He Lied About Our Dead Baby to Keep Me

Wendy Carter arrived at the hospital to visit her son. The nurse on duty was a young woman barely in her twenties, absentmindedly rubbing her stomach with a blissful smile. "Ms. Carter, here to see your son again?" she asked brightly. "Where's your husband? Didn't he come with you today?" Wendy shook her head. "He had an important meeting." Their son had been born weak and sickly and had lived in a sterile incubator from the moment he entered the world. The medical bills had drained them endlessly. At the same time, her husband, Sebastian Lancaster's company had suffered a failed investment and fallen into financial trouble. With no other choice, he spent his nights entertaining clients while Wendy worked multiple part-time jobs until exhaustion. But for their child, every sacrifice had felt worth it. The nurse handed her a bill. "Ms. Carter, please complete the payment." After paying, Wendy returned and headed toward the sterile room to see her son. Before she reached the door, however, a soft moan drifted from inside. "Too deep... slower..." Then came a man's low, breathless voice. "Would slower satisfy you?" Wendy froze where she stood, her whole body trembling. She had loved Sebastian for ten years—seven in love, three in marriage. No one in the world knew his voice better than she did. Her legs felt impossibly heavy as she forced herself toward the door. Through the curved glass panel, she saw Sebastian pinning the nurse beneath him, moving against her with brutal force. The woman's hand was braced against the small hospital bed, against the very bed keeping their child alive. Wendy's hand flew to the doorknob, but she stopped herself from pushing it open. This was a sterile room. Bursting in recklessly could endanger the baby. Inside, the nurse gasped again. "I can't take it anymore, S-Sebastian... stop..." "You were begging for more last night. Now you want me to stop?" Wendy's pupils contracted violently. Last night, Sebastian had told her a foreign specialist had arrived at the hospital, someone who might be able to save their son. He had said he needed to stay overnight to persuade the doctor to take the case. She had believed him completely. She had even stood at the door and helped straighten his tie before he left. For three years, she had endured hardship after hardship because she believed that no matter what happened between them, their love for their child had always been real. Now she learned he had used their son as an excuse to spend the night in another woman's bed. Sophia Bennett wiped herself off and slapped the edge of the hospital bed irritably. "If it's dead, it's dead. Why not just tell her the truth already? Keeping that fake doll here creeps me out every time." Sebastian turned away and lit a cigarette. "If I tell her the baby died long ago, what would I use to keep her by my side?" The words hit Wendy like a blade through the heart. Agony ripped through her chest so violently that her entire body went numb. What did he mean the baby was dead? What fake doll? "Sebastian... what are you talking about?" Before she even realized it, she had shoved the door open. Shock flashed across Sebastian's face. He crushed out his cigarette at once. "Wendy, Sophia and I were just…" "Who cares about that?" Wendy screamed and lunged toward the hospital bed, shoving Sophia aside. There, where her child should have been, lay nothing but a doll. A lifeless, fake doll. Wendy stared at the doll for one long second before laughter burst from her lips. It came out sharp and unhinged, growing louder and louder even as tears streamed uncontrollably down her face. "Sebastian, I don't care who you sleep with!" She lunged forward and grabbed his collar with both hands, her entire body shaking so violently that even her fingers trembled. "I'm asking where my child is! The baby I carried for ten months, where is he? The child you used to keep me trapped with you, where is he?" Her voice rose with every word until it became nearly hysterical. Her eyes burned crimson, her vision blurred with tears, and her breathing broke into ragged gasps as despair clawed its way out of her chest. Sebastian met her gaze without a trace of warmth and said, "Wendy, the baby you gave birth to was stillborn." In an instant, all the blood drained from her face. Darkness swallowed her vision, and her body crumpled to the floor.