The Day I Lost My Baby, My Husband's Mistress Had His Twins

The day I delivered a stillborn, my fake-heiress sister gave birth to twins in the room next door.

I was slipping away, drowning in grief, when I overheard my biological parents talking.

“That money pit next door thought she could steal our Odette Swanson's place. This dead baby is her punishment.”

“Blood means nothing. Odette and those two babies are the only family we'll ever claim.”

My husband of five years, Elmer Delgado, noticed me standing there. He tossed a set of divorce papers at me without so much as a flicker of remorse.

“If you hadn't forced your way in, Odette would've been my wife. She's the one who gave me a son and a daughter. Just go.”

I stood frozen, as if lightning had split me down the center. My fingers closed around the divorce papers, and I walked away.

None of them knew.

Before I'd even gone into labor, Old Mr. Delgado had already transferred every last asset of the Delgado family into my name.

——

“Darlie, the Delgados have had a single heir every generation. The child in your belly is the future of this family.”

“A girl counts just the same.”

He'd said it without a second's hesitation, then left the country to retire abroad.

While I was still reeling, the legal severance of parental rights hit me square in the face.

My mother walked toward me, her voice low, the disgust in her eyes barely concealed.

“Since you're leaving anyway, let's make this clean. I don't want you crawling back later.”

“A DNA test is just a worthless piece of paper. Odette and her children are our real family. You're a married-off daughter. You're nothing to us.”

Her words carved through me. For a moment I couldn't breathe, couldn't think, could only feel the blade twisting somewhere behind my ribs.

Years ago, desperate for a son, they hadn't hesitated to dump me at an orphanage.

After that, they were never able to conceive again, so they adopted Odette instead.

The day they finally tracked me down, I was naive enough to believe I was getting a family at last.

All I got was a substitute bride assignment, sent to marry the man Odette was supposed to wed.

“Darlene Swanson! How dare you talk like that! You don't have an ounce of the grace Odette has!”

Elmer's voice cut through my thoughts.

“I don't measure up to her?” I considered that for a moment, then nodded, almost to myself.

“You're right. Otherwise, why would they have gone through all that trouble to drag me back just to marry you in her place?”

That shut him up. Odette rushed over to me, her face crumpling into a portrait of wounded innocence.

“How can you twist things around like this, Darlene? Back then, you were the one who forced me……”

“I was so scared. I keep thinking about what you would have done to me if I'd said no……”

As she spoke, she squeezed out a few tears, performing as though she'd suffered some unbearable injustice.

Every pair of eyes in that hospital room turned on me, righteous and hateful.

I met their glares. The corners of my mouth twitched into something bitter.

“Enjoy the show. I've lost interest in watching.”

I turned and left without looking back.

Back home, the nursery I'd spent months preparing hit me the second I walked in. My legs nearly gave out.

Before the hospital, Elmer had held me so carefully, his arms wrapped around me, his voice soft and adoring.

“Darlie, next time we walk through that door, there'll be three of us.”

In those hours between life and death, I'd caught one glimpse of my baby through the glass of the incubator.

And then, in the space of a blink, he was ash sealed inside a cold urn.

Ten months of carrying him. Hours of nearly dying to bring him into the world. Gone.

My hands shook as I pulled out my phone and dialed the most reputable private investigator in the country.

“A million dollars. Find out how my child really died.”

After I hung up, my gaze drifted to the wedding photo on the wall. The ache spread through me, thick and relentless, filling every crack it could find.