Chapter 5

As soon as Liam and Chloe left the house, chattering excitedly about their future, I began to pack. I moved with a quiet, determined efficiency, gathering the few things that were truly mine. My old architectural sketches, a handful of photos from before the accident, the clothes my parents had bought me.

Everything else in this house felt tainted, a prop in the stage play of my sham marriage.

The last thing I touched was my wedding ring. A simple platinum band. It had felt like a part of me for five years. Now, it felt like a shackle. I twisted it, but my fingers were swollen from the pregnancy. It wouldn't budge.

I remembered a small, discreet jewelry shop downtown, a place I had used before. The old man who ran it was kind and skilled. He could cut it off for me.

I called a cab and headed downtown. The city was a blur of motion and color, but my mind was fixed on one thing: freedom.

As I paid the driver and got out of the car, I saw them.

Across the street, in front of the city's most exclusive jewelry store, stood Liam and Chloe. He was down on one knee.

He held up a small, velvet box. Inside, a diamond glittered, so large and brilliant it seemed to capture all the afternoon light. It was a far more extravagant ring than the simple band he had given me.

"Chloe Davis," Liam said, his voice carrying across the street, full of an emotion I had never once heard directed at me. "Will you make me the happiest man in the world? Will you marry me?"

Chloe let out a theatrical gasp, covering her mouth with her hands. "Oh, Liam! Yes! A thousand times, yes!"

He slipped the massive ring onto her finger, and she threw her arms around his neck, kissing him passionately as pedestrians stopped to watch and applaud the romantic scene.

My own wedding flashed in my mind. The drab, silent room at City Hall. No flowers, no family, no ring. He had placed this simple band on my finger days later, an afterthought, a symbol of his reluctant duty.

He hadn't even proposed.

The pain was a white-hot poker in my chest. I turned away, stumbling into the small jewelry shop I had been looking for.

The old jeweler, Mr. Cooper, looked up from his work. "Mrs. Stone. It is good to see you."

"Hello, Mr. Cooper," I said, my voice tight. "I need this cut off." I held out my hand.

He looked at my ring, then at my face, his expression full of gentle pity. He didn't ask any questions. He simply took my hand and, with a few deft movements of his tools, snipped the platinum band.

It fell onto the counter with a soft clink.

"And how should I address you now?" he asked kindly as he wrapped the severed ring in a small piece of cloth.

"Ava," I said, a sense of release washing over me. "Just Ava."

The weight on my finger was gone. The weight on my soul felt a little lighter.

I wandered the city for hours after that, with no destination in mind. Liam never called, never texted. He had what he wanted. He had forgotten I even existed.

It was late when I finally returned to the house. I had to face it one last time.

As I walked up the darkened driveway, a figure stepped out of the shadows. It was Chloe.

"There you are," she said, her voice dripping with venom. "Leaving so soon? Don't you want to stay and watch Liam and me be happy?"

"I have no interest in your life, Chloe," I said, trying to push past her.

She blocked me, her face twisted with a rage that was terrifying to see. "You think you can just walk away? You think you're better than me? You were never good enough for him!"

She lunged at me, grabbing my arms, her face close to mine. "He's mine! He was always mine!"

I tried to break free, to get away from her madness. "Let go of me!"

She wouldn't. She dragged me towards the front steps of the porch. Her foot slipped on the top step. She lost her balance, pulling me down with her.

We tumbled down the hard stone stairs in a tangle of limbs.

I landed hard on my side, a searing, blinding pain exploding in my abdomen.

I looked down.

Blood. So much blood, pooling on the cold stone beneath me, a dark stain spreading across my dress.

"My baby," I gasped, the world tilting on its axis. "My baby..."

Then I heard another sound. A sharp, piercing scream.

It was Chloe. She was at the bottom of the stairs too, clutching her own belly, a look of shock and pain on her face.