Chapter 2They Killed Me To Bring Her Back

“I’m so sorry. The baby didn’t make it. The good news is, the mother is stable.”

When the doctor’s words finally registered, I let the darkness of exhaustion pull me under.

In the haze between sleep and waking, I heard their whispers.

“Useless. Can’t even manage to deliver a baby.”

“Well, it saves us the trouble. Less blood on our hands this way.”

“Proceed with the plan.”

…

When I woke up, the hospital room was empty. On the television mounted to the wall, my fiancé was smiling for the cameras at a press conference.

“Today is my fiancée’s birthday,” he said, his expression a perfect blend of charm and sorrow. “Although I can’t be with her, I will be donating one hundred million dollars to charities in the rural mountain regions in her name, to pray for her recovery and well-being.”

The old me would have been moved to tears.

CRASH.

The door slammed against the wall, jolting me fully awake. A large, drunk man stumbled into the room, reeking of cheap whiskey.

“Hey, baby,” he slurred, lurching toward my bed. “I’m here. Come give your man a little sugar.”

My body, weak and ravaged from childbirth, was useless. The man was a mountain, and the pressure of his presence was suffocating. I couldn’t fight back.

“Who are you?” I gasped. “Get away from me!”

His response was a fist to my forehead.

My head snapped back against the pillow, stars exploding behind my eyes. He lunged again.

“Bastard!”

A curse, a thud, and the man was on the floor. I flinched, shrinking back against the headboard as my family and Ethan stormed into the room.

My mother was on me first. Her hand cracked across my cheek, the sting sharp and immediate.

“Have you no shame?” she screamed. “We thought having a child might settle you down, make you decent, but it seems…”

“You can’t polish a turd,” my father finished, his voice dripping with disgust.

“Mom, Dad, don’t be so quick to blame Ava,” Ethan said, his voice a placating balm. “Let’s hear what this man has to say…”

I didn’t speak. A bitter, soundless laugh formed in my throat. A trap set just for me. Why bother struggling?

“It was her! The bitch seduced me!” the man on the floor wailed, pointing a trembling finger at me. “You have to believe me! We… we even have a child together!”

He was getting into it now, a true actor. “To be with me, Ava killed her own baby… she killed our baby herself!”

One sentence, and the verdict was delivered.

Even though I’d been expecting it, a cold dread seeped into my bones. I held my composure as the doorway filled with onlookers, their phones held up to record the drama.

“That’s the fiancée of Ethan Hayes, right? He’s out there doing charity work in her name, and she’s in here being a total piece of trash.”

“The devoted heir and the slutty mistress. What a cliché. Poor Mr. Hayes.”

“Hey, did you hear? The rumor is she actually stole her sister’s fiancé to get with him in the first place…”

The whispers grew into a chorus of filth. I remained still, my face a mask of calm.

“Ethan,” I said, my voice quiet but clear. “Are you really going to see this through?”

A flicker of something—doubt? guilt?—crossed his face before he clenched his jaw. His eyes turned red, and he lunged toward me.

He slammed his fist into the wall just beside my head. The plaster cracked. “Ava!” he cried, his voice trembling with manufactured pain. “Defend yourself! Just say something, deny it, and I’ll believe you—I swear I will!”

The man on the floor scrambled. “No! You have to believe me! I have proof!”

He fumbled in his jacket pocket and pulled out a thick stack of papers. “Look! Photos of us together!” he shouted, scattering them across the floor. “And this! She got an amnio, even with the risks! Here’s the paternity test!”

The papers were snatched up by the crowd. A wave of gasps and murmurs filled the room.

I felt strangely peaceful.

“You degenerate!” my father roared, charging at me. His cane came down hard across my back. A coppery taste filled my mouth as I choked back a spray of blood.

I raised a hand, and my voice, when it came, was a thunderclap in the charged silence.

“Enough!”