"We have a pulse!"
"This is nothing short of a miracle."
I didn't know how much time had passed before I gradually regained consciousness.
My eyes fluttered open to a haze of doctors and nurses scrambling around me. There was no man anywhere in sight.
If fate had decided to give me back this life, then I would live it well. I stayed in the hospital and focused on recovering.
A full week passed.
Antony never came to see me, but every detail of my care was arranged impeccably. The housekeeper and the private nurse attended to my every need without missing a beat.
Every few days, I caught the nurses whispering excitedly when they thought I couldn't hear.
"That woman in VIP Room 7, Betty Henson? She really lucked out, having a husband like that."
"Please. She's not the wife. The one in Room 6 is the real Mrs. Gilbert. Haven't you heard? Betty's just his first love."
"He made his wife delay her delivery so his first love could give birth to the firstborn son. The whole hospital's been buzzing about it."
"If you ask me, marrying into money isn't all it's cracked up to be. End up with a man like that and you've got one foot in the grave."
"All the money in the world doesn't matter if you're not alive to spend it."
They noticed me lying there, expression calm, listening to every word.
The two young nurses cleared their throats, grabbed their medicine trays, and hurried out.
Through it all, I felt nothing. As if the baby who had died moments after being born wasn't mine at all.
Betty did come by once, baby in her arms, to gloat.
"Oh, sweetie, I never imagined your little one would have such a short life."
"And here I thought, since we were both pregnant at the same time and due on the same day, our boys could grow up together like brothers."
She cooed at me with that saccharine sympathy of hers.
"Oh, you probably don't know yet, do you? Antony already named my son. Michael Gilbert."
My head snapped up.
Michael.
There had been a time when Antony and I were happy together.
Back when the love between us still felt real, he had made me a promise.
"Michael. What do you think of that name?"
"When we have a child someday, boy or girl, we'll name them Michael."
I had been naive enough to believe that Antony and I would be happy forever.
Then his first love finalized her divorce abroad and came crawling back, destitute and desperate.
Antony lost himself completely. His entire heart latched onto her like a man possessed.
That was when I finally understood. All those countless times he had held me close and whispered "Lauren"... he had been saying "Betty."
Faced with Betty's taunting and her smug little show, my expression didn't change. I gave her one word.
"Congratulations."
The smile froze on her face.
Two weeks later, I was finally discharged. The first thing I did was go back to the Gilbert house.
Antony glanced up at me, utterly indifferent.
"I knew you'd come back."
"It's been over two weeks. You should be done being angry by now."
He bent down and tossed a check at my feet.
"This month's allowance."
"Buy whatever you want. Spend it however you like."
I didn't pick it up. My voice was flat.
"You already gave me one."
Antony raised an eyebrow.
"Last time was compensation for the baby. This one is for your living expenses."
A bitter smile tugged at my lips. "How generous of you, Mr. Gilbert."
It was always the same.
Whenever Antony knew he had wronged me, he threw a check at the problem.
Betty called him once while I was sick with a fever, and he shoved me out of his car on the freeway overpass. I walked three miles in bare feet until they were raw and blistered.
He gave me a check for a hundred thousand dollars.
I took the fall for Betty's crime, and the people who came for her dragged me away and beat me instead.
He gave me a check for five hundred thousand.
