Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Three years of marriage, and I still couldn’t get pregnant.
Ethan had convinced me to try IVF, and after two long years, I finally had a baby on the way.
Eight months into the pregnancy, though, I overheard Ethan chatting with his buddy Zack in the living room.
“Dude, you’ve been slipping Lila birth control pills for three years? Making her think she’s infertile so she’d agree to IVF? All so we could implant Lisa’s eggs into her?‘
“That’s cold, man! ” Zack hissed, his voice low but sharp.
Ethan just laughed, shrugging as if discussing something as trivial as dinner plans.
“Why let Lisa go through nine months of hell–stretch marks, back pain, swollen ankles, that excruciating childbirth? Nah. She’s too delicate for all that.”
My chest tightened as I stared at the man I’d loved for years, the man who’d spent years plotting every detail, the man whose smile had always hidden a dozen lies–he stood there like nothing was wrong.
“Aren’t you worried Lila will lose it when she finds out the truth? I mean, no one wants to carry another person’s kid, right? Especially after nine months of growing someone else’s baby,”
Zack teased, eyeing Ethan with a smirk.
Ethan scoffed. “She’s too clueless to figure it out. And even if she did–what’s she gonna do? She’s eight months pregnant. You think she’ll abort at this stage? Look at her–she’s as big as a house. Who else would want her after
she’s like this?”
“True, everyone knows how obsessed Lila is with you. She’s been clinging to you like a damn leech for years,”
Zack said, his grin turning sleazy as he winked.
“But I gotta admit… I’m kinda curious what it’s like with a pregnant chick.”
Ethan’s face twisted in disgust.
“She’s a walking whale. Just looking at her stomach–all swollen and gross–kills any urge. I’d rather watch porn
than touch her. It’s nauseating.”
“Since you’re not into it, maybe I can take a shot? I wouldn’t mind testing that out,” Zack said, sieazy laughter trailing his words.
Their mocking voices sliced through me like knives in the quiet room.
Each cackle drilled into my chest, a twisted soundtrack to the betrayal unraveling before me.
For two years, the IVF hormones had wrecked my body–thickened my waist, left my skin stretched and itchy,
12:21
Crashed Car, Crashed Crush:Amnesia Became My Reset Button
16.2%
Chapter 1
covered my belly in purple stretch marks by month five.
I’d thought Ethan was doting when he stuffed me with protein shakes and steaks, worried about “the baby’s health.”
Now I knew he only cared about the fetus growing inside me–the product of his and Lisa’s egg.
My palms were clenched so tight my nails bit into the flesh, cold sweat trickling down my spine as I practically fled the suffocating room.
Once I could breathe, I pulled out my phone and dialed the hospital.
“Hi, I need to schedule an abortion,” I said, voice steady despite the tremor in my hands.
I went that night, and I was terrified that staying even a second longer would make me lose my goddamn mind.
The on–call doctor studied my massive belly, skepticism in her eyes.
“Eight months is very late. Are you certain?” she asked.
“What does the father say about this?”
“He is Dead.” I snapped.
Since Ethan wanted this baby so badly, I’d prepare A BIG GIFT for him.
