Chapter 6

Elizabeth's instructions were clear: "Don't confront him. Not yet. Let me gather more. We need leverage, Liv."

But the sight of them, the casual cruelty, the complicity of our "friends"-it was too much.

I had to get out of there.

As I tried to slip away unnoticed, heading towards the main exit this time, Serena saw me.

Her eyes, moments before soft and adoring for Michael, now glinted with malice.

She excused herself from Michael, handing the baby to a woman I vaguely recognized as her friend, and intercepted me near the coat check.

"Olivia," she said, her voice dripping with false sympathy. "I am so, so sorry you had to find out this way."

Her hand, adorned with a delicate diamond bracelet I'd never seen before, reached for my arm.

I flinched away. "Don't touch me."

Her smile didn't waver. "Oh, Olivia. So hostile. Michael warned me you might be like this. The pregnancy hormones, you know."

"Don't you dare talk about my pregnancy," I hissed, my voice low and shaking.

"Why not?" Serena tilted her head, her expression cloyingly sweet. "We're practically sisters in motherhood now. Though, of course, my little Mikey is already here. Such a beautiful boy. Michael is so proud."

Each word was a deliberate taunt.

"Michael made a mistake," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "A terrible mistake."

Serena laughed, a light, airy sound that grated on my nerves.

"A mistake? Oh, honey. This wasn't a mistake. This was a choice. His choice. He chose me. He chose our son."

"He's married to me," I said, the words feeling hollow even as I uttered them. "We're having a baby."

"Are you?" Serena's eyes narrowed. "He told me you were having some... complications. That the doctors weren't sure."

A cold shock ran through me. He'd discussed my pregnancy, my body, with this woman?

"He loves me," I insisted, more to convince myself than her.

"Does he?" Serena stepped closer, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "Or does he love the idea of you? The connections your mother provides? The comfortable life? Think about it, Olivia. He's with me. He has a child with me. What does that tell you?"

The pain was a physical blow, stealing my breath.

My hand flew to my stomach, a wave of nausea and dizziness washing over me.

"You should go," I managed, leaning against the wall for support.

"Oh, I'm not going anywhere," Serena said, her smile widening. "This is my party, after all. And soon, this will be my life. All of it."

The taunting, the cruelty, it was unbearable.

I felt a sharp cramp, a terrifying echo of the doctor's warnings about stress.

Despair threatened to swallow me whole.