Chapter 3

Adelia POV:

The chill of the New York night seeped into my bones as I returned to the empty apartment. The front door, once a symbol of refuge, now felt like an entrance to a tomb. I pulled out the Florence ticket, its smooth surface a tangible promise of escape. My suitcase lay open on the bed, half-packed. I needed to leave. Now. Before I completely shattered.

As I began to fold a sweater, a sudden wave of nausea hit me. My stomach churned, a familiar sensation over the past few weeks that I had dismissed as stress. I stumbled to the bathroom, retching into the toilet. When the spasm passed, I reached for a bottle of mouthwash, and my hand brushed against something small and white tucked behind the mirror. A paper.

Curiosity, a fragile thing in my broken state, made me pull it out. It was a sonogram. My name, Adelia Figueroa, was printed at the top. And then, a date. Weeks ago. Before the gallery. Before the closet. Before everything. My heart hammered against my ribs. I was pregnant.

And then I saw it. Griffith' s familiar scrawl on the bottom. "Future heir. Keep safe." He knew. He had known all along. He had hidden it from me. The man who had shown me such cruelty, the man who had abandoned me, was the father of my child. My baby. My last connection to a family, to a future.

A tiny spark ignited in the dark recesses of my soul. This child. My child. It was the only tangible thing left from the wreckage of my life. The only person who would truly be my blood. I would protect this life. I would leave. And I would make a new life for us, far away from him.

I was packing more carefully now, my movements imbued with a new purpose. The nausea returned, but this time, I welcomed it. It was a sign of life, a promise.

The front door opened. Griffith. My breath caught in my throat. His face was unreadable, a strange mix of regret and determination.

"Adelia," he said, his voice softer than I'd heard it in days.

"You knew," I stated, my voice flat, devoid of emotion. I held up the sonogram. "You knew I was pregnant."

His eyes widened slightly, then he sighed. "Yes. I did."

"And you hid it from me?" I asked, a bitter laugh escaping my lips. "While you were parading your mistress, while you were humiliating me, while you were locking me in a closet-you knew I was carrying your child?"

He walked closer, his expression shifting to one of carefully constructed concern. "Adelia, I was trying to protect you. There's so much stress right now. Beryl's exhibit. My company's image. A baby would... complicate things."

"Complicate things?" I snarled, the last remnants of my composure crumbling. "This isn't 'things,' Griffith! This is our child! Your child!"

He took another step, his hand reaching out. I recoiled. "Adelia, listen to me. We need to be rational about this." He paused, then dropped the bombshell. "We need to... take it out."

My world stopped. The air left my lungs. "What?" I whispered, afraid I hadn't heard him correctly.

"The baby," he elaborated, his voice chillingly calm. "We need to terminate the pregnancy."

My blood ran cold. "Are you insane?!" I shrieked, clutching my stomach. "This is our baby! I won't do it!"

He tried to take my hand, his grip firm. "Adelia, it's for the best. Really. Beryl... she has a new concept. An installation about 'new life.' She wants to use... the fetus. She says you're her 'muse of primal reality,' and this would be the ultimate artistic expression. It will elevate her career, and our status."

The words hit me like a physical blow. He wanted to use our child. Our unborn child. As art. For his mistress. My vision swam. He wasn't just a monster. He was a fiend.

"You're disgusting!" I screamed, tears of pure horror streaming down my face. "You want to kill our baby for her 'art'? You want to put our child's body on display?!"

His face hardened. "Don't be so dramatic. We can have another one later. When things are less chaotic. Now, stop being difficult. My men are waiting." He signaled towards the door. Two burly men in black suits stepped into the apartment.

"No! Get away from me!" I scrambled backward, terror seizing me. "Griffith, please! Don't do this! Don't hurt our baby!" I pleaded, my voice raw, desperate. My hands instinctively covered my belly, a futile shield.

He watched, stony-faced, as the men grabbed my arms, dragging me towards the door. I fought, kicked, screamed. "Please! My baby! Our baby! Griffith, remember your promise! Remember when we talked about names! Please, don't let them do this!"

His face remained impassive. "It's for the best, Adelia. For everyone. You'll thank me later."

I was dragged out of the apartment, down the silent hallway, and into a waiting car. The hospital again. The sterile smell, the cold, clinical efficiency. I was on a gurney, strapped down. White light. Instruments. Cold hands. I fought, but my strength was gone. The drugs from the gallery still lingered in my system, leaving me weak.

