Chapter 5

Aleida POV

I wasn't fully awake, but I certainly wasn't asleep. I was floating in that grey, murky space where pain is a dull throb and voices are dangerously sharp.

"...lucky she didn't die," a man's voice said. Derek.

"It would have been cleaner if she had," a woman replied. Else.

I lay still. My body felt heavy, anchored by lead. My stomach felt... empty.

Hollow.

The realization pierced the fog of drugs like a cold needle. The baby was gone.

"They took it out," Else said, her voice dismissive. "It's done. No more baggage."

I wanted to scream, but my throat was paralyzed, trapped in a silent chokehold.

"Now we can move forward," Derek said. His voice was calm. Businesslike. It was the tone he used for mergers. "The auction is set for Friday. We tell her the medical bills were astronomical. We tell her she's bankrupt. She'll sign anything we put in front of her."

"She's so stupid, she'll probably thank you for it," Else laughed.

"I really sold the grieving husband act, didn't I?" Derek said. "God, I'm tired of pretending. I'm tired of looking at her face."

"Just a few more days, baby," Else cooed. "Then she's gone. And we have all her assets."

The fog lifted.

I opened my eyes.

They were standing at the foot of my bed. Derek was holding Else's hand.

They looked at me.

Derek's face shifted instantly. It was a terrifying transformation; the sneer evaporated, replaced seamlessly by a mask of tortured concern.

"Aleida," he said, stepping forward. "You're awake. Thank God."

He reached for my hand.

I pulled it away.

The movement was small, but it was violent.

His hand hovered in the air. His smile faltered.

"Where is my baby?" I asked. My voice sounded like broken glass being ground into gravel.

Derek looked down. He sighed, a perfect performance of sorrow.

"We lost him, Aleida. The crash... the trauma was too much."

He didn't say *I chose to let him die.*

I stared at him. I looked at the man I had loved for three years. I looked at the father of my dead child.

And I saw nothing.

No love. No hate. Just a void.

"Get out," I said.

Derek blinked. "Honey, you're in shock-"

"I said get out!" I screamed.

The monitor next to me started beeping rapidly, registering the spike in my shattered heart rate.

Derek stepped back. He looked at Else. She shrugged.

"We'll give you some space," he said.

He turned and walked out. He didn't look back.

A nurse came in a moment later. She checked my IV, her movements efficient but her gaze evasive. She wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Where was he?" I asked her. "During the surgery."

She hesitated. She looked at the door, weighing her professional ethics against the truth.

"He was in the waiting room," she whispered finally. "With the other woman. They were... celebrating."

Celebrating.

My baby was dying, and they were celebrating.

"Thank you," I said.

I looked around the room. There were no flowers. No cards. Just the sterile whiteness of my new reality.

My phone was on the bedside table. I picked it up.

Dozens of messages from Else.

*He never loved you.*

*You're barren now. Useless.*

*Just die already.*

I blocked the number.

I called Sarah.

"Come get me," I said.

She was there in twenty minutes. She helped me dress in silence, her jaw set tight in shared fury. She packed my few things.

We walked out of the hospital. I didn't pay the bill. Derek could pay it. It was the least he owed me.

I moved into a small apartment downtown. Sarah paid the deposit.

For three days, I sat on the floor and stared at the wall. I grieved. I let the darkness swallow me whole. I cried until I had no tears left, until my chest was a hollow drum.

Then, I stood up.

I threw away the clothes I wore in the hospital. I cut my hair.

I looked in the mirror. The woman staring back was thinner. Harder. Her eyes were dry.

She was ready.

On the fourth day, there was a knock at the door.

I opened it.

Derek stood there. He was holding a bouquet of white lilies. Funeral flowers.

"Aleida," he said. His voice was thick with fake emotion. "Please. Come home. I can't live without you."

He tried to step inside.

I blocked the doorway.

"You don't want me, Derek," I said. "You want your asset."

His eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"I heard you," I said. "In the hospital. I heard everything."

His face went pale. Then, slowly, it twisted into a sneer. The mask was gone for good.

"So?" he said. "Who's going to believe you? You're the crazy, grieving ex-wife. I have the money. I have the power."

He stepped closer, looming over me.

"You're coming with me, Aleida. You belong to me."

I laughed. It was a dry, sharp sound.

"I forgot," I said.

"Forgot what?"

"I forgot to tell you. I'm not Aleida anymore."

I slammed the door in his face.

I heard him banging on it. I heard him shouting threats.

"Aleida! Open this door! You're nothing without me!"

I locked the deadbolt.

I walked to the window and watched him down below. He was kicking his car tire. He looked small. Pathetic.

He thought he had broken me.

But you can't break something that has already been forged in fire.

I turned away from the window.

I picked up my sketchbook. I hadn't drawn in years. Derek said it was a waste of time.

I picked up a charcoal pencil.

I started to draw.

I drew a bird. A phoenix.

Rising from the ashes.

And for the first time in a long time, I smiled.

This wasn't the end.

This was just the beginning.