Chapter 2

The sound of the shower started upstairs, followed by Sarah' s high-pitched giggles. I stayed on the floor, my mind a blank, hollow space. My father was gone. The reason I had endured all of this, the anchor that had kept me in this storm, had been cut loose.

I pushed myself up, my body aching. I walked into the grand, guest bathroom, the one Sarah had used just hours before. The toothbrush felt alien in my hand. I knelt a third time, not for Alex, but because my legs wouldn't support me.

I dipped the brush into the toilet bowl, the cold porcelain against my skin doing nothing to numb the emptiness inside. I scrubbed, the repetitive motion a strange comfort. Back and forth, back and forth.

"You brought this on yourself, you know."

Alex' s voice came from the doorway. He was leaning against the frame, dressed in a black suit, watching me. Sarah was behind him, a smug look on her face.

"All of this," he gestured around the opulent house, "was because of you. My mother... she trusted you. She loved you."

He took a step into the bathroom, his shadow falling over me.

"She told you she was sick, didn't she? But my IPO was coming up. Bad news about the CEO's mother's health could have spooked the investors. So you kept it a secret. You smiled and told me she was fine, all while she was dying."

"That's not true," I whispered, my voice raw.

"It is true!" he roared. "You chose my company over my mother. You let her die alone so you could keep living this life!"

His words were the same ones he'd been throwing at me for two years. A twisted story he'd built to shield himself from his own guilt, his own grief. The truth was, his mother had made me promise not to tell him. She was the one who feared it would ruin his life's work. But he would never believe that. He needed a villain, and he had chosen me.

I said nothing. There was no point. I just continued to scrub the toilet, my knuckles white.

When I was done, I stood up and rinsed my hands in the sink, washing them over and over again, trying to scrub away the filth not just from the toilet, but from my life. I felt numb, disconnected from my own body.

"The divorce papers," I said, my voice flat. "Where are they?"

"Eager to leave, are we?" he mocked. "They're in my study. On the desk."

I walked out of the bathroom and headed for his study. I just wanted this to be over. I wanted to sign my name and walk out of this house forever.

As I opened the study door, my eyes fell on the mahogany desk. On top of a stack of papers was a small, blue baby sock.

I had bought it a few days ago, right after the doctor confirmed my pregnancy. It was a secret, a tiny seed of hope I had been nurturing in the darkness of my life. I had hidden it away, but one of the maids must have found it while cleaning and put it on his desk.

Alex came up behind me. He saw the sock at the same time I did. His face, which had been contorted with anger, froze.

"What is this?" he asked, his voice dangerously low.

Before I could answer, Sarah pushed past him and snatched the sock off the desk.

She gasped, her eyes wide with fake shock. "Alex... what is this? Is she... is she trying to taunt you?"

She turned to me, her face a mask of false sympathy. "Chloe, how could you? After everything Alex has been through, losing his mother... and now you're flaunting this in his face? Are you trying to pretend you're pregnant to trap him?"

"What?" I stared at her, stunned by the venom in her words.

"She's lying," Sarah said, turning back to Alex and clutching his arm. "She' s a manipulative bitch. I bet she bought this just to hurt you, to remind you of what you two can never have."

Alex' s eyes locked onto mine. The brief flicker of confusion in his face was gone, replaced by a fresh wave of cold fury. He believed her. Of course, he did.

"Get out," he hissed at me.

I stood my ground. "The papers, Alex."

"Take them," he spat, gesturing to the desk. "But you're not getting a cent from me. You'll leave this house with nothing but the clothes on your back."

"I don't want your money," I said, my voice shaking with a mixture of grief and rage. "I just want to be free of you."

Inside, a silent scream was building. I am pregnant. I am carrying your child. The words were on the tip of my tongue, a desperate plea for him to see the truth.

But looking at his face, at the blind hatred in his eyes, I knew it was useless. He wouldn't believe me. He would see it as just another manipulation, another lie.

This tiny life inside me, this one secret joy I had, was mine alone. I had to protect it. I had to get it away from him.

Sarah, seeing her victory, delivered one final blow. She "accidentally" tripped, sending a tray of coffee mugs crashing to the floor.

"Oh, clumsy me!" she cried, looking at me with wide, innocent eyes. "Chloe, look what you made me do. Now you'll have to clean this up too."

She clung to Alex's arm, pressing herself against him, a triumphant smirk playing on her lips. The war was over, and she had won.