A doctor's face, impassive. A nurse, avoiding my eyes. My vision blurred. I remembered Griffith's hand on my stomach, months ago, whispering about a nursery, about little shoes. He had promised me a family. He had promised me everything.

Then, a sharp, piercing pain. A tearing. A hollow emptiness. It was gone. My baby. My only hope. Ripped away. The world faded to black.

I woke up in my bed. The apartment was still. My stomach was flat. Empty. The crushing realization hit me like a physical blow. The child was gone. My body felt like a ghost, a hollow vessel. My eyes were dry. There were no more tears left. Only a cold, burning emptiness where my heart used to be.

I had to leave. Now. There was nothing left here. No love, no home, no family. I got up, my movements slow, deliberate. I grabbed my passport, my wallet. And the Florence ticket.

I walked out of the apartment for the last time, not bothering to lock the door. Let him have it. It meant nothing to me anymore. I hailed a cab, the rain still falling, a relentless curtain.

As the cab sped towards the airport, I turned on the news, a morbid curiosity guiding my hand. The headline blazed across the screen: "Beryl Aguirre's Controversial 'New Life' Installation Sparks Debate." My stomach clenched. I knew. I knew what I would see.

There it was. A glass case. A tiny, lifeless form suspended within it. My child. My baby. On display. For "art." A wave of pure, unadulterated agony washed over me. I wanted to scream, to rage, to smash the screen. But I couldn't. I could only close my eyes, wishing, praying, that this was all a nightmare. A horrible, twisted nightmare.

The cab screeched to a halt. A black SUV blocked our path. Men in black suits. My blood ran cold. This couldn't be happening. Not again. A hand clamped over my mouth. A cloth, sweet and dizzying, pressed against my nose.

Darkness.

I woke up in a brightly lit room, my wrists and ankles bound to a chair. The air was thick with the smell of cheap disinfectant. A single spotlight glared down on me, making me squint. And there he was. Griffith. Standing in the shadows, his face grim.

"Adelia," he said, his voice devoid of emotion. "You've caused quite a mess."

"A mess?" My voice was weak, but my defiance was strong. "You murdered our child, Griffith! You displayed its body! And you call me a mess?"

He stepped into the light, his face pale. "The media is in a frenzy. Beryl's 'New Life' is being called barbaric. Even her family is distancing themselves. We need damage control. You're going to go on live television. You're going to tell them it was a stillbirth. A tragic accident. You're going to praise Beryl's courage for immortalizing your 'loss' through art."

My jaw dropped. "You want me to lie? You want me to say our baby was stillborn? To cover for you and your psychotic mistress?"

"It's for Beryl's career," he said, as if that explained everything. "And our reputation. Just do as you're told."

"Never," I spat, my voice shaking with fury. "You are a murderer, Griffith Wyatt! Both of you! You killed my child!"

His eyes hardened. "Don't be foolish, Adelia. I'm trying to protect what's left. If you don't cooperate... that orphanage you love so much? The one you always pretend to care about? It would be a shame if it suddenly lost all its funding. Or perhaps, suffered a 'tragic accident' of its own."

My breath caught in my throat. He wouldn't. He couldn't. But his eyes, cold and calculating, told me he would. He would destroy everything I held dear. For Beryl. For his image.

"No," I whispered. My voice was broken. "Please... don't hurt the children."

"Then you'll cooperate?" he asked, a triumphant glint in his eyes.

I closed my eyes, a single tear escaping. "Yes," I choked out. "I'll do it. Just leave the orphanage alone."

The camera lights were blinding. The microphone felt like a serpent coiled around my throat. I sat, my face a mask of grief and forced composure, reciting the lies Griffith had fed me. A tragic stillbirth. A courageous artist honoring my pain. My choice. My sacrifice.

The comments scrolled by on a monitor, a relentless stream of hatred. "What a psycho!" "Using her dead baby for fame!" "Disgusting! She deserves to rot!" Each word was a fresh wound, but I felt nothing. I was numb.

A wave of nausea, sharper this time, made me sway. I felt faint. "I need to leave," I whispered, my voice barely audible.

One of Griffith's men, standing stiffly behind me, placed a hand on my shoulder. "Just a few more minutes, Mrs. Wyatt."

My head spun. I had missed my flight. My escape. I forced a bitter, humorless laugh. Of course I had. He always found a way to keep me tethered to his hell.