Adeline’s Pov
The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the cold. I was strapped to a narrow bed in a white room that smelled of bleach.
A man in a doctor’s coat stood beside me, humming softly as he checked a syringe.
“Where am I?” I whispered.
He smiled without looking up. “Your husband said you needed help. Don’t worry, Mrs. Morales. I’m here to fix you.”
The needle slid into my arm before I could speak. My head spun, my tongue heavy from the drug. I tried to speak but couldn’t, my wrists fighting uselessly against the straps.
The doctor glanced at me, “Don’t worry, we’ll make you feel better. Just relax.”
He pressed a button. Pain shot through my body like lightning. I screamed.
“Shh…” he said softly. “It’s part of the treatment.”
For two days, I lost track of time. My body ached from the shocks, my throat burned from crying.
Every time I begged to go home, they injected me again. I heard the nurses whisper when they thought I was asleep.
“Clara said not to leave marks,” one murmured.
“Pity,” the other replied. “She paid so well.”
That was when I realized that Clara had arranged a torture session for me and pretended it was therapy.
By the second evening, I couldn’t even cry anymore. I just lay there, staring at the ceiling, waiting for it to end.
When the door opened, Ethan walked in later that night as I've been discharged.
I thought I’d cry or shout but I didn’t. I just stared at him, unable to say a word.
He frowned. “You look terrible. It’s only been two days.”
Only two days. I didn’t reply. I didn’t have the strength to. I just kept shivering from the cold weather, it was raining heavily outside.
“Let’s go,” he said flatly. “Clara’s waiting at home. She needs me.”
Of course she did. He didn’t even help me stand. I followed him silently, each step burning through my legs.
In the car, the silence was unbearable. The city lights blurred outside my window. I stared at my hands, I was trembling and cold but he didn't spare me any glance.
Then his phone rang. Clara’s voice came through the speaker, trembling and soft.
“Ethan! Please, come home. The baby… something’s wrong. He’s not moving!”
Ethan’s hand tightened on the steering wheel. Without a word, he pulled the car to the side and unlocked my door.
“Get out.”
My head snapped up. “What?”
“I said get out, Adeline. Clara needs me.”
“You’re leaving me here?”
His eyes met mine for a second, flat and cold. “You’ll manage.”
The door slammed, and the car sped off, splashing mud across my skirt.
I stood by the roadside, shaking in the rain, watching the red taillights fade away.
I tried to cross, but my vision blurred as headlights flashed, a horn blared, and then everything went dark.
—
When I woke up again, I was in another hospital bed. My body hurts everywhere. A dull pain pulsed deep in my stomach.
A doctor walked in quietly, his face grim. “Mrs. Morales,” he said, “you’re lucky to be alive. But… we had to perform an emergency surgery. The damage was severe. I’m sorry but you’ve lost your womb.”
My world stopped.
I stared at him, my lips trembling. “What… what did you just say?”
He lowered his eyes. “There was too much internal bleeding. You won’t be able to conceive again.”
My breath came out in shallow gasps. The monitor beside me beeped rapidly as tears slid down my cheeks.
A knock sounded on the door. Clara stepped inside, dressed in soft pink, her hands resting gently on her round belly.
“Oh dear,” she said, feigning sympathy. “I heard you had a little accident. Such a shame about… your womb.” She tilted her head, smiling. “But look on the bright side, now you can focus on helping me raise our child.”
I gripped the blanket. “Why are you everywhere? Are you stalking me?”
Clara laughed wickedly, “I only came to admire my handwork. I’m not happy you survived the accident when I gave them clear instructions but at least now you can't have any child for Ethan.”
My chest tightened and before I could stop myself, I yanked her hair, tears rolling down my cheeks.
“How could you? Isn't it enough you've killed my son, what more do you want?”
“Help!” Clara cried out.
The door opened suddenly as Ethan walked in with the doctor, their eyes going wide in disbelief.
“It’s barely twenty-four hours and you're attacking her again?!” Ethan snapped, pushing me roughly.
I fell from the bed as my back hit the edge of the bed, ripping my stitches open and I started bleeding again.
“Ethan,” I whispered, “she did this to me—she sent the people who ran me down —”
He cut me off. “Stop lying. I'm tired of your antics!”
I froze. “What?”
“I caught the man who hit you,” he said, tossing a file onto my bed. “He confessed. You paid him to hit you. I'm so disgusted by you I can't even look at you right now.”
I stared at him, horrified. “That’s not true! You think I’d do that to myself?”
Ethan scoffed. “Of course you would. You’d do anything for attention.”
I stared at him, my mouth hanging open with shock but before I could speak he continued.
He stepped closer, his voice low and cruel. “How low are you willing to go for attention, Adeline? You’ve lost your mind. Clara has done everything to make you feel better but you keep attacking her! How evil can you be?”
“I lost my child, Ethan!” I cried. “And now—”
He turned away before I could finish. “Enough. Clara’s baby shower is tonight. Try to act like a decent human being for once. Help her get ready.”
Clara leaned close, smiling sweetly. “Don’t worry, Adeline. I’ll make sure Ethan saves you a slice of cake.”
The door slammed behind him as he left with a smirking Clara.
I sat there, staring at the hospital gown that was now stained with blood. My hands trembled as my phone buzzed beside me.
It was a message from Mr. Harris, my lawyer:
“Divorce papers have been delivered.”
A tear slipped down my cheek, the last one I’d ever cry for Ethan Morales.
