I stood by the window in the corridor, taking deep breaths, trying to ease the suffocating pressure on both body and mind. But waves of dizziness still washed over me.
“Tania, why are you here all alone? You look so pale… are you feeling unwell?”
Raline was standing right beside me, twisting the green bangle on her wrist, wearing a feigned expression of concern. Yet in her eyes—the ones so uncannily like Celine’s—was nothing but vicious pride.
I remained silent, turning to leave.
But she reached out, blocking my way, her eyes full of naked provocation.
“Sam kept me in the master bedroom all night… he always says I’m the most like Celine. Every time he looks at me, he gets so passionate—much more than when he looks at you.”
“Tania, you probably don’t know yet… I’m pregnant too. Don’t you think Sam will love my child even more?”
A surge of fury, anxiety and physical discomfort hit me all at once. I pointed at her, trying to make her leave, but no sound came out of my mouth.
Everything around me began to spin wildly.
In the last second before I completely lost consciousness, I heard Raline’s triumphant sneer—and, in the distance, what sounded like Sam’s hurried footsteps.
I forced my eyes open, the first thing I noticed was the heavy scent of candles in the guest room. Turning my head slightly, I was shocked to see both Sam and Raline standing by my bedside.
Sam sat on the edge of the bed, his brow furrowed, a shadow of worry—or perhaps concern—lingering in his gaze.
“Tania, how are you feeling? Is there anywhere that still hurts—”
Before he could finish, Raline softly interrupted, “Tania, the doctor said you stirred the baby. You really don’t know how to take care of yourself and your emotions fluctuate so much. You have to rest properly in bed.”
“The doctor also said that it might have been because you didn’t take care of yourself that your previous child—”
Sam’s expression changed instantly. The concern in his eyes toward me was immediately replaced by displeasure and suspicion.
Raline shot me a provocatively triumphant glance, then dropped another bombshell. “Sam… I’m pregnant too.”
Sam whipped his head toward her, his voice overflowing with ecstatic joy. “That’s amazing! Are you feeling unwell at all?”
The smile on his face was genuine, the kind I had never seen when I was pregnant.
Raline lowered her head shyly. “I just found out… I was planning to tell you on your birthday, five days from now.”
Sam jumped to his feet, pacing back and forth, his face alight with delight—before he finally remembered that I was still lying on the bed, just fainted and also carrying his child.
He turned to me with impatience written all over his face. “Tania, just lie here and rest. Don’t go anywhere. You can’t even take care of yourself or the baby. Don’t cause me any more trouble.”
With that, he immediately wrapped his arms around Raline’s waist. “Come on, Raline. Let’s go to the hospital for a full check-up. We can’t risk even the slightest mistake.”
The room was left empty once more, with only me and the thick, nauseating scented candles lingering in the air.
I lay on the bed, my hand instinctively resting on my stomach, where another life was growing, just like Raline’s.
But at that moment, I was treated as if I didn’t matter at all.
Another wave of weakness washed over me. My instincts screamed that something was seriously wrong with my body. I quickly called Kendrick.
“Kendrick… please come to the villa and take me away. I’m afraid I can’t protect the baby. Take me to a private hospital.”
