Chapter 9 Tanner Didn't Turn Back
665 Words
That afternoon, Tanner came to visit with Noelle by his side.
Noelle looked at her with an innocent expression. "Yvonne, you're pregnant. I wanted to congratulate you, but Tanner doesn't want the baby. He's arranged for you to take abortion pills tomorrow."
"When do I take them?" Yvonne kept her head down, her voice calm on the surface.
Tanner frowned. "Tomorrow. Yvonne, don't you have anything to say to me?"
"What if I say I don't want to take them?" Yvonne suddenly lifted her head.
Her eyes were red, and she clutched the bedsheet tightly, clinging to one last shred of hope.
She hoped Tanner still had a little bit of mercy left in him.
Tanner saw the despair in her eyes, and his heart stung sharply. "Yvonne..."
"Tanner, are you going to let her keep the baby?" Noelle burst into tears. "Fine. I'll leave right now. I don't want to be the laughingstock when you three become a family. Everyone will know how foolish I've been."
Tanner shook his head. "Noelle, that's not what I meant..."
"You absolutely meant it. Yvonne said she doesn't want the pills, and you agreed," Noelle shouted.
"When did I agree to that?" Tanner turned to Yvonne, his voice turning sharp and cold. "Yvonne, this baby has to be terminated. You don't get a say in this."
He turned away to comfort Noelle, and the two walked out of the room with their arms around each other.
Yvonne watched the door shut in her face, then lowered her head, a bitter smile tugging at her lips.
She had overestimated Tanner after all.
But she still had one night. She wouldn't just sit back and let this happen—she had to save herself.
Late at night, the hallway was completely quiet.
Yvonne quietly opened the hospital room door and slipped out.
She hurried to the elevator and pressed the button, telling herself she would be safe once she got out.
As the elevator neared her floor, she heard hurried footsteps behind her. Yvonne turned and saw Warren and the nurses rushing toward her.
Luckily, the elevator arrived just then. She stepped inside and let out a breath of relief.
Just as the doors were about to close, a man's arm suddenly blocked them.
Yvonne stared in shock as the doors slid open again.
Tanner and Noelle stood in the doorway. Tanner grabbed her roughly and pulled her out, and she stumbled to the floor.
Noelle stood nearby, her voice soft but laced with triumph and contempt, as if watching a play she had long expected. "Tanner, I'm so glad I reminded you in time—she would have gotten away."
Yvonne was at a loss.
She had failed to escape, but she refused to give up without a fight.
She shouted, "Tanner, I'm not pregnant at all. Noelle and Warren tricked you. She's afraid I'll take you away from her, so she—"
"Yvonne." Tanner cut her off mid-sentence. Yvonne stared at him, stunned.
He turned away, his back to her, his posture cold and unyielding. "If you had told the truth—that you wanted to keep our baby—I might have softened. But you made up this ridiculous lie to frame Noelle. She was right. You're not fit to be a mother, and you don't deserve to have my child."
He gestured with his hand.
Warren and the nurses stepped forward at once.
"Ms. Mason, we're taking you for the procedure," Warren said.
"I'm not going." Yvonne shrank back, tears streaming down her face. "I'm not lying, Tanner. You're the one who's been deceived. The pills they're giving me aren't for an abortion—they'll make me unable to have children ever again."
No matter how loudly she shouted, Tanner didn't turn back. He left with Noelle at his side.
Warren and the nurses dragged Yvonne off the floor and back to her room, then approached her with the pills and a glass of water.
- Writer
