A searing pain ripped through my stomach as Guy's foot slammed into me, sending me flying.
Water erupted around me. My consciousness began to sink. I thrashed, slapping the surface with everything I had, screaming with the last of my strength: "Guy!"
But he only held the woman in his arms tighter. He didn't look back.
My body drifted downward into the pool. I thought of three months ago, when I'd gone skiing and been caught in an avalanche, trapped in the mountains. Guy had charged in without hesitation, pulling my hypothermic body from the snow.
"Amber, I'll always protect you. Whenever you call my name, I'll be right there."
All lies.
Every last word.
Soon, they would pay for everything they'd done.
When I opened my eyes again, a hospital ceiling stared back at me. I'd barely twitched my fingers when that grating voice slithered into my ears.
"You're finally awake. So you're pregnant." Mabel looked me up and down, a loaded smile curling at the corner of her lips. "You should take good care of that baby, sis."
I wrapped my arms around my stomach on instinct and turned my head. Mabel's contemptuous gaze met mine. She stood there like a victor claiming her spoils, then reached out and seized my chin, fingers digging in hard. "Looks like your husband cares about me more after all, doesn't he, sis?"
I stared into her eyes. I'd expected bitterness to flood through me. Instead, my heart was a stagnant pool. Nothing stirred. Not a single ripple.
When I said nothing, the smile on Mabel's face nearly cracked. "I stole Guy from you. You don't have anything to say about that?"
I reached up and pried her fingers off my chin, one by one, my gaze dripping with mockery. "Say what? You want me to throw a fit? Wail and beg? Not going to happen."
"You stole a piece of trash. Why would I be upset? Congratulations on recycling someone else's garbage."
Mabel hadn't expected that. The smile vanished entirely, replaced by raw fury burning behind her eyes. "Amber, a sharp tongue won't help you. You still couldn't protect your own child or your mother."
She stepped closer, her expression vicious. "And this baby? Don't think for a second you're keeping it."
The mention of my daughter sent a spike of pain through my chest. My nails dug into my palms until the skin nearly broke. My body trembled, and no words would come.
But that wasn't the reaction she wanted. Her lips curled again. "I've prepared a big surprise for you, sis. When you see it, you'll lose your mind."
Her heels clicked against the floor as she walked out.
I stared at the doorway long after she disappeared, her words circling through my head on a loop.
What was she going to do to my mother? What was she going to do to the baby inside me?
I couldn't let myself think about it, but the images clawed their way in anyway.
I didn't know how long I sat there before I realized my face was soaked with tears.
I wiped them away with a shaking hand, picked up my phone, and dialed the number.
My voice was hoarse, but every word came out razor-clear. "Wallace, get the divorce certificate processed and send it straight to James Group headquarters. And look into Mabel's financial records."
"I'll come for you the day after tomorrow."
After I hung up, I stared at the IV drip. Pain radiated from my stomach. The space where my heart should have been felt hollow, cavernous, wrong.
But the longer the pain lasted, the more numb I became. I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, nothing remained but cold resolve.
Discharge day came. I gathered my things and had barely stepped through the door when I saw Guy waiting outside, leaning against his car as if he'd been there a while.
His tone carried a thread of impatience. "It's your birthday. Mabel went out of her way to put together a party for you. Don't waste her kindness. I'm here to take you."
I sidestepped him without a word, a bitter smile ghosting across my face.
Every birthday before this, he'd been called away by one of Mabel's convenient little emergencies. Now he wanted to play the devoted husband?
My voice was flat. I frowned and refused.
"I'm not going."
Guy's expression darkened instantly. He didn't speak, but the silent pressure radiating off him was more suffocating than any threat.
He lifted a hand. Bodyguards moved in immediately, forcing me into the car and dragging me to the party.
The moment I was shoved through the doors of the banquet hall, Mabel swept toward me in a gown, all smiles, and placed a party hat on my head.
She played the part of the doting little sister to perfection, pressing a beautifully wrapped box into my hands, her voice honeyed and sweet. "Happy birthday, sis. I've been working on this gift for a long time. You're going to love it."
Every pair of eyes in the room settled on my hands, silently urging me to open it.
I lifted my gaze, cold and indifferent, and tore the wrapping apart.
Inside lay a single sheet of paper.
My mother's death certificate.
