The sky split open without warning, and rain came crashing down in sheets.
Water soaked through Madison's clothes in seconds, plastering the fabric to her skin like ice. Yet she stood in the downpour with her spine ramrod straight, her gaze fixed on Joel through the living room windows. There was no plea in her eyes. Not a trace.
Something twisted in Joel's chest, sharp and unbidden. A terrible thought surfaced.
Did she want to leave him?
He crushed it almost instantly. She couldn't leave him. She loved him too much.
His eyes went cold.
"Madison, you really think this is your house to throw tantrums in? Don't you dare use my mother to strong-arm me!"
He wrapped his arm around Alexis's waist and headed for the stairs without a backward glance, leaving Madison standing in the rain.
The downpour only worsened, each drop hammering against her body like a fist.
The bodyguards moved toward her, ready to force her to her knees. Madison lifted her gaze and pinned them with a stare that could cut glass.
"You know what Mrs. Delgado is capable of. If I kneel today, do you really think you'll be alive tomorrow?"
The color drained from their faces. They exchanged a look, and the old woman's reputation did what Madison's words alone could not. They released her, stepping back with grudging reluctance.
Madison stumbled back inside. Every step sent a dull, dragging ache through her lower abdomen.
She made it to the second floor. Joel's bedroom door was ajar, and through the gap she saw something that made the world tilt sideways.
Joel had Alexis pinned against the headboard. Their bodies were tangled together, moving in a rhythm that left nothing to the imagination.
Alexis looked up. Through the crack in the door, her eyes met Madison's.
A slow, triumphant smile spread across her lips, mockery spilling from her gaze like venom. Then she draped her arms over Joel's shoulders and let out a breathy, theatrical moan.
Something hot and metallic surged up Madison's throat. She clamped both hands over her mouth, barely keeping the blood from spilling past her lips.
She couldn't watch. She turned and fled to her own room like a hunted animal.
The moment she locked the door behind her, a mouthful of blood poured into her cupped palm. Bright red. Violent against her skin.
She slid down the door and crumpled to the floor, still wrapped in her soaked clothes. The cold seeped into her bones as pain folded her body in on itself. Her vision blurred at the edges, then began to dissolve.
Time lost its shape. The chill burrowed deeper.
She fumbled for her phone and dialed Joel's number on instinct. Once. Twice. Again and again. No one picked up.
She dragged herself out of the room on her hands and knees. From behind the bedroom door, the sounds hadn't stopped. Rise and fall. Rise and fall.
When she opened her eyes again, she was in a hospital bed. A doctor stood beside her, his expression grim.
"Miss Maddox, you spiked a hundred-and-two-degree fever. Between the rain exposure and the severe emotional distress, your pregnancy is extremely unstable. You cannot endure any further stress. If you do, we may not be able to save the baby."
Madison stared at the ceiling and nodded.
Not long after, a commotion erupted in the hallway. Every member of the medical staff was summoned away.
The nurses chattered as they rushed past her door.
"Mr. Delgado's Miss Pruitt got admitted. Apparently things got too rough in the bedroom. He called in every doctor in the hospital to see her!"
"And look at Mrs. Delgado in there. Pregnant, burning up with fever, and not a single person looking after her. That amnesia of his sure is selective. Seems like the only person he forgot is his wife."
"When it comes down to it, the one who isn't loved is the real other woman. Miss Pruitt is the one Mr. Delgado actually cares about now."
Every cruel word found its way into Madison's ears, precise as a blade.
She turned her head toward the window. Outside, the rain had stopped. Her eyes held nothing but emptiness.
In the days that followed, Joel stayed at Alexis's side, tending to her every need. He never once learned that his wife was in the hospital too.
