4: 4
4
The rain came down harder, cold water soaking me through in an instant.
It took forever to flag down a cab.
I hurried to climb in, and my foot slipped. I went down hard.
Then a violent, wrenching pain tore through my belly.
I looked down and saw blood running with the rain down my thighs, spreading red across the ground.
“Oh God, miss, you're bleeding so much!”
The driver panicked and jumped out, helping me into the back seat.
“Hurry, I'll get you to a hospital!”
In the ER, the doctor shook his head with regret.
“You were almost two months pregnant. Threatened miscarriage, plus a bad fall like that, and the baby couldn't be saved. Go handle the paperwork and prep for the D&C.”
The news hit me like a thunderclap.
For seven years I had dreamed of having a child with Gavin, a child that was ours.
And now the baby was gone before it had seen this world even once.
I dragged my weak, ruined body down the corridor toward the operating room, alone.
But as I passed the VIP room at the bend in the hall, I saw Marcella and Gavin.
I shook my head and forced myself past through the pain.
Gavin was sitting on the edge of the bed, gazing at her with tender concern.
“Gavin, do you think Karen's still angry?”
Marcella's voice was soft and fragile as ever, but there was a flicker of triumph at the bottom of her eyes.
“What if she really won't ever talk to you again?”
Gavin let out a cold snort and lifted a pastry to her lips.
“Who cares. After all these years, when has she ever not come crawling back once she's done throwing her fit? An ordinary clerk with no family, no background, marrying me was already above her station.”
“Let her stew a few days and she'll realize she was wrong.”
Marcella ate the pastry and nodded sweetly.
Then she lowered her eyes, and her voice caught, thick with tears.
“Gavin, actually, I just talked to my therapist······”
“Ever since that scumbag ex hurt me, I've been so scared. I feel like I might never be able to love anyone again for the rest of my life, might never dare to marry. But what girl doesn't dream of putting on a wedding dress and walking down the aisle?”
She clutched at the hem of Gavin's clothes, pitiful, and pleaded:
“The doctor said if I could just wear a dress I love and have a ceremony, maybe it would finally undo this knot inside me.”
“Gavin, could you play out a wedding with me? Just to make my one dream in this life come true. Please?”
Gavin's brow creased. Some part of him knew it was absurd.
He was, after all, about to marry Karen on Valentine's Day.
How could he stage a wedding with Marcella?
But then he looked at Marcella's face, so heartbreakingly forlorn.
And at the scars on her wrist, where she'd once cut herself in her depression. In the end, he agreed.
“All right. I'll give you the grandest wedding there is, and make your dream come true. I just hope this time your depression finally gets better.”
The way he saw it, it was nothing but make-believe, a ceremony with no legal weight.
Karen loved him so much. A little coaxing afterward and she was sure to understand.
Three days later, at the city's finest five-star hotel.
To make Marcella happy, Gavin had booked out the entire rooftop garden and brought in countless society guests and press.
The romantic wedding march began.
Marcella made her grand entrance in the couture gown she'd seized from Karen and altered slightly for herself.
But standing at the front, watching Marcella come toward him step by step,
Gavin was struck by a sudden, groundless surge of panic and a pounding heart, as if he were about to lose something.
And just as the officiant smiled and prepared to announce the exchange of rings,
the ballroom's carved double doors were shoved open from outside with a bang.
Founder of the world's top couture house, a godfather of the fashion world, the master designer himself——
Bryce Delgado strode in with more than a dozen bodyguards in black.
The whole hall fell dead silent.
Gavin froze a moment, then hurried forward, flattered and eager.
“Mr. Delgado, you came in person? This is truly an honor for me···”
Bryce didn't so much as glance at him. He walked straight up to Marcella.
“Take off that gown.”
