I didn’t want to come back.
Not after everything. Not after the hospital. Not after seeing Marcus hold Savannah like she was the one carrying his legacy while I was left with bruised ribs, a bruised heart, and a diagnosis that had cracked my world open like an egg on hot pavement.
But I had no choice.
My hospital bag was still in the closet. My prenatal vitamins. My insurance paperwork. A few pieces of clothing that still managed to fit my swollen body. I had to retrieve them. And despite everything, there was still a sliver of hope that Marcus would look at me, just once, and remember who I was to him.
The woman who built his home. The woman carrying his son. The woman he married. I stepped through the front door and almost wished I hadn’t. Laughter drifted from the living room. Light. Feminine. Familiar.
Savannah. Of course. I tightened my grip on my purse, forcing my feet forward.
The house looked the same, but it felt different. Like someone had rearranged the air itself. The scent of my vanilla candles had been replaced by something sharper, jasmine and expensive lies.
Savannah was draped across the couch in one of my robes. My robe. The pale blue silk one Marcus gave me last Christmas. She had the belt tied just below her belly, which she cradled with one hand like it was a crown jewel.
She sipped from a mug I recognized too, a Mother's Day gift I had bought myself when Marcus forgot.
She looked up and smiled like she had been expecting me.
“Juliana,” she said sweetly, like we were still best friends and not battlefield enemies. “Didn’t expect you so soon.”
I didn’t reply. I just stood there, drinking her in. Her smugness. Her entitlement. Her calm.
“Marcus isn’t home,” she added, swirling her tea. “He’s out handling a few business calls, but he’ll be back later… with some paperwork, I imagine.”
Paperwork? I moved toward the staircase without a word.
“You’re not even going to ask what kind?” she asked, voice lilting.
I stopped. My fingers curled around the railing. “I don’t care.”
She chuckled under her breath, standing with the grace of someone who believed she had already won.
“You should care,” she said. “Because it concerns your stay here.”
I turned slowly. She leaned against the entryway, arms folded, confidence dripping from her posture like perfume. “Marcus says it’s time we set boundaries. That it’s not fair to me, or the baby, for you to keep dragging this out.”
My chest tightened. “Dragging what out?”
“Your existence in this house,” she replied. “I mean, it’s already awkward. You, sick and moody, hovering like a ghost while Marcus and I are trying to build a life.”
My legs felt weak.
“You’re joking.”
She smiled, cruel and patient. “Oh, honey. No. You’ve been clinging to this place like it still belongs to you. But Marcus and I? We’re building something real now. He told me this morning, he is ready to move on.”
Tears stung my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I couldn’t give her that satisfaction.
“I’m carrying his child.”
“So am I,” she said, stepping closer. “And between you and me? He’s already started looking at nurseries. Not yours, obviously. He says he wants something new. Fresh. Clean.”
Her words were knives.
Each one sharper than the last.
“And once you’re out,” she continued, “I’ll be the woman of the house. Officially. Just like I should have been all along.”
Something twisted inside me. Something raw and sick and ancient. Rage. Grief. Disbelief. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.
Savannah reached out, brushing invisible lint from my shoulder like we were still girls in high school and not soldiers on opposite sides of a war.
“I suggest you pack soon,” she whispered. “The sooner you leave, the easier this will be. For everyone.”
My knees buckled slightly. I gripped the railing tighter. She stepped back and smiled, satisfied. “I’ll let the staff know you’ll be vacating by the weekend. Maybe sooner.”
She turned and glided back to the couch, picking up the remote and switching on the TV like she hadn’t just declared war with a whisper.
I couldn’t breathe. I walked up the stairs slowly, my chest rising and falling like a balloon losing air. Each step felt heavier than the last. My son kicked inside me, agitated by my stress. I tried to breathe deeply, to slow my heart rate, but my vision was starting to blur.
By the time I reached the bedroom, my head was pounding. The air smelled different in here too. Sterile. Displaced. Her perfume, too strong.
The bed was made, but not in the way I did it. The pillows fluffed too high. The sheets tucked too tight. My room didn’t feel like mine anymore.
Nothing did. I lowered myself to the edge of the bed, gripping my stomach with both hands, whispering to my son. “It’s okay, baby. It’s okay. Mommy’s okay…”
But I wasn’t. The nausea hit first. A wave so strong I nearly choked. Then the dizziness. Then the stabbing pain just below my ribs.
I gasped. My body fell forward.
Footsteps thudded up the stairs, quickly and panicked. One of the maids rushed in, eyes wide. “Ma’am! You’re pale… are you okay?”
I opened my mouth to speak, but all that came out was a strangled breath. Another pain stabbed through me, sharper this time.
I clutched my belly and doubled over.
“Call an ambulance!” the maid screamed over her shoulder. “Now!”
More footsteps. Shouting. Chaos. I heard someone call my name. I couldn’t tell who.
My body went limp. And then, as the world tilted sideways and the edges of my vision turned black, I heard the thrum of my heartbeat in my ears, fast and terrified.
I fell, holding my stomach as I gave in to the darkness.
