Chapter 5

The sterile scent of antiseptic filled my nostrils. My head throbbed. I opened my eyes to the soft hum of hospital machinery. Celeste. My best friend, Celeste, was sitting by my bed, her face pale, her eyes red and swollen.

"Elenora," she whispered, her voice choked with tears. She reached for my hand, her grip firm. "Thank God. You're awake."

"Celeste," my voice was weak, barely a croak. "What happened?"

She squeezed my hand. "You miscarried, Elenora. You lost the baby."

The words hung in the air, a devastating confirmation. The last shred of hope, the last tether to a future that could have been, was severed. I closed my eyes, a single tear tracing a path down my temple. The pain was dull now, a phantom ache in my womb, but the grief was a gaping wound.

I told her everything. The coffee shop, the gala, the public humiliation, Leo's cruelty, Karin's malice, Arthur' s monstrous betrayal. Every agonizing detail spilled out, a torrent of poison.

Celeste listened, her face hardening with every word. When I finished, she was shaking with a quiet fury. "That bastard," she hissed, her eyes blazing. "That manipulative, narcissistic monster. And that woman... Karin. She's a psychopath."

A strange calm settled over me. There was no going back. No reconciliation. No forgiveness. Arthur had destroyed everything, including a life we had created, unknowingly.

He never came to the hospital. Not once. No call, no text, no flowers. Nothing. It was as if I had ceased to exist the moment I fell on that stage.

A week later, still physically weak but mentally resolute, I walked out of the hospital. Celeste was by my side, a silent, unwavering pillar of support. My first stop was Clara's office. The divorce papers were ready. I signed them, my hand steady, my heart cold.

Two days later, I found myself parked in a discreet black car near Leo Beasley's elite preschool. My plan was simple: show Karin I was still a threat, still a presence.

Leo emerged, skipping, his small backpack bouncing. He saw me. His smile vanished, replaced by a sneer. "Ugly lady!" he yelled, "You're still alive? Daddy said you went away forever!" Another calculated jab, straight from his mother's playbook.

Then Karin appeared, sleek and predatory, her eyes immediately locking onto mine. She strode towards my car, her heels clicking sharply on the pavement. "What do you want, Elenora?" she snarled, her voice low and dangerous. "Stalking my son now? Haven't you done enough damage?"

"Damage?" I replied, a bitter laugh escaping my lips. "I want you to sign these, Karin." I held up the divorce papers, neatly folded in a pristine white envelope. "And then I want you to leave me alone. Forever."

She snatched the envelope, her eyes scanning the documents. "Oh, Elenora," she purred, a wicked glint in her eyes. "You think this changes anything? You think you can just walk away with half of Arthur's fortune?"

She pulled out her phone and showed me a picture. It was my beautiful custom-made piano, shattered into a thousand pieces, tossed carelessly onto a dirt pile. My compositions, torn and scattered like confetti. "A little housewarming gift," she said, a triumphant smile on her face. "Leo helped. He's very strong for his age."

My breath hitched. My music. My solace. My sanctuary. Destroyed by them.

"You really want to play this game, Elenora?" she continued, her voice dropping to a chilling whisper. "Because I can play much, much dirtier. That little 'accident' at the gala? That was just a preview. Leo was very clear about his wish." She leaned closer, her eyes glittering with unhinged malice. "He wished you would disappear. And I made sure he got his wish."

My blood ran cold. The miscarriage. It wasn't an accident. It was deliberate. Orchestrated.

"I called your doctor, Elenora," she confessed, her voice a chilling whisper, devoid of any remorse. "I convinced them to give you certain 'medications' that would ensure your 'stress-induced' miscarriage. It was so easy. Nobody questions a stressed-out woman, especially when her husband is so 'distraught'." She laughed, a low, guttural sound. "Arthur had no idea, of course. He's so easily manipulated. He thought he was protecting his 'fragile' wife."

The world tilted. My vision tunneled. She hadn't just destroyed my marriage, my career, my sanity. She had murdered my child. Deliberately. With a smile.

The depth of her evil was a bottomless abyss. I stared at her, my mind reeling, my heart a hollow, echoing shell. My baby. Gone. Because of her.

A strange, cold calm settled over me. There was nothing left to lose. No more hope to cling to. Only a chilling resolve. The pain was still there, but it was distant now, overshadowed by a fierce, burning clarity.

I would mourn. But I would not break.