The suffocating weight in my chest gave me the resolve I needed. I reached out to several shareholders at the company.
When they heard I was selling my thirty percent stake, every one of them expressed interest.
I told them to make their offers. Highest bidder wins.
Half an hour later, I signed a share transfer agreement with the CTO.
He was talented and ambitious, but Harrison had always kept him at arm's length.
With my shares, he'd become the company's largest stakeholder.
I hoped Harrison would enjoy the wedding gift I'd prepared for him.
My phone buzzed again. The wedding planner.
The coordinator sounded irritated:
"Ms. Simmons, what exactly is going on with you two? First the wedding's canceled, then it's back on, but we already threw everything out like you asked. What am I supposed to do at this hour?"
I felt bad about the trouble, but this wasn't my fault.
I apologized to the coordinator and offered a suggestion:
"My wedding with him is definitely canceled. I won't ask for a refund on the fees. As for Harrison wanting the wedding back on, you can have him place a new order."
"He'll kill me for that!"
"He'll pay. Trust me."
Because he genuinely wanted to marry Claudia.
I hung up. It was already two in the morning.
I abandoned the idea of going home to say goodbye to my mother and took a cab to a hotel near the airport.
The coordinator texted me a thank-you, saying Harrison had been furious but did end up paying again.
I smiled faintly, set an alarm, and collapsed into bed.
But then Harrison started blowing up my phone.
I blocked his number, powered off my phone, and went back to sleep.
Until a violent pounding erupted at my door.
"Tilda Johnson! Open this door!"
The moment I heard Harrison's voice, I realized I'd forgotten to turn off our couples' location sharing.
His voice dripped with fury. The image of Claudia deliberately throwing herself onto the ground flashed unbidden through my mind.
Had she actually lost the baby?
Or was this about the shares I'd sold?
The next second, Harrison kicked the hotel door open.
He stormed in, eyes bloodshot, grabbed my arm, and dragged me toward the door.
"Claudia miscarried because you pushed her. They couldn't even save her uterus. And you're in here sleeping?"
I struggled, tried to explain.
"I didn't push her. She fell on purpose—"
Harrison shoved me into the car.
"That was the only child she'll ever have. Why would she do that to herself?"
He locked the doors and floored it all the way to the hospital.
Then he forced me to my knees in front of Claudia's hospital bed.
"Apologize to Claudia. And promise you'll carry a child for her as compensation."
My kneecaps hit the freezing tile floor. Pain and cold radiated through my entire body.
I tried to stand, but Harrison's hand clamped down on my shoulder, pinning me in place.
"Are you mute? Apologize to Claudia! Did you hear me?"
I swallowed the discomfort and spoke, word by word:
"I didn't push her. If you don't believe me, go back and get the security footage from the neighbor's doorbell camera."
The neighbor's camera would have captured every second of Claudia's little performance.
But he didn't believe me.
"Tilda, you are such a disappointment. Do you have any idea what you did? Claudia didn't just lose the baby—she lost her uterus!"
"She's being generous enough not to press charges. All she's asking for is an apology. What more do you want?"
"You took away her chance to ever be a mother. Carrying a child for her is the least you can do. Consider it repayment for selling off my company shares behind my back!"
The least I could do.
And the man who had always put his career above everything else had just ranked his thirty percent stake below Claudia Simmons.
He really did love her to the bone.
I laughed until tears spilled from my eyes, and finally let three words fall from my lips.
"I'm sorry."
Harrison released his grip and had me sign a document.
It was almost laughable. What made him think that just because I signed, I'd actually carry a child for Claudia?
But I needed to get out of there. So I signed.
Only then did Harrison help me to my feet. His expression was complicated.
"Just to make sure you don't cause any more trouble, you'll have to bear with something for a little while."
"And Claudia losing the baby stays between us. You don't breathe a word."
It wasn't until I was locked inside an abandoned storage room in the hospital that I understood what he meant by bear with something.
He wheeled Claudia off to their wedding.
I pounded on the door and screamed until a janitor finally heard the commotion and let me out.
I checked the time. My flight was about to depart.
I hailed a cab and raced to the airport.
As I was boarding, Mrs. Delgado called.
"Tilda, where are you? Harrison says you ran off before the wedding! And now he's marrying Claudia Simmons?"
Before I could answer, she caught the sound of a flight attendant announcing boarding information in the background.
"Tilda, you're at the airport? Today is your wedding with Harrison. Where are you going?"
"Mrs. Delgado, today's wedding is his and Claudia's. It has nothing to do with me."
She didn't even hang up before turning to confront Harrison, demanding to know if he'd mistreated me.
He shouted back at her.
"Mom, Claudia's pregnant. You're going to be a grandmother soon."
I'd assumed Fiona, who had been desperate for a grandchild for years, would be thrilled by the news.
Instead, her voice rose to a furious roar.
"Bullshit! That girl's had no uterus since she was a child. Pregnant with what, exactly?"
