Chapter 5

"Leave?" Axel's voice was sharp with alarm. "What are you talking about?"

He glanced at my still form on the bed, making sure I was asleep. I kept my breathing even, my eyes closed.

"Where would you go?" he demanded, his voice a frantic whisper. "It's late. And what about the baby? Our baby?"

He reminded her how much my parents worried about her, how much they loved their grandson.

Adeline's eyes glistened with unshed tears, but she shook her head. "My being here makes Calista unhappy. I can't keep being a burden on all of you."

She bowed her head low, a picture of tragic self-sacrifice.

I saw Axel's hand clench into a fist. His face was a canvas of pity and affection.

"I'll make sure Calista stays here at the hospital to recover," he promised her, his voice firm. "She won't come home for a while. You can stay. You need to rest and get your strength back."

"No, I can't..." she started.

"Yes, you can," he insisted. "That baby is my son, too. I won't have him and his mother out on the streets."

She looked up at him, her eyes full of hope. "Do you... do you have me in your heart, Axel?"

He hesitated for a fraction of a second, then nodded. "Yes. Of course I do. We grew up together, Addy."

"Then you should go," he urged. "Someone might see you."

But she didn't leave. Instead, she threw herself into his arms and pressed her lips to his.

"Just hearing you say that... I could die happy," she breathed against his mouth. "I love you so much, Axel. I don't want to make things difficult for you. As long as I know you care, I'll do anything."

I heard his breath hitch, his voice turning husky. "You silly girl."

He promised her that he and the baby would be fine. He would give their son the best of everything.

His hand slid down to rest on the small of her back.

She let out a soft gasp. "What about her baby? Will it affect our son's future?"

I felt his lips brush against her neck before he spoke, his words a death sentence.

"Don't worry. Her baby won't be born."

"But the doctor said the fetus is stable," Adeline whispered.

"That was for her benefit," Axel explained, his voice cold and clinical. "We had to save it this time so she wouldn't blame you. But when the time is right... she won't be able to have any more children. Then everyone will accept our son as their own."

Adeline moaned softly, wrapping her arms tighter around his neck.

"You're a little devil," Axel chuckled, his voice thick with desire.

In the bed next to them, I lay perfectly still, a silent audience to their depraved passion. They thought I was asleep. The thought of it seemed to excite them more.

Her soft cries grew louder.

"Shh," Axel murmured. "Not here. Someone will hear." He covered her mouth with his hand. "Let's go next door."

He swept her into his arms and carried her out of my room, into the empty storage closet across the hall.

The sounds that followed were muffled but unmistakable. Grunts, moans, the sounds of two people lost in a world that had no place for me.

I lay in the dark, my eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling. Hot tears traced a path from my eyes to my temples, soaking into the pillow.

It wasn't just a betrayal. It was a complete annihilation of everything I thought was real.

My heart, which had been broken and patched up so many times, finally went cold and still. It was dead.

A child that wasn't wanted shouldn't be born into this world of lies.

I wiped my tears with the back of my hand, a grim determination settling in my soul. I pushed the call button for the nurse.

She came in, her expression sleepy and annoyed.

"I want the surgery," I said, my voice flat. "The one I scheduled. I want it now."

The nurse's eyes widened. "Ma'am, are you sure? The doctor said the fetus is perfectly healthy. And after your previous losses... this might be your last chance."

"My family is Clarke," I said, my voice like steel. "Money is not an object. Find a doctor who is willing to perform the procedure. Now." The irony was bitter on my tongue-using the name that had imprisoned me to finally break free.

The look on my face, and the power behind my name, must have convinced her. She nodded slowly and left to get the doctor.

They wheeled me out of my room. The process was a cold, clinical blur. I felt a strange emptiness as they worked, a hollowing out of both my body and my soul.

When it was over, I saw a doctor toss the bloody remains into a biohazard bin.

My baby.

I thought of its father, its grandparents. The people who should have loved it, but who had condemned it before it even had a chance to live.

I closed my eyes. It was over.

Axel Neal, I thought, as the last of my consciousness faded. We are over. Forever.