Chapter 5

The day after Alexander left, Aja had another session with Dr. Sharma. It was a particularly draining one, delving into the rawest parts of Aubrey' s trauma. She came home exhausted, her body aching, her mind a fog.

All she wanted was to sleep.

Katerina was in the living room, lounging on the sofa like a queen.

"Make me a smoothie," she commanded, not even looking up from her magazine. "With kale and ginger. It's good for the baby."

Aja ignored her and walked toward the stairs.

"Did you hear me?" Katerina called out, her voice sharp. "I'm talking to you."

Aja kept walking. She reached her bedroom and closed the door, the exhaustion so heavy it felt like a physical weight.

A moment later, her door burst open. Katerina stood there, her hands on her hips.

"This is my house now," she sneered. "When I tell you to do something, you do it."

She looked Aja up and down, a cruel smirk on her face. "It's a shame, really. All that time you and Alex spent trying to have a baby. All those doctors, all that money. And for what? You're just... broken. A barren, broken woman. No wonder he came to me."

The words were aimed at Aubrey, and they hit their mark in the depths of Aja' s mind. She felt a wave of Aubrey' s old, agonizing pain. The memory of the last miscarriage, the blood, the emptiness. Alexander had wanted a child so desperately. It was the one thing she couldn't give him.

"Congratulations on your pregnancy, Katerina," Aja said, her voice flat. "I hope you and the baby are very happy."

Katerina laughed, a harsh, ugly sound. "Oh, we will be. Once you're out of the picture for good."

Aja lay down on the bed and closed her eyes, praying for oblivion.

Suddenly, a piercing scream, followed by the sound of shattering glass, echoed from downstairs.

Aja shot up, her heart pounding. Her first thought, an instinct from Aubrey, was for the baby.

She ran out of the room and down the stairs.

Katerina was on the floor, surrounded by the shards of a broken vase. There was a small, shallow cut on her arm, beading with blood. She had done it to herself.

"Kat!" Aja cried, rushing to her side. "Are you okay?"

She reached for Katerina, her only thought to help, to check if she was seriously hurt.

At that exact moment, the front door flew open. Alexander was back. He had come home early.

He took in the scene in a single glance: Aja kneeling over Katerina, Katerina on the floor, crying, blood on her arm.

"What did you do?" he roared, his face contorted with rage.

"She pushed me!" Katerina shrieked, pointing a trembling finger at Aja. "She said she wished the baby was dead!"

"No," Aja said, standing up, her hands raised. "No, Alex, I didn't. She fell."

He didn't listen. He shoved Aja aside and rushed to Katerina's side, scooping her up into his arms.

"It's okay, baby, I'm here. I've got you."

He carried her out the door, his eyes shooting daggers of pure hatred at Aja. "You will pay for this," he spat.

Aja stood alone in the trashed living room, the lie hanging in the air like poison gas. She just stood there, silent, as he drove Katerina to the hospital.

He had a private wing on call. The cut was superficial, barely needing a bandage, but Alexander paced the waiting room like a caged tiger, his fury growing with every passing second.

He cornered Aja there, his voice low and menacing.

"You are going to apologize to her."

Aja stared at him, her silence a wall he couldn't break.

"Did you hear me?" he hissed. "You are going to get down on your knees and beg for her forgiveness."

She just looked at him, seeing for the first time the true depth of his delusion. He didn't just believe Katerina's lie; he needed to believe it. It fit his narrative of the crazy, jealous wife and the vulnerable, innocent victim.

"Why are you doing this, Aubrey?" she finally asked, her voice cracking with Aubrey's pain. "After everything... why?"

For a moment, he looked genuinely shocked by her outburst. He saw the dark circles under her eyes, the gauntness of her face. He saw how much weight she'd lost.

A flicker of something-pity? guilt?-crossed his face. His voice softened, but the demand remained. "Just apologize, Aubrey. For me. Let's just put this behind us."

"I have nothing to apologize for."

"I stood by you!" he yelled, his anger flaring again. "Through everything! The trial, the prison! I never left your side!"

"You put me there!"

"That was a mistake!"

"And what about your promise?" she screamed, the words tearing out of her. "The promise you made when we lost our baby? That it would always be us? That you loved me? Was that a mistake too?"

He stared at her, speechless. The mention of their lost child, a topic they hadn't touched in years, struck a nerve.

"That has nothing to do with this," he finally said, his voice cold and dismissive.

The last piece of Aubrey' s heart, the tiny, foolish part that still remembered the man he used to be, shattered into dust.

His phone rang. He answered it, his back to her. A nurse.

"I'll be right there," he said, then hung up.

He turned to leave, to go back to Katerina's side.