. Sofia's thoughts were shattered. She got up quickly and went into the bathroom.

When she looked in the mirror, the woman staring back at her looked wrecked. She lowered her head, turned on the water, and washed every trace of blood from her face just as footsteps entered behind her.

She did not need to look up to know who it was. She shut off the tap and turned toward the doorway, water still clinging to her skin. "What, Colton? Did Hazel decide slapping me once wasn't enough? Are you here to take your turn too?"

Instead of answering, Colton lifted a hand and touched her swollen cheek with the tips of his fingers. "Does it hurt?" he asked quietly.

The question sent a bitter ache straight through her chest. She turned her face away. "What do you think?"

Colton studied her distant expression, then gave a faint, unreadable smile. "I didn't think you were the type to get upset."

Sofia looked back at him. "Well, when you take money to do a job, you learn to put up with a lot."

Something shifted in Colton's eyes. A complicated emotion flickered there and vanished just as quickly. "If things had been different..."

"Colton. Nothing is more dangerous than wondering what might have been. We had an agreement before we got married, remember? If I still wasn't pregnant by the end of this year, the marriage would be over automatically. That was the deal."

His throat worked, but no words came out.

"So, honestly, I should thank you for bringing Rivka back. If I've had to suffer this much as your wife, it's only fair someone else inherits the misery after me!"

Outside, fireworks exploded across the night sky and lit the whole Gentry Villa in flashes of gold and red. Benjamin's birthday celebration had officially begun.

Inside the bathroom, Sofia stepped closer until their breath mixed in the narrow space between them. She looked straight into Colton's eyes and said, slowly and clearly, "There's something else I forgot to tell you. I'm sick. I'll never be able to have your child."