Chapter 3

Ben' s words echoed in my head for days.

Things you need to remember.

Be careful.

A seed of curiosity had been planted in the fog of my mind. I started watching Ethan. I watched the way he carefully laid out my pills every morning and every night. I watched the way his eyes would sometimes get a distant, pained look when he thought I wasn't looking.

The curiosity grew into a quiet, gnawing need. What was it I couldn't remember? Why did Ben look so worried?

One afternoon, Ethan was gone for the entire day, locked in meetings for the merger of his family's tech company. The house was quiet. The nurses were discreetly out of sight. It was the perfect opportunity.

I thought about the vial Ben had left. But I was more curious about what Ethan was hiding. I went to his office, a room that was usually off-limits to me. The door was locked, but I' d seen where he hid the key, in the top of the doorframe. My hands trembled as I unlocked it and stepped inside.

The room was pristine, organized. Books lined the walls. A large mahogany desk sat in the center. I didn't know what I was looking for. I just started opening drawers. Papers, pens, financial reports. Nothing.

Then I saw it. A small, almost invisible seam in the wood paneling behind his desk. I pressed on it, and a section of the wall clicked open, revealing a small, hidden safe. It wasn't locked with a key, but a combination pad.

My heart pounded. I tried birthdays. Mine, his. No luck. Then, an idea sparked. The date of our conservatory auditions. The day he ruined my life.

I punched in the numbers. 1-1-0-8. The safe clicked open.

Inside, there was a leather-bound journal and several orange prescription bottles. The labels were turned away from me. Were these my pills? Was he hiding a secret supply?

My hands shook as I picked up one of the bottles. I didn't even read the label. I was acting on pure, unthinking impulse. Ben's words, see things more clearly, mixed with a desperate need to understand the secret I felt buzzing just beneath the surface of my life.

I twisted the cap off, poured a few of the small, white pills into my palm, and swallowed them dry.

They tasted chalky. I stood there for a moment, waiting for... something. A wave of dizziness? A sudden calm? Nothing happened. I just felt a strange, electric tingle run up my spine.

Then, the doorknob turned.

Ethan stood in the doorway, his face pale. His eyes darted from my face to the open safe, then to the pill bottle in my hand. A look of pure, unadulterated terror crossed his features.

"Chloe, no!" he screamed, rushing towards me.

He grabbed the bottle from my hand, his grip so tight I thought he would crush it. "What did you do? What did you take? How many?"

His panic was so intense it scared me more than anything else. He grabbed my shoulders, his eyes wild. "Spit them out! Chloe, you have to spit them out!"

"I already swallowed them," I said, my voice small. "Ethan, you're scaring me."

"Ben!" he yelled, his voice echoing through the house. "Get in here now!"

Dr. Carter ran into the room, his face grim. He took in the scene in an instant-the open safe, Ethan' s panic, me standing there in confusion.

"What happened?" Ben asked, his voice calm and professional.

"She took the pills from the safe! My pills! God, Ben, I don't know how many she took!" Ethan was pacing, running his hands through his hair.

Ben gently guided me to a chair. He took my pulse, checked my pupils, asked me a series of questions. How did I feel? Was I dizzy? Nauseous?

"I feel... fine," I said, confused. "A little tingly, maybe. That's all."

Ben looked at Ethan. "Her vitals are completely normal. There's no sign of an overdose. No adverse reaction at all."

Ethan stared at him, bewildered. "But that's impossible. That dosage... it should have... it could have killed her. Or the baby."

"Maybe her system has built up a tolerance," Ben said, but he avoided Ethan's eyes. I realized then what Ben had done. The pills in the safe weren't the powerful sedatives Ethan thought they were. They must have been placebos. Ben must have swapped them. He had been trying to protect me.

Ethan slumped into his desk chair, his head in his hands. "The baby," he whispered, his voice cracking. "We have to do something about the baby."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, a new fear creeping in.

He looked up, his face a mask of anguish. "Chloe, listen to me. This pregnancy... it's too risky now. With your... instability... and this incident... we can't risk the baby's health. Or yours."

Ben stepped forward. "Ethan, don't. This is not the time."

"No, she needs to understand," Ethan insisted, his eyes locked on mine. "We need to terminate the pregnancy. It's the only safe option."

The words hit me like a physical blow. Terminate. End the one spark of hope I had.

"No," I said, my voice shaking as I clutched my stomach. "No, you can't. It's my baby."

"It's our baby," he corrected, his voice hardening. "And I'm making the decision that is best for all of us. You're not well enough to see that, Chloe. But I am."

He and Ben began to argue, their voices a furious, urgent buzz in the background. But I wasn't listening. I was staring at Ethan, and for the first time, the loving, caring man I thought I knew was gone. In his place was a stranger, a man who was terrified, controlling, and willing to take everything from me. Again.