Chapter 2
The nausea slammed into me before I was even fully awake.
One breath, one twitch of my limbs under the sheets, and my stomach revolted. I barely had time to stumble into the bathroom before I was on my knees, vomiting into the toilet bowl. Cold sweat coated my spine, my hands trembling as I clutched the porcelain rim.
Stress. That had to be it. The emotional wreckage from the past two days had finally caught up with me, and now my body was betraying me too.
I forced myself to breathe, to rise unsteadily to my feet, and rinse my mouth at the sink. As I looked up, my eyes landed on the small wall calendar tacked beside the mirror–days crossed off with a red pen.
Something clicked.
I stared. My heart stuttered.
Wait.
I was late. Not by a day or two–but by nearly two weeks. I hadn’t even realized, too distracted by heartbreak and survival. Panic shot through me, fast and suffocating.
With shaking fingers, I tore through the drawers under the sink, flinging open every box and case until I found one–the small, flat box I never thought I’d need again. A pregnancy test.
I sat on the edge of the bathtub, holding the stick in my hand, my entire body humming with dread. Minutes dragged. My breath was shallow. My vision blurred again–but this time it wasn’t from sleep or sickness.
Two red lines.
The room tilted slightly. My heartbeat thundered in my ears.
If this had been yesterday–before everything fell apart–I would have run to Bryan, glowing with joy, ready to tell him he was going to be a father. We would have cried together, maybe even celebrated with that anniversary dinner I’d planned. The image of it flashed through my mind- our home bathed in warm light, our hands tangled across the table, laughter and whispered
dreams.
But that was a lie. That version of us never really existed.
Instead, I could only hear his voice echoing in my head. Sarcastic, cruel. She’s just a placeholder since Suzanne left me. And Shaun’s chuckle. What if she finds out Suzanne made her deaf?
gripped the sink, willing myself not to scream.
Then–three soft knocks on the door. I froze.
‘Sweetheart?” Bryan’s voice, muffled but familiar, seeped through the wood. “You okay in there?” My stomach twisted, not from illness this time–but from the bile of rage and sorrow rising in my
throat.
He was home.
I didn’t have time to think. I hastily shoved the pregnancy test into the medicine cabinet behind the mirror and splashed water on my face. My fingers were still shaking as I forced a smile,
brushing away the sweat and tears before unlocking the door.
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3:47 pm D
Bryan stood there, dressed in a crisp shirt and slacks like always, his features arranged in concern. His gaze darted from my pale face to the broken vase on the floor and the thin line of blood on my palm.
His hands moved quickly in sign language.
“What happened? Are you hurt?”
I swallowed the truth and forced the lie. “I’m fine. I just… wasn’t feeling well. I knocked it over.”
He stepped forward, brushing past me to grab the first–aid kit under the sink. “Be careful,” he signed, flashing a soft smile. “You’re too precious to get hurt over something so small.”
If I hadn’t known better, I might’ve believed him. Might’ve melted into his arms, let him patch up my wounds and whisper empty reassurances. But I did know better.
As he dabbed antiseptic onto my hand, his face twitched slightly–just for a second.
“Stupid woman,” he muttered under his breath, too low for someone who couldn’t hear.
My blood ran cold.
“That vase cost a fortune and she breaks it like it’s some thrift store junk…”
My heart stung. But I stayed still. Silent. Let him finish wrapping the wound without flinching. He still didn’t know. Still believed I was deaf, trapped in silence.
I wasn’t. Not anymore.
My thoughts drifted.
Back to the orphanage where I grew up. To the first time I met Bryan–his family had donated books and clothes. He was the only one who spoke to me like I mattered. Like I was more than just a number in the system.
Even then, I knew he loved someone else. Suzanne. The girl who glittered like the stars he always reached for.
Then came the accident. A blur of headlights. A scream. Silence.
I woke up deaf and alone. And then Bryan proposed. I believed, with everything in me, love. That he chose me. That I was enough.
I had been so wrong.
that it was
He pulled away, tapping my bandaged hand lightly. “I have to leave town for a few days. Business trip,” he signed.
I nodded with practiced calm. “Safe travels.”
Just then, his phone buzzed. Before he could silence it, the speaker clicked on.
“Where are you, baby?” Suzanne’s sultry voice filled the room.
Bryan grinned at the sound, casting a sideways glance at me. “Leaving now. My darling wife thinks I’m off for a board meeting.”
I stood frozen, willing myself not to react.
“Good,” Suzanne cooed. “Because I’m already in lingerie, waiting in your hotel suite.”
Bryan chuckled, ended the call, and turned to me again, his face perfectly serene as he signed,
3:49 pm D
“Get some rest, love. You look pale.”
I nodded once.
He left with a kiss to my forehead that made my skin crawl.
The moment the front door shut behind him, I turned the lock. My knees gave out and I slid to the floor, my body heaving with silent sobs.
This man had taken everything–my trust, my voice, my life–and now he had taken this too. Our
child.
But he wasn’t going to win.
That night, as the city outside blurred into orange and violet dusk, I made my decision.
I wouldn’t bring a child into this house of lies. Into this poisoned love.
The hospital was quiet. The procedure fast. The pain afterward was a different story–raw soul–deep, and hollowing. It wasn’t the physical hurt. It was the grief of letting go. The grief of once believing something real had existed between us.
I stayed in that hospital bed for three days. No calls. No messages. Not from Bryan.
Not even a lie to ask if I was okay.
When the nurse handed me my discharge papers, I clutched them tightly, as if they were my declaration of freedom.
As I turned to leave, a sudden voice halted me.
‘Oh my God.”
spun to find an older woman standing there, eyes wide and glistening. She wore a cashmere coat, pearls at her throat, and trembling hands that reached toward me.
‘I’ve been searching for you,” she whispered. “For years.”
blinked. “Excuse me?”
‘You… you’re the lost Lindsey girl.”
My breath caught.
“What?”
Her hand reached for my neck, gently brushing aside my hair. Her fingertips landed on the mark just beneath my ear–a birthmark I had always known but never questioned.
She gasped. Her knees buckled as she clutched my arms.
“It’s you. That mark–it’s only passed down through the Lindsey bloodline. My God, I never thought I’d find you.”
My world shifted.
The Lindseys. The name echoed in my mind. One of the wealthiest families in the country. Owners of international corporations, headlines, and legacies.
And I… was one of them?
The woman looked at me with tears streaming down her face. “Welcome home, my darling. We thought we lost you forever.”
Chapter 2
