Chapter 2

The sterile, white ceiling of the hospital room was the first thing Eleanor saw when she opened her eyes. A dull, empty ache radiated from her womb, a physical confirmation of the loss that had already settled in her heart. She was alone. The baby was gone. The love was gone. It was all gone. She closed her eyes, wishing she could just drift away and never wake up again.

The door swished open, and the sound of his voice pulled her back to the painful reality.

"See? She' s awake. There' s nothing to worry about," Alexander said, his tone soft and reassuring. But it wasn' t for her.

Eleanor slowly turned her head. Alexander was standing by the door, and clinging to his arm was Clara Bell. Clara looked pale and fragile, her large eyes filled with fake tears. She was dressed in a simple white dress, a picture of manufactured innocence.

"Mr. Sterling, I... I' m so sorry," Clara whispered, her voice trembling. She looked at Eleanor, her expression a perfect blend of fear and pity. "I never meant for this to happen. If I had known Mrs. Sterling was so... unstable, I would have just let her say whatever she wanted to me. I can handle it. I just don' t want her to hurt herself, or you."

Eleanor felt a surge of rage so pure it almost made her sit up. Unstable? Clara had orchestrated this entire event with calculating precision, and now she was playing the victim.

Alexander stroked Clara' s hair, murmuring comforting words. "It' s not your fault, my dear. You did nothing wrong. Eleanor has been under a lot of stress." He walked over to the bed, his gaze cold and clinical. He wasn' t looking at his wife who had just lost their child; he was looking at a problem that needed to be managed.

"You' re an embarrassment, Eleanor," he said, his voice low so Clara couldn't hear. "Losing your composure like that, in public. What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking that I was losing our baby," she said, her voice a raw whisper. "The baby you didn' t even know about."

For a second, a flicker of shock crossed his face. But it was quickly replaced by suspicion, then dismissal. "Don' t be dramatic. The doctor said it was an early-term miscarriage. These things happen. It was likely for the best, given your current emotional state."

His callousness stole her breath. He was dismissing the life they had created as an inconvenience. He was siding completely with the woman who had caused it all.

"Apologize to Clara," he commanded.

Eleanor stared at him, dumbfounded. "What?"

"She feels responsible. She' s been crying all night, blaming herself for your... episode," he said. "You upset her. You will apologize."

The sheer audacity of it was staggering. He wanted her, lying in a hospital bed after losing his child because of his cruelty, to apologize to the woman who had manipulated him. The last remnants of her affection for him curdled into something dark and bitter.

Clara stepped forward, wringing her hands. "Oh, no, Mr. Sterling, that' s not necessary. I' m sure Mrs. Sterling didn' t mean it. Maybe... maybe she just needs some space. Maybe it would be better for her if I wasn' t at the company anymore. I could leave. I don' t want to be a source of trouble."

It was a masterful move. She offered to sacrifice herself, knowing full well it would only make Alexander more determined to keep her. She was positioning herself as the magnanimous one, while making Eleanor look like the crazy, jealous wife who was driving her away.

Alexander' s jaw tightened. He looked from Clara' s "selfless" face to Eleanor' s broken one. The decision was already made.

"No, you' re not going anywhere, Clara," he said firmly. Then he turned his gaze back to Eleanor. "This has gone on long enough. It' s clear this marriage is no longer a healthy environment for anyone."

Eleanor' s heart, which she thought couldn' t possibly break any further, seemed to shatter into a million tiny pieces. A divorce. He was choosing Clara over their ten-year history, over their vows, over the child they just lost.

"It' s for the best," he continued, as if discussing a business merger. "I' ll have my lawyer, Mr. Harrison, draw up the papers. He' ll be by later today. I' ll be generous, of course. You' ll be well taken care of."

A hysterical laugh bubbled up in Eleanor' s throat. Generous. He thought money could fix this. He thought he could buy her silence and compliance after destroying her life. She looked at his handsome, cold face, the face she had loved so fiercely, and felt nothing but a vast, empty wasteland.

"Get out," she croaked.

"Eleanor..."

"Get out!" she screamed, the sound tearing from her raw throat. "Both of you, get out of my room!"

Alexander' s lawyer, a man with a placid face and empty eyes, arrived two hours later. He placed a thick folder on the bedside table.

"Mr. Sterling sends his regards," Mr. Harrison said smoothly. "He wants to assure you that he will continue to fund your brother' s medical care indefinitely. All you have to do is sign these papers, and everything will proceed quietly and smoothly."

The threat was still there, wrapped in a thin veil of legal jargon. Sign, or David suffers.

Eleanor picked up the pen. Her hand was shaking, but her resolve was firm. She flipped to the last page and signed her name without reading a single clause. She didn' t care about the money or the properties. She just wanted it to be over.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Mrs... I mean, Ms. Vance," the lawyer said, collecting the papers.

As he walked out the door, Eleanor stared at the white ceiling again. It wasn' t a surrender. It was an escape. He thought he was getting rid of her, but she was the one getting free. And as she lay in that silent, empty room, she made a promise to the memory of her child and to herself. She would never, ever let him hurt her again. The love was dead, and in its place, something new was beginning to grow: the will to survive.