Chapter 2

2.

"Landon, they took out my womb."

My voice was eerily calm.

There was a two-second silence on the other end before his temper flared. "What is wrong with you? First you claim you're bleeding to death, and now you're claiming you had a hysterectomy?"

"Savannah, can you stop playing the victim with these pathetic games?"

"I know you hate me going on location shoots with Kinsley, but I've explained this a hundred times. She's just my assistant."

I had lost count of how many times he had used that exact excuse.

Whenever I was sick, he accused me of faking it to trap him at home.

Yet whenever Kinsley felt slightly down, he would rush across town in the dead of night just to comfort her.

His reasoning was always the same: "Kinsley is young and new to the city. I treat her like a little sister. She doesn't know anyone else here."

"Savannah, be understanding. Can't you just be sensible for once?"

I used to let him manipulate me into submission.

Now I wondered why I ever put up with his disrespect.

He was my fiancé. Why the hell was he prioritizing another woman?

"You refused protection last month, which caused an unviable ectopic pregnancy. My womb is gone, and I can never have children again."

I ignored his deflections and enunciated every single word.

Each syllable tore at my heart, sending sharp, throbbing pangs through my lower abdomen.

The doctor had told me I required a full blood transfusion just to survive. If the paramedics had arrived any later, I would not have seen tomorrow's sunrise.

"Savannah, I never realized