Chapter 4

"Elana, wait!"

Emilio's hand seized my wrist just as I reached the curb. He spun me around, his grip tight enough to bruise. His face was flushed, sweat beading along his hairline.

"You can't just walk away like this," he panted, his chest heaving. "Hayden is upset. You need to apologize."

I stared at him, the absurdity of his demand stealing the air from my lungs. "Apologize? She just told me our marriage was a death watch."

"She's protective of Leo," Emilio insisted, tightening his hold. "She feels threatened by you."

"Good." I tried to yank my arm free, but he was immovable. "Let go of me, Emilio."

"Not until you calm down. You're acting hysterical."

"I am not hysterical!" My voice cracked, raw and sharp. "I am finally waking up!"

Behind him, the coffee shop door burst open. Hayden came running out. I noticed with a jolt of bitter clarity that her limp had miraculously vanished.

"She tried to hurt me, Emilio!" she screamed, her face twisted in a mask of performative terror. "She's dangerous! Think about Leo!"

"I didn't touch you!" I yelled back.

"You're unstable!" Hayden shrilled, closing the distance. She grabbed Emilio's free arm, anchoring herself to him. "She's jealous of our son! Don't let her near us!"

Emilio looked between us. The frantic, vulnerable mistress. The rebellious, angry wife.

I saw the exact moment he made his choice. It wasn't a conscious thought; it was a primal, defensive instinct.

He shoved me.

It wasn't a gentle push to create space. He drove his hands into my shoulders and shoved me hard, backward. Away from Hayden. Away from his "real" family.

"Back off, Elana!" he roared.

My heel caught on the jagged edge of the curb. I flailed, my fingers grasping at empty air.

Gravity took over.

I fell backward. Hard.

My lower back slammed against the concrete steps of the building behind me. A sharp, sickening crack echoed through my spine.

The world went white.

Then, the pain hit. It wasn't in my back. It was lower. Deep in my pelvis. A tearing, molten agony that ripped a scream from my throat.

"Elana!" Emilio looked shocked, the anger draining from his face. He took a hesitant step toward me.

But then, Leo ran out of the shop, wailing. "Mommy!"

Hayden immediately scooped up the boy, turning his face into her neck. "Oh god, Leo, don't look! She's crazy! She's hurting herself!"

Emilio froze.

He looked at me, curled in a ball on the unforgiving concrete, clutching my stomach. Then he looked at Hayden and the crying boy.

The hesitation lasted only a heartbeat.

He turned his back on me.

"Is he okay? Did she scare him?" Emilio asked, his voice thick with concern as he wrapped his arms around Hayden and Leo, shielding them.

I lay there, the cold stone seeping into my skin. Beneath me, I felt something warm and wet spreading between my legs.

Blood.

I looked up at the sky. It was a perfect, cloudless blue. A cruel, indifferent canopy.

So this is it, I thought, a strange detachment settling over me. This is how much I matter.

He didn't even check. He didn't ask if I was hurt. He was comforting the woman who had just lied, and the child who wasn't mine.

"Emilio..." I croaked.

He glanced over his shoulder, his eyes cold. "I'll call an ambulance," he said dismissively. "Just... stay there. I need to get them to the car."

He walked away.

He walked away with them, leaving me bleeding in the street.

I closed my eyes. The pain was unbearable, but the clarity was absolute.

The ambulance came. Strangers lifted me onto a stretcher. Strangers held my hand while I wept.

At the hospital, the doctor's face was grim.

"Mrs. Acosta," she said softly, her hand resting on my arm. "I'm so sorry. You were... you were about six weeks along. You've lost the pregnancy."

I stared at the sterile white ceiling tiles.

Six weeks. The celebration. The champagne. The pain.

I had been pregnant. And my husband had pushed me.

Emilio arrived two hours later. He smelled like Hayden's floral perfume.

"The doctor told me," he said, standing at the foot of the bed. He looked uncomfortable, shifting his weight from foot to foot. "Elana... I didn't know. If I had known..."

"You would have what?" I asked. My voice sounded dead to my own ears. "Pushed me softer?"

"It was an accident," he insisted, his jaw tightening. "You were being aggressive. I was protecting my son."

"And you killed yours," I whispered.

He flinched as if I'd slapped him. "Don't say that. It was... it was just a cluster of cells. We can try again. Once you're calm. Once this blows over."

He checked his watch.

"I have to go back," he said, avoiding my gaze. "Hayden is a wreck. She thinks this is her fault. I need to calm her down."

He was leaving. Again.

"Go," I said.

"I'll come back tomorrow," he promised, already turning toward the door. "I'll bring you some soup."

He left.

My phone buzzed on the bedside table. A text from an unknown number.

A photo loaded. It was Emilio, sitting on a couch, holding a glass of wine. Hayden was leaning on his shoulder, looking peaceful. They looked relieved.

The caption read: Fate has a way of cleaning up messes. Leo is the only heir he needs.

I stared at the screen until the pixels burned into my retinas. Then, I deleted the message. I deleted the number.

I sat up in the hospital bed. The physical pain was dull now, a hollow ache, but the emptiness inside me was vast.

I picked up my phone and dialed Ayla.

"Elana?"

"I need you to do something for me," I said, my voice steady for the first time all day. "I need a plane ticket. And I need you to help me disappear."

"Disappear?"

"Yes," I said, looking out the window at the city lights that no longer felt like home. "Elana Acosta died on that pavement today. I need to leave before they bury me completely."