Chapter 3

I woke up to the sterile smell of antiseptic and the soft beeping of a machine. My head throbbed. I was in a hospital room. Gregory was sitting by my bed, his head in his hands. He looked up when I stirred, his face etched with worry.

"Bella," he said, his voice thick with emotion. "You' re awake. You scared me to death."

I just stared at him. The concern in his eyes felt like another performance.

The door opened, and a nurse came in, followed by Holly Skinner. She was holding Jaden' s hand.

"What is she doing here?" I asked, my voice a raw whisper.

Gregory stood up, placing himself between me and the door. "Bella, calm down. Holly was worried. She saw you collapse. She' s the one who called the ambulance."

"Get her out," I said, my voice rising. I tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness washed over me.

Holly fell to her knees by my bedside, her face a mask of tear-streaked sorrow. "Isabella, I' m so sorry. I never wanted this. Please, let me stay. I just want to make sure you' re okay."

It was a masterful performance. The wronged woman, the pitiful mistress.

"Get. Out." I repeated, each word a shard of glass.

Suddenly, the little boy, Jaden, lunged forward. He slammed his small fists into my leg, right where the IV was inserted. A sharp, searing pain shot up my arm.

"You' re a bad woman!" he shrieked, his face twisted in a snarl. "You made my mommy cry!"

"Jaden, stop it!" Gregory yelled, pulling the boy back. But his movements were slow, his grip not as firm as it should have been.

"He' s just a child, Gregory," Holly sobbed, pulling Jaden into her arms. "He doesn' t understand. He' s my nephew. He' s very protective of me."

Nephew. The lie was so audacious, so blatant, it left me breathless.

Gregory turned his attention back to me, his focus on the dislodged IV, the blood welling up on my skin. He called for the nurse, his voice sharp with command. But his eyes kept darting to the door, to where Holly stood comforting the crying boy. His priority was clear. He was protecting them.

The nurse fixed my IV, her expression professional but tight. Gregory thanked her, then turned to me, his face a mixture of concern and impatience.

"The doctor said you collapsed from exhaustion and dehydration. You need to rest."

"That boy," I said, my voice trembling with rage. "He attacked me."

"He' s four years old, Bella," Gregory said, his tone placating. "He didn' t mean any harm. He was just scared."

He wasn' t defending me. He was defending the boy. His son. The man who had once dropped a billion-dollar deal because I had a fever was now telling me that a physical assault was nothing to worry about. The realization was a physical blow, a punch to the gut that left me breathless. A sharp cramp seized my abdomen, and I curled into myself, a silent scream trapped in my throat.

I turned my back to him, pulling the thin hospital blanket up to my chin. It was a clear dismissal. I heard him sigh, a sound of frustration, before he walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind him.

I must have fallen into an exhausted sleep, because the next thing I knew, the door to my room was slamming open. I was being shaken awake, roughly.

Gregory stood over me, his face contorted with a rage I had never seen before. His eyes were bloodshot, his jaw tight.

"What did you do?" he snarled, his grip on my shoulders tightening. "Where is he?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked, my mind foggy with sleep and confusion.

"Jaden! He' s missing! Holly said you were the last one to talk to him. She said you threatened her!"

Before I could process his accusation, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thompson, stormed into the room. They were followed by a frantic, weeping Holly.

"You evil woman!" Mrs. Thompson shrieked, her perfectly manicured finger pointing at me. "You couldn' t give Gregory an heir, so you decided to get rid of his only son! You had him kidnapped!"

Jaden had been taught to point at me. His little finger, guided by his mother, sealed my fate. The police arrived. I was accused of orchestrating the kidnapping of my husband' s illegitimate son. The motive? Jealousy. Insanity.

I looked at Gregory, my eyes pleading with him to see the truth, to trust me. "Gregory, you know I would never do something like this."

His face was a cold, hard mask. "I don' t know what you' re capable of anymore, Isabella." He turned to the police officers. "Take her."

They put me in a holding cell. It was cold, filthy, and smelled of despair. The hours stretched into an eternity. I relived every promise he had ever made to me. I will protect you. The words mocked me, echoing in the suffocating silence. The tears eventually ran out, leaving behind a hollow, aching numbness.

Two days later, the door opened. A guard told me I was free to go. Jaden had been "found." He had apparently wandered off and been found by a security guard in a nearby park. It was a miracle.

I walked out of the precinct and into the harsh light of day. Gregory was waiting for me. He pulled me into an embrace that felt like a cage.

"I' m so sorry, Bella," he whispered. "It was all a misunderstanding. I was just so worried."

I didn' t respond. I let him lead me to the car and drive me back to our apartment. When we walked in, Holly was there, sitting on my couch, holding a sleeping Jaden.

"What is she doing here?" I asked, my voice flat.

"Holly and Jaden will be staying with us for a while," Mrs. Thompson announced, stepping out from the kitchen. Her voice was dripping with condescension. "For their safety. We can' t have them being targeted again."

"I' m not leaving Gregory' s side," Holly said, her voice small but firm, a clear declaration of her new position in this house.

I turned to leave, to go to my room, to escape this nightmare. As I walked past the couch, Jaden' s foot shot out, tripping me. I cried out as I fell, my body hitting the hard floor. A sharp, unbearable pain ripped through my abdomen.

I looked down. Blood was pooling on the floor beneath me, a dark, spreading stain on the white marble. Holly' s eyes met mine, and I saw a flicker of triumphant malice in them. Jaden, from his mother' s arms, made a grotesque face at me.

Gregory rushed to my side, his face pale with shock. He scooped me up into his arms, shouting for someone to call an ambulance. My vision was blurring, the room spinning. The last thing I saw before I passed out was Holly' s smug smile.

I woke up again in a hospital room. It was quiet. Too quiet. I was alone. I pressed the call button for the nurse. No one came.

I heard voices outside my door. Gregory and his lawyer, Jevon.

"How is she?" Jevon asked.

"She' s stable," Gregory replied, his voice heavy. "She lost the baby. It was early, only eight weeks. She didn' t even know she was pregnant."

A pause.

"And... there were complications. The fall caused a severe hemorrhage. They had to... they had to perform a hysterectomy. She can' t have children now."

The world dissolved into a silent scream. A baby. Our baby. Gone. My ability to ever have another one, gone. Ripped away from me by a malicious child and the woman who had stolen my life.