Chapter 4

The world exploded in a screech of metal and shattering glass. Our car was slammed from behind, sending us spinning across the highway.

Before I could even register what happened, my door was wrenched open. A rough hand grabbed my hair and dragged me out, throwing me onto the cold asphalt.

My head hit the ground. Stars burst behind my eyes.

I tried to push myself up, but a heavy boot pressed down on my back, pinning me to the road.

"You bitch," a voice snarled above me. "You think you can get away with bullying a pregnant woman?"

"No," I gasped, the word barely audible. "You don't understand..."

A sharp slap across my face cut me off. The taste of blood filled my mouth.

"Shut up," the man grunted. "Get your camera. Let's show everyone what this monster really looks like."

A phone was shoved in my face, its flash blinding me. I tried to turn my head away, but he grabbed my jaw, forcing me to look into the lens.

"You're going to pay for what you did," he whispered, his voice a venomous hiss. "You're going to know what it feels like to be helpless."

They tied a rope to my ankles and attached it to the back of their SUV. The engine roared to life.

The asphalt scraped my back raw. The pain was beyond anything I had ever imagined. My screams were torn from my throat, raw and useless against the roar of the engine.

My vision blurred. The pain faded into a dull, distant hum. My body was just a dead weight being dragged through the darkness.

The car stopped. They cut the rope and left me in a heap on the cold ground.

When I woke up, I was surrounded by tombstones. A cemetery. The silence was absolute. For the first time in a long time, I wasn't afraid of death. It was the living who were the real monsters.

I don't know how long I lay there before some primal instinct for survival kicked in. I dragged my broken body to its feet and stumbled towards the distant glow of a street lamp.

Each step was agony. I finally reached the road and collapsed.

I woke up in a hospital bed. A kind-faced nurse was checking my IV.

"You're lucky to be alive," she said softly. "You have some very serious injuries."

My entire body throbbed with a deep, relentless pain. I pulled the thin blanket up to my chin, trying to hide the map of bruises and cuts that covered my skin.

I refused her help, pulling myself out of bed and shuffling out of the room. The pain was a grounding force, a reminder that I was still, somehow, here.

I made it home. The house was cold and empty. Cole hadn't come home. He hadn't called. Not once.

I remembered a time when I had a small paper cut, and he had fussed over me for an hour, treating me like I was made of glass.

Was any of that real? Or was it all just part of his long, cruel performance?

He didn't care about me anymore. His heart, his concern, his entire world now revolved around Karma and their child.

I went to the local clinic the next day to pay for my treatment. I stood in line, my body aching, my mind a hollow shell.

Then I heard her voice. A voice that would haunt my nightmares.

"Oh, Cole, stop it, you're making me blush," Karma giggled.

I froze. They were here. In the same hospital. My body went rigid, and I didn't dare turn around.

"Just be careful, okay?" Cole's voice was a low murmur, full of a tenderness that felt like a physical blow. "The doctor said you had signs of a threatened miscarriage after what Eleanor did. We can't take any risks."

"I know she didn't mean it," Karma said, her voice dripping with false magnanimity. "She's just hurting. Please, Cole, don't be mad at her." Then, her voice dropped to a pained whisper. "Just... please don't let her scare me like that again."

"She won't," Cole said, his voice turning to ice. "I'll make sure of it."

I wanted to scream, to tell him the truth, to show him the raw, weeping wounds on my back. But then I saw the look on his face as he turned. It was cold, hard disgust. He was looking right past me, right through me. But the disgust was meant for me.

The hope I didn't even know I was holding onto shriveled and died.

Suddenly, Karma gasped, clutching her stomach. "Oh! The baby!"

Cole's face went white with panic. He scooped her up in his arms and sprinted towards the OB-GYN department, his focus entirely on her.

He slammed into me as he ran past, knocking me off my feet. My already injured body hit the hard linoleum floor with a sickening thud.

He didn't even look back.

I lay there, a fresh wave of pain washing over me, and watched his retreating back.

The other people in line stared at me with pity and disdain. I pulled myself up, my bones screaming in protest, and limped back to my place in the queue, my heart as numb and cold as the floor.