Chapter 2
The doctor didn’t press further, just handed me pills and a appointment slip.
“Take these and return in three days for the procedure.”
Exhausted, I returned home–only to find the smart lock rejecting my code.
As I fumbled for my phone, the door swung open.
Lisa stood there in a silk nightgown, one strap sliding off her shoulder, hickeys stark against her collarbone, clearly braless beneath the thin fabric.
“Oh, Lila! My apartment’s lights broke, and Ethan didn’t want me alone, so he said I could stay here,” she purred, batting her lashes.
“He changed the password to my birthday so I wouldn’t forget. You don’t mind, do you?”
My gaze dropped to the couch–wet stains on the cushions, Ethan’s shirt inside out, his jeans crumpled and unzipped
at the waist.
He stood up, pulling me into a hug like the perfect concerned husband.
“You should’ve told me you were going out! What if something happened to you or the baby?”
His scent–mixed with her perfume, the same brand I’d worn for years–made my stomach churn.
His supposedly loving gaze–all soft eyes and gentle smiles–chilled me to the bone. I knew the truth now: every touch, every word, was just a performance.
Fake concern by day, cheating with his “first love” in our home by night. Changed the lock to her birthday, as if I were the outsider here.
I didn’t speak.
I just pulled away and walked upstairs, their stunned silence heavy at my back.
Let them wonder.
Let them panic.
Let them drown in the mess they’d made.
Ethan, who never drank milk himself, suddenly handed me a glass that night.
“You’re in your third trimester now–need all the protein and calcium you can get. Come on, drink up, babe.”
My eyes narrowed at the milk he pressed into my hand. “I don’t want it.”
12:21
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Crashed Car, Crashed Crush:Amnesia Became My Reset Button
17.1%
Chapter 2
His smile flickered, but he stayed gentle–too gentle.
“It’s for your own good, and the baby’s. Be good.”
Before I could protest, he tilted the glass, forcing the warm, metallic–tasting liquid down my throat.
The world started to blur almost instantly.
As I sank into the couch, I swore I saw two shadows tangling at the edge of my vision–his laugh, her giggle, a symphony of betrayal.
I woke the next morning with every bone in my body screaming.
When Ethan left for work, I grabbed my phone and pulled up the hidden camera footage I’d started recording
before he’d even entered the room.
I’d stashed the phone in the fern by the window, its lens peeking through the fronds.
The video hit me like a punch to the gut.
After I’d passed out, Ethan and Lisa had stumbled through the door locked in a kiss, tongues and teeth, before collapsing onto the couch right beside me.
“Ethan, it kills me seeing you with her every day,” Lisa whined, straddling his lap.
Ethan spat on my cheek, the glob of saliva warm against my skin, then kicked my hip until I rolled onto the floor.
“She’s a cow compared to you. I only married her for the baby. You think I’d touch that flab otherwise?”
Lisa smirked down at my unconscious body.
“You sure you gave her enough sleeping pills? What if she remembers after the baby’s born?”
“Relax, babe.” Ethan started yanking my sweatpants down, Lisa peeling off my shirt.
“We’ll keep these photos as insurance. Let her try to leave then–no one’ll believe a crazy, postpartum mess over us.”
They propped me on a wooden chair, legs spread, my naked body on full display as Ethan snapped photo after
photo.
Lisa adjusted my limp arms, angling me for better shots, like I was a mannequin they’d bought for their sick game.
Then, right there in front of the camera, they started fucking–Ethan on the couch, Lisa riding him, both grinning at my unconscious form like it was the funniest thing in the world.
Tears streamed down my face as I watched the footage on my phone, each frame twisting my heart into a kn
agony.
When the video ended, I grabbed the pills–the ones the doctor had warned me not to take without supervision–and swallowed them dry.
