Chapter 4

Kiera POV:

Leaning heavily on the wall, I shuffled out of the room, each step an exercise in agony. My body was a wreck, but the pain was a dull, distant thrum compared to the hollow cavern where my heart used to be.

I had to get to the billing department. I had to pay. I had to leave.

Turning the corner of the long, sterile corridor, I froze.

There, at the end of the hall, outside the plush VIP suite, stood Ethan. He wasn' t alone. He was holding a cup of juice with a straw for Chanel, who was leaning against him, her arm in a light bandage, looking frail and beautiful.

My husband, who couldn't be bothered to answer his phone while his child was dying, was playing nursemaid to the woman who had orchestrated the entire catastrophe.

He saw me. His body tensed instantly, and he moved to shield Chanel, as if I were some kind of predator.

"Kiera," he said, his voice low and wary. "What are you doing out of bed?"

Chanel peeked around him, her eyes wide with faux innocence. "Oh, Kiera, I' m so glad you' re alright. I was so worried. I told Ethan he should go check on you, but the doctor said I couldn' t be left alone."

She snuggled closer to him, a picture of damsel-in-distress perfection.

Ethan' s gaze was hard, accusatory. "You need to go back to your room. And when I' m done here, we are going to have a serious talk. You owe Chanel a huge apology. And you' re going to stay here and take care of her until she' s fully recovered."

My eyes drifted to Chanel' s arm. The bandage was small, covering a patch of skin that was probably slightly red. A minor, first-degree burn at worst.

I thought of the blood. The blinding pain. The devastating emptiness inside me. I thought of my dead child.

My vision swam. A wave of nausea and grief so powerful it nearly buckled my knees washed over me.

For a split second, I wanted to scream. I wanted to claw at his face and tell him what he had done, what we had lost. I wanted to expose Chanel for the manipulative snake she was.

But what was the point? He wouldn' t believe me. He had already chosen his side.

My eyes burned, and I knew if I stayed here a second longer, I would break. I couldn't give them the satisfaction.

So I did the only thing I could. I forced my lips into a brittle, grotesque imitation of a smile.

"You' re right," I said, my voice eerily calm. "I' m not wronged at all."

Ethan looked taken aback by my compliance. He clearly expected a fight.

"Good," he said, though he still looked suspicious. "Go back to your room and wait for me. I' ll be there after the doctor does Chanel' s morning check-up."

Wait for him.

The words echoed in the empty spaces of my memory.

Wait for me, Kiera, I' ll be home for dinner. He' d never shown up. He was with Chanel.

Wait for me, Kiera, I' ll come to the scan next week, I promise. He' d canceled at the last minute. He was with Chanel.

Wait for me, Kiera, just give me five chances to prove I can be the husband you deserve.

I' d been a fool to believe him. That night, at the party, I' d finally decided to stop waiting. When he' d knelt for her, that was the fifth chance, shattered into a million pieces.

"Kiera? Did you hear me?" Ethan' s voice cut through my thoughts, sharp with impatience.

He was already turning back to Chanel, his attention shifting to her slightest whimper. "Does your arm still hurt? Let me get the nurse."

He chose her. Again. In front of me, after everything.

It didn't even hurt anymore. It was just a fact. Like the sky is blue, and the sun rises in the east. Ethan Carlson will always choose Chanel Simon.

"Okay," I whispered.

The single word was my surrender. Not to him, but to the truth.

I would not wait for him. Not in that room. Not ever again.

I turned and walked away, my back straight, my steps slow but steady. I didn' t look back.

Downstairs, at the billing office, my body finally betrayed me. As I handed over my personal credit card-one he didn't know I had-a wave of dizziness hit me, and I gripped the counter to stay upright.

"Ma' am, are you alright?" the nurse at the counter asked, her face creased with concern. "You' ve just had major surgery. You shouldn' t be walking around."

"I' m fine," I lied.

The irony was crushing. A stranger, a nurse, showed me more concern than my own husband. She saw my pain. He saw an inconvenience.

I spent the next three days alone in that cold, white room. I didn't cry. I just stared at the ceiling, feeling the life I had built with Ethan crumble away, piece by painful piece.

He never came. He never called.

I imagined him in the VIP suite down the hall, fluffing Chanel' s pillows, fetching her juice, listening to her endless complaints about her "terrible injury." The man who had ignored my screams of agony was now catering to her every whim.

The thought didn't even spark anger anymore. It was just... empty.