Chapter 6

Just as Bernard was about to leave, the door burst open again. Evelin swept in, a radiant smile on her face. She was holding a piece of paper.

"Bernard, darling, look!" she chirped, waving the paper in the air. "I'm pregnant!"

She shoved the pregnancy test report under his nose, her eyes sparkling with triumph.

Bernard froze. He stared at the paper, then at her, his face a picture of stunned disbelief.

"Pregnant?" he whispered.

Evelin pouted, her smile fading slightly. "Aren't you happy? Or are you still thinking about her?" She shot a nasty look in my direction.

"No! Of course not!" Bernard snapped out of his trance. He grabbed Evelin, his hands on her waist, his voice suddenly frantic and overjoyed. "Happy? Evelin, I... I'm ecstatic! We're having a baby! A baby!"

He wasn't acting now. This joy was real. It was raw and overwhelming. He lifted her off the ground and spun her around, laughing like a child on Christmas morning.

I watched them from my hospital bed, my heart turning to ice. I was pregnant with his child, and his reaction was disgust and denial. Evelin was pregnant with his child, and he reacted with pure, unadulterated joy.

It was so clear. He loved her. He despised me.

I felt a strange sense of peace settle over me. The last vestiges of hope, of love, of Ben, died in that moment. It was a clean break. I didn't love him anymore either.

"We have to go back to New York! We have to tell my parents!" Bernard was saying, his face alight with excitement. He carried Evelin towards the door, his eyes fixed on her, on their future. He didn't even glance back at me. I was already a ghost.

As they left, Evelin looked over his shoulder and gave me a final, triumphant, contemptuous smirk.

The door closed, and I was alone in the silence.

I picked up the hospital phone and made a call.

"Yes," I said to the receptionist at the women's health clinic. "I'd like to schedule an appointment. For a termination."

I closed my eyes, a single tear tracing a path down my cheek. I'm sorry, little one, I thought. I'm so sorry. But I can't bring you into a world where your own father would hate you.

After I was discharged, I went back to the small apartment that held two years of memories. With a cold, methodical precision, I began to erase him.

I packed up his clothes, his books, the cheap coffee mug he loved. I threw them all in the trash.

On the wall was a large, framed puzzle of our wedding photo. He had spent weeks putting it together. It was missing one piece, a corner of the blue sky, which we could never find. He'd always said it meant our love was a work in progress, always growing.

Now, I understood. It was a sign that our happiness was never meant to be complete.

I took the frame down. Piece by piece, I dismantled the puzzle, my face impassive.

In the back of the closet was a scarf he had knitted for me. It was lumpy and uneven. He'd been so proud of it. He told me he'd learned to knit just for me. Another lie. He was practicing. Practicing for the perfect scarf he would one day knit for Evelin.

I took the scarf to the kitchen sink and set it on fire. I watched the flames consume the yarn until it was nothing but a pile of black ash.

It took me two days to empty the apartment of every trace of him, of us.

Just as I was about to leave for the last time, my phone rang. It was my old boss from the clinic.

"Addison, I'm so sorry to bother you, but Evelin Bennett is here. She's demanding to see you. She says you're her therapist and you have to continue her treatment."

I closed my eyes. It never ended.

"The Bennetts are threatening to have our license revoked if we don't comply," my boss continued, his voice strained. "Addison, I don't know what to do. I might have to close the clinic."

My colleagues, my friends... they would lose their jobs because of me.

"Don't worry," I said, my voice heavy. "I'll handle it."

I went back. Evelin was there, Bernard by her side. She was smug, enjoying her power over me.

"You're my therapist now," she announced, as if granting me a great honor. "And since I'm pregnant, you need to be available to me 24/7. You'll move in with us."

"I'm afraid that's not possible," I said, maintaining my professional tone.

Evelin's face crumpled. "Bernard!" she whined, turning to him. "You promised!"

Bernard, who had been watching me with a strange, intense look, pulled out his phone. He was annoyed by my defiance, by my complete lack of emotion towards him.

He called someone. "This is Bernard Logan," he said into the phone, his eyes never leaving mine. "I want to report the Serenity Springs Clinic for malpractice. Shut them down."

He was going to destroy the clinic and the careers of my friends, just to bend me to his will.

I had no choice.

"Fine," I said, my voice a dead whisper. "I'll do it."

He smiled, a cold, satisfied smile of victory, and hung up the phone.

I followed them out of the clinic and into his car, a prisoner being escorted back to my cell.