"Don't worry. Once Tracey's ankle heals, I'll send the lead surgeon over."
The doctor beside him jumped in, practically falling over himself to please.
"Mr. Gilbert, of course Ms. Harding's ankle takes priority. Everything else can wait."
My pupils contracted.
That doctor was the same one who had extracted Lily's bone marrow.
They were all in it together.
My face went blank. The pain in my chest had numbed itself into nothing.
"No need. My mother is already gone."
Thomas laughed.
"Trying to lie your way into getting a doctor? You can't fool me."
He closed the distance, step by step.
"If something really did happen to her, it's your fault, Vivienne. You're the one who refused to back down."
My throat locked. I couldn't hold it back anymore. I rushed forward and raised my arm.
My palm was inches from Thomas's face.
But Tracey, the woman with the supposedly injured ankle, shot to her feet and threw herself between us.
She shoved me. Hard.
I wasn't braced for it. The back of my skull cracked against the doorframe and my body flew backward.
Before I blacked out, I heard Thomas's panicked shout.
"Vivienne!"
When I opened my eyes again, every inch of me screamed with pain, except my abdomen. My abdomen felt nothing at all.
The doctor and Thomas were both standing at my bedside.
Memory flooded back. I closed my eyes. I didn't want to look at either of them.
But the doctor delivered the news anyway.
"The prolonged stress and the delay in treatment allowed the cancer cells to spread."
My eyes snapped open. "Cancer...?"
The doctor sighed. "Uterine cancer."
"The fall also caused severe trauma to the uterus."
"The surgery went well. We removed the uterus and saved your life."
"But you will never be able to bear children again."
I stared at nothing. The agony in my chest arrived on a delay, crashing over me all at once.
Tears slid down before I could stop them.
Thomas grabbed my hand, gripping it so tight his fingertips trembled.
He bowed his head, pressing his forehead against mine.
A long silence. Then his voice came out broken.
"I'm sorry... I didn't know..."
"I thought we could have another child..."
"But I was so caught up with Douglas's bone marrow transplant..."
Another child.
That would never happen now. Not in this lifetime.
And Lily would never have anything to do with Thomas Gilbert again either.
"Vivienne, once Douglas is formally adopted into the Gilbert family, we'll start fresh. A real life together."
"I mean it this time. I'll send Tracey away."
He paused, then scrambled to his feet.
"I'll go take care of it right now."
The door clicked shut, and a sharp cramp tore through my abdomen.
The anesthesia was wearing off.
So was everything between us.
I ignored every instruction the doctor gave me, dragged my post-surgery body out of bed, and made my way to my daughter's room.
She had been bright-eyed and alert that morning. Now she lay unconscious.
I asked the nurse. Tracey had been here.
She was the mother of the young Gilbert heir.
The future "Mrs. Gilbert."
So no one had dared stop her.
I clenched my jaw until my teeth ached.
Tracey Harding.
Mrs. Gilbert.
If she wanted Thomas so badly, then fine.
I'd give her exactly what she wanted.
It took only a few hours.
Thomas Gilbert's affair hit every major news outlet.
I released everything I had.
The report proving he had kidnapped Lily and forced her into surgery for his illegitimate son's sake.
Photos and audio recordings of him and Tracey together inside the hospital.
Surveillance footage of the hospital staff bowing to Thomas's orders, leaving my mother to die on the operating table.
Within thirty minutes of the story breaking:
The hospital was under full government investigation.
Gilbert Group stock went into free fall.
Reporters swarmed Thomas's front gate.
Even Tracey and her son weren't spared.
My phone rang nonstop.
Every call was from Thomas.
I pulled the SIM card out and dropped it in the trash.
My private physician carried Lily aboard the jet.
I stood on the rooftop of our company building, looking at the tower next door.
My assistant followed my gaze.
"The Gilbert Building. You designed those blueprints for Mr. Gilbert yourself."
"Would you like to say goodbye, ma'am?"
Every sweet memory surfaced at once.
Now each one was just a needle lodged under my skin.
I let out a cold laugh and handed my assistant the envelope I had prepared.
Inside was the custody ruling I'd just obtained.
And the fake marriage certificate from our so-called remarriage.
"No need. Just make sure he gets this."
I turned and walked onto the plane without looking back.
My daughter in my arms. The wheels lifting off the tarmac.
The chaos behind me.
None of it was mine to carry anymore.
