Chapter 5

"You and your mother have been using her heart condition for years to force me into submission and make me come back to you."

"I've put up with it over and over. That doesn't mean you get to keep doing it!"

He paused, and his tone eased slightly.

"Let the ER treat her with standard protocol for now."

"Once I know Bianca's all right, I'll send Dr. DeLuca over."

"Natalie, stop. I'm tired."

He hung up.

I stood there feeling like every organ inside me had been torn apart.

I turned and went looking, desperately, for anyone who might lend me money.

The instant I ran out of the hospital entrance, headlights swept across me.

Crash.

A van that couldn't stop in time hit me.

My body flew into the air, and the rain mixed with the blood beneath my legs.

A savage cramp ripped through my abdomen.

It felt like something precious inside me was slipping away.

The sharp smell of disinfectant pulled me out of the dream.

"Donna, you're awake."

A nurse came over, her expression complicated.

"You have a mild concussion."

She hesitated, then lowered her voice.

"But you were six weeks pregnant. We couldn't save your baby. The procedure is already over."

I stared at her.

Six weeks.

The timing lined up exactly.

That was the night Adrian stayed out until morning for the first time.

I smashed a wine bottle and held the broken glass to my throat until he came home.

When he finally arrived, his eyes were bloodshot.

He looked like an animal that had been cornered.

He pinned me to the carpet and tore my clothes off.

"Isn't this what you wanted? You wanted me to touch you."

"Natalie, do you have any new tricks besides threatening to kill yourself?"

We tore at each other and had sex in the wreckage.

Neither of us knew that night would create a life.

He'd sneered at the child I wanted — the one he said I'd have to get through IVF — and it had already existed.

By the time he finally pushed me to the edge of the cliff, that small life had quietly vanished in a pool of blood.

My chest felt empty, like my heart had been scooped out.

And then the tears came.

My phone buzzed.

I answered numbly.

"You're awake?"

Adrian's voice was as cold as ever.

"There's a press conference at three this afternoon. You'll attend in person and tell the media that Bianca is not my mistress."

"The address is—"

"Adrian."

I cut him off.

"Our baby is gone."

Dead silence.

Then I heard the violent screech of a chair dragging across the floor.