"Cody?" I hovered over the metal rail of the hospital bed.
His eyelids fluttered. The steady beep of the heart monitor sped up, echoing the sudden race of my own pulse.
Thirty days. For an entire month since the car crash, I had lived in this sterile room. I had washed his skin, tracked his vitals, and prayed to every god I knew. I had barely eaten. I had barely slept.
"He is waking up," I told the private nurse. "Get Dr. Evans."
The nurse rushed out.
I grabbed Cody's limp hand. "You are safe. You are at Mount Sinai. Just take it easy."
His dry lips parted. A raspy sound clawed its way out of his throat.
"Do not try to speak," I murmured, brushing a stray lock of dark hair from his forehead.
He pulled his hand out of my grip. The movement was weak, but the rejection hit me like a physical blow.
"I want..." he croaked.
"Water? Let me get the sponge."
"A divorce."
The plastic cup slipped from my fingers. It hit the linoleum floor, splashing water over my worn sneakers.
"What?" I asked.
His gaze locked onto mine. There was no confusion in his eyes. No post-coma haze. Just cold, absolute certainty.
"I want a divorce, Gina."
My chest tightened. "You just woke up from a month-long coma. You have a traumatic brain injury. You do not know what you are saying."
"I know exactly what I am saying." He turned his head away, staring at the blank wall. "Get out."
"Cody, please. Let the doctors check you. We can talk about this later."
"There is nothing to talk about."
The words sliced through me.
Before I could answer, the door burst open.
Dr. Evans hurried in with two nurses behind him. "Mr. Carter, can you hear me? Do you know where you are?"
Cody nodded.
"What year is it?"
He answered correctly.
"Do you know who she is?" The doctor gestured toward me.
For a brief second, Cody's eyes flickered in my direction.
"Unfortunately, yes."
The room fell silent.
One of the nurses looked uncomfortable.
My face burned.
Dr. Evans cleared his throat. "The patient has just regained consciousness. Emotional instability is common after severe trauma. Mrs. Carter, perhaps you should give him some space."
Space.
I had given him thirty days of my life.
Thirty days sleeping in a plastic chair.
Thirty days wiping his body, feeding him through tubes, begging him not to die.
And the first thing he did after waking up was ask for a divorce.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced myself to nod.
"Fine."
Without looking back, I walked out of the room.
The second the door closed behind me, my legs nearly gave out.
I leaned against the cold wall and stared at the floor.
What had happened?
Just one month ago, Cody had kissed me goodbye before leaving for a business trip.
He had told me he loved me.
Then came the accident.
And now this.
None of it made sense.
I was still trying to process everything when voices drifted from around the corner.
"Cody must never know."
The voice belonged to my mother-in-law.
Cindy Carter.
Instinctively, I froze.
Another voice answered. "Mrs. Carter, Amanda has already landed. What if Gina finds out?"
My breath caught.
Amanda.
I knew that name.
Everyone knew that name.
Cody's first love.
The woman he had been obsessed with before meeting me.
Five years ago, when the Carter family faced bankruptcy, Amanda had abruptly left the country to study abroad.
A few months later, Cody met me.
We got married.
Eventually, I thought he had moved on.
Now my mother-in-law sighed heavily.
"He nearly died trying to pick Amanda up from the airport. If Gina learns the truth, things will become complicated."
The world seemed to tilt beneath my feet.
Trying to pick Amanda up?
The accident hadn't happened on the way to a business meeting?
It happened because he was rushing to see another woman?
"No matter what," Cindy continued, "Amanda is carrying the Carter bloodline now. Gina must sign the divorce papers."
My ears rang.
Carrying...
The Carter bloodline?
I pressed a trembling hand against my mouth.
Pregnant.
Amanda was pregnant.
And judging from Cindy's tone, everyone already knew.
Everyone except me.
My stomach twisted violently.
Five years.
I had spent five years loving Cody.
Supporting him.
Protecting his family.
Trying desperately to become the perfect wife.
Meanwhile, he had apparently never let Amanda go.
Footsteps echoed down the hallway.
I quickly stepped back before anyone could see me.
Then I looked up.
A woman was walking toward me.
She looked like she had stepped straight out of a luxury magazine.
Long glossy hair.
Perfect makeup.
A white designer dress.
Diamond earrings that probably cost more than my yearly salary before I married Cody.
Compared to her, I looked pathetic.
My wrinkled clothes，my dark circles.
My exhausted face.
For a month, I had lived in a hospital.
She looked like she had just returned from a vacation in Monaco.
The woman stopped directly in front of me.
A small smile curved her lips.
"Gina."
She knew who I was.
Of course she did.
"You must be Amanda."
Her smile widened.
"Smart girl."
I felt sick.
Amanda's gaze slowly swept over me.
Then she reached down and gently rested a hand on her flat stomach.
The gesture was deliberate.
Cruel.
Possessive.
"I came here because I think you deserve the truth."
I said nothing.
"Five years ago, Cody begged me not to leave."
My fingers curled into fists.
"He called me almost every week after I moved overseas."
My heart pounded painfully.
"He never stopped loving me."
Each word struck like a hammer.
Amanda tilted her head.
"Oh, didn't he tell you?"
She pulled out her phone.
A few taps later, she turned the screen toward me.
Photographs.
Video calls.
Messages.
Thousands of messages.
Some dated only weeks ago.
Some from years earlier.
Five years of contact.
Five years of lies.
I stared at the evidence until the words blurred.
Amanda's smile turned sympathetic.
The kind of sympathy people showed wounded animals.
"I know this must be hard."
I laughed.
The sound came out broken.
"Hard?"
"Yes."
She stepped closer.
"I mean, imagine spending five years playing wife while knowing you were never the woman he really wanted."
The hallway spun around me.
Amanda lowered her voice.
"I am pregnant, Gina."
Her hand stroked her stomach again.
"Cody already knows."
I felt my last shred of hope shatter.
"And now that he's awake, he wants to make things right."
A cold chill crawled down my spine.
"What do you mean?"
Amanda looked toward Cody's hospital room.
Then back at me.
The victory in her eyes was impossible to miss.
"I mean he's finally coming back to me."
At that exact moment, the hospital room door opened.
Cody's voice echoed down the hallway.
"Amanda?"
The warmth in his tone was something I hadn't heard in years.
Amanda immediately smiled.
"I'm here."
Without another glance at me, she walked toward him.
And Cody—
the man who had barely looked at me after waking up—
reached for her hand the second she entered the room.
The door closed behind them.
Leaving me alone in the hallway.
Like a stranger.
Like I had never been his wife at all.
