Chapter 4

The emergency room doctor was gentle as she stitched the gash on my forehead. "You need to be more careful," she said, her brow furrowed with concern. "A fall like that could have been much worse, especially..." She trailed off, glancing at my chart.

Before she could finish, the TV in the corner of the waiting area, which had been murmuring quietly, suddenly blared to life with a "Breaking News" graphic.

My face filled the screen. It was a grainy cell phone video of me on the floor of the ballroom.

"Sources inside the St. Regis claim Genevieve Ball, ex-girlfriend of mogul Ignatz Turner, staged a dramatic fall today in an attempt to win him back," the anchor said in a grave voice. "This comes on the heels of new reports alleging Ms. Ball has a history of erratic behavior and infidelity."

The world went dark at the edges. I gripped the side of the hospital bed to keep from fainting.

Before I could even process the slander, the door to my curtained-off cubicle was thrown open with a deafening bang.

Meredith Turner, Ignatz's mother, stood there, her face a mask of pure fury.

"You little whore!" she screamed, lunging at me. Her hand connected with my cheek in a vicious slap that sent my head ringing.

Before I could react, two large men, bodyguards I recognized, grabbed my arms. They hauled me off the bed, ignoring the doctor's protests.

"What are you doing? She's my patient!"

"Get out of the way," Meredith snarled at her, and they dragged me out of the hospital, my bare feet scraping against the pavement.

They threw me into the back of a black SUV and drove to an old, abandoned warehouse on the industrial outskirts of the city. They dragged me inside and threw me onto the filthy concrete floor.

"Kneel," Meredith commanded, her voice echoing in the cavernous space.

I tried to scramble away, but the bodyguards forced me down. My knees hit the cold, hard ground with a painful crack.

Meredith pulled out her phone and dialed. "Ignatz," she said, her voice dripping with venom. "Your pathetic wife is here, making a scene. She's brought shame on our entire family."

I could hear Ignatz's panicked voice on the other end of the line. "Mom, what did you do? Where are you?"

"Don't you worry about it," she sneered. "I'm just teaching this little tramp the lesson you've been too soft to teach her. You can't be this soft, son. She's been cheating on you, playing you for a fool!"

"Ignatz!" I screamed, desperate for him to hear me. "It's not true! I'm pregnant! She's lying!"

There was a pause on the other end. Then, Ignatz's voice came through, low and defeated. "Gen... just do what she says. I'll make it up to you later. I promise."

The line went dead.

Hope died with it.

They left me there, kneeling in the stifling heat of the unventilated warehouse. Sweat and blood trickled down my face, dripping onto the dusty floor. Hours passed.

Then, a sudden, sharp cramp seized my abdomen. It was a pain so intense it stole my breath. I looked down. A dark, wet patch was spreading on the thin fabric of my dress.

No. No, no, no.

Panic, raw and primal, clawed at my throat. I scrambled to the massive steel door and banged on it with my fists.

"Help! Please, somebody help me! My baby!"

I could hear Meredith's voice from the other side, cold and dismissive. "What baby? That little bastard? Let it die. It was never welcome in the Turner family anyway."

"It's Ignatz's baby!" I shrieked, my voice cracking with desperation. "It's your grandchild!"

The only answer was the sound of her footsteps walking away, fading into silence.

I was alone.

I spent the night on that cold floor, bleeding in the dark, the pain in my belly a relentless, tearing agony.

When the sun came up, the door finally opened. One of the bodyguards looked down at me, his face impassive. "Mrs. Turner said we can take you to a hospital now."

The next thing I knew, I was on an operating table. The lights were too bright, the voices around me were muffled. I felt a profound coldness spreading through me, a sense of something precious being irrevocably lost.

As they wheeled me into a recovery room, my phone, which had been in my purse, buzzed on the bedside table. It was a text from Ignatz.

I'm so sorry, Gen. Mom went too far. But you have to understand her position. This has been so hard on all of us.

A single, hot tear slid from the corner of my eye and traced a path through the grime on my face. My fingers trembled as I picked up the phone.

A few hours later, a lawyer I didn't recognize delivered a crisp, white envelope. Inside was my divorce certificate, officially stamped. It was over.

I scrolled through my contacts, my thumb hovering over a name I hadn't called in five years. A name that represented a life I had thrown away.

I pressed the call button.

It rang twice.

"Well, look who it is," a deep, male voice said, laced with a familiar, teasing smile. "I was beginning to think you'd forgotten all about me."

"Kaleb," I whispered, my voice breaking. "I need help."

"I know," he said, his tone instantly serious. "I'm already on my way. Dad's with me. Just hang on, Gen. We're coming to bring you home."