###1
I was seven months pregnant when I was kidnapped.
After my fiancé, Nate Gilmore risked everything to save me, he swore that anyone who hurt me would suffer a terrible fate.
While I was drifting in and out of consciousness, I overheard the gang leader talking to the doctor outside the emergency room.
“Perform the cesarean now. Blame it on the kidnappers later!”
The doctor hesitated, clearly uneasy.
“To treat Miss Cassie Clay’s anemia, we need the umbilical cord blood. That means delivering Ruth Kerr’s baby early. But at seven months… the baby may not survive.”
Nate’s expression was grim.
“The child can be replaced. But Cassie’s body is fragile—like the Princess and the Pea. How can I let her suffer?”
“I’ll make it up to Ruth. Just keep quiet. She can’t know the truth.”
A chill ran down my spine. The man I believed loved me was nothing but a monster.
Later, I remarried—bearing a scar on my belly and a wound in my heart—to his sworn enemy.
…
Tears streamed down my face as Nate burst into the room, eyes red, leaning close to my ear.
“Ruth, those vile thugs harmed our baby! A cesarean is the only way to save you!”
Liar. He wasn’t saving me—he was sacrificing his own child for his mistress.
Darkness swallowed me whole.
When I awoke, I touched my empty belly. Ignoring the searing pain from my incision, I rolled out of bed and crawled to the floor.
“Where’s my child?!”
The doctor entered, his eyes full of regret.
“I’m sorry, Miss Ruth. Your daughter didn’t survive the premature birth…”
Plop.
I collapsed, as though my soul had been torn from my chest.
Nate once said we could have another baby. He forgot—five years ago, he nearly drowned in an icy pond. I saved him, even while pregnant.
That child was lost. The doctor told me then my body had been damaged by freezing, and it would be difficult—almost impossible—to conceive again.
This baby was a miracle—one born after five years and dozens of failed IVF attempts.
Grief suffocated me. I shoved away the nurse trying to lift me and staggered into the hallway.
Covered in blood, I arrived at the morgue, only to hear the attendant say in surprise, “Didn’t your fiancé come to collect the body? He didn’t tell you?”
While I lay unconscious, Nate whispered promises to me—saying he would give our child a proper burial.
But could I believe him?
I wandered the halls, lost, until I saw his subordinate, Hyena, toss a white bundle to the ground.
Two stray dogs darted in, teeth tearing into the cloth.
Cassie stood nearby, arms crossed, laughing.
“Ruth’s dead kid can still serve a purpose—dog food! What a contribution, huh?”
No!
My vision turned red. I hurled myself at them.
“You monsters!”
I wrestled my daughter’s small body from the dogs’ jaws. Hyena shouted, panicked, “I was just following orders!” and fled.
I cradled the bloodied remains—what was left of my baby—missing a leg, her tiny frame ruined.
Sobbing, I screamed,
“Nate, how could you be so heartless?!”
“Baby, I’m sorry… Mommy didn’t protect you… You were killed by your own father before you even saw the world…”
Behind me, Cassie sneered.
“To Nate, your kid was just stem cells… and dog food.”
I flashed back months earlier, when Nate would gently caress my belly, listening to the heartbeat.
“I’ll make her the happiest little princess in the world,” he said.
I believed he’d be a wonderful father.
Then Cassie reappeared, and my world shattered.
She was once the heiress of the wealthiest family in Detroit. After their downfall, she came to New York and knocked on Nate’s office door.
Everything changed after that.
He began disappearing at night.
While I threw up bile from morning sickness, he lay in Cassie’s bed.
“I’m sorry, babe,” he said, “I’m just busy. Every pregnant woman gets morning sickness. You’ll get through it.”
On my birthday, I waited at a restaurant until closing, only to receive a text about a last-minute business trip.
Then came an email from Cassie—with a photo.
They were in the US, smiling, holding hands at the Giant Bigfoot Zoo.
When my mother was dying and clinging to life, Nate was too busy cleaning up Cassie’s family scandals to be there.
…
Later, he even brought her into our home.
“She was harassed at a hotel,” he explained, “I had no choice. It’s just a few days. We’re just friends—nothing’s going on.”
But one night, I woke up to an empty bed.
Silently, I approached the guest room. Through the half-open door, I saw him on top of her.
“Has Ruth not satisfied you in a while? You’re so wild… we’re almost out of condoms.”
Nate bit Cassie’s lips and ran his hands over her pale skin.
“Don’t mention her—it kills the mood.”
Cassie gasped, matching his rhythm.
“She’s fat as a pig now. You can’t even touch her. No wonder you’re pent up.”
He frowned, then grew even more eager.
I gained thirty pounds during pregnancy. He claimed he was avoiding sex to protect the baby.
I thought it was love—but he just found me disgusting.
I choked on my tears, thinking: Once the baby comes, we’ll be a family. He’ll see.
But I was naïve.
He crossed every line for that woman.
Now, our baby is gone.
And I’ve finally had enough.
