“Mrs. Sterling, I still suggest fetal reduction.”
The doctor placed the report on the desk, his face grave. “The triplets are stable for now, but your body is already under extreme pressure. If you insist on carrying all three to term, the risk to you will be very high.”
Before I could speak, Julian Sterling rejected it.
“No reduction.”
The doctor looked at him. “Mr. Sterling, your wife’s condition—”
“I said no.” Julian’s voice was calm, but there was no room for discussion. “All three children must be born safely.”
My fingers tightened around the edge of my dress.
For a second, my throat tightened. He must have loved the little ones so deeply that he could not bear to lose even one of them.
After a year of injections, failed transfers, bleeding, vomiting, and sleepless nights, I had finally given him the children we had both prayed for. More than once, I had almost collapsed in the fertility clinic. More than once, Julian had held my hand and told me that once the babies were born, everything would be worth it.
So when he refused the doctor’s suggestion without hesitation, I thought it was because he treasured them as much as I did.
The doctor frowned. “Mr. Sterling, triplet pregnancy is not the same as an ordinary pregnancy. Mrs. Sterling’s recent indicators are not good. We need to prioritize her safety too.”
Julian finally turned to look at me.
His gaze softened, and he took my hand. “Amelia has suffered so much for these babies. I won’t let her suffering be wasted.”
That sentence nearly broke me.
I lowered my head, afraid he would see the tears in my eyes. At that moment, I still believed I was carrying our children. I still believed the pain in my body had meaning.
After the checkup, the doctor asked Julian to stay behind to discuss the next treatment plan. I went to the VIP lounge to rest, but my stomach felt tight, and I could not sit still for long. One of the babies kicked hard under my ribs. I held the wall and walked slowly toward the nurses’ station to ask for warm water.
Before I reached the corner, I heard Julian’s name.
“Julian, you’re ruthless,” a man said with a laugh. “One wife, three babies, three mothers. You really solved everyone’s problem at once.”
My steps stopped.
Another man joked, “Does Amelia still think the triplets are hers?”
Inside the room, someone laughed.
Then I heard Julian’s voice.
“She doesn’t need to know.”
The blood in my body seemed to freeze.
I pressed one hand against the wall. For a moment, I thought I had misheard. Maybe they were talking about someone else. Maybe there was another Amelia, another wife, another pregnancy.
But the next sentence shattered that hope.
“Vanessa is the real winner,” someone said. “Her baby gets the best position, right? After all, she’s the one you actually care about.”
Vanessa Lane.
Julian’s secretary. The woman who answered his private calls, followed him on every business trip, and wore a necklace I once saw in Julian’s drawer before it disappeared.
Another voice said, “And Celeste’s embryo survived after all these years. Julian, you really are loyal to your dead first love.”
Celeste Gray.
The name had followed me through my entire marriage like a ghost. Everyone in Julian’s circle knew he had loved Celeste first. Even after she died, her picture remained in his mother’s house, and her birthday remained marked on Julian’s calendar.
Someone else added, “Miranda Cross’s family saved Sterling Biotech last year. Giving her a child is cheaper than giving her shares.”
They all laughed.
My stomach cramped suddenly. I gripped the wall so hard my nails bent.
Vanessa. Celeste. Miranda.
Three babies. Three mothers.
And me?
I was the woman whose body had carried them.
A man lowered his voice. “What if Amelia finds out?”
Julian did not hesitate. “She won’t. Even if she does, she loves me too much to do anything before the babies are born.”
The room went quiet for a second, then someone whistled. “Confident.”
Julian gave a low laugh. “She waited three years to become Mrs. Sterling. She won’t give that up.”
My mouth filled with the taste of blood. Only then did I realize I had bitten my tongue.
A nurse came around the corner and saw me. “Mrs. Sterling? Are you all right?”
The voices inside the room stopped.
I forced myself to straighten. My face felt numb, but somehow I still managed to smile. “I’m fine. I just felt a little dizzy.”
When Julian came out a few minutes later, he looked exactly the same as before. Calm. Gentle. Perfect.
He placed a hand on my back. “Why did you walk around by yourself? Are the babies moving too much?”
Not are you in pain. Not are you scared. Only the babies.
I looked at him and said softly, “They’re fine. The doctor said they’re stable.”
Julian’s expression relaxed.
That tiny reaction told me more than all the words I had just overheard.
That evening, I returned to the Sterling mansion and sat alone in the nursery. Three cribs stood beneath the window. Three sets of baby clothes lay folded in the drawers. Three tiny blankets waited for children I had once thought would call me Mom.
I did not smash anything. I did not scream. I did not ask Julian why he had done this to me.
I only sat there until the room turned dark.
At nine o’clock, my phone rang.
It was the hospital.
The doctor’s voice sounded lower than it had in the morning. “Mrs. Sterling, I need you to come back as soon as possible. It would be best if your husband came with you.”
My fingers tightened around the phone. “What happened?”
He hesitated. The silence lasted long enough for my heartbeat to turn loud in my ears.
“Some of your test results are very abnormal,” he said. “I don’t want to frighten you over the phone, but there may be something serious about your condition.”
“Tell me.”
Another pause.
Then the doctor said, “Mrs. Sterling, there is a strong possibility that you have cancer.”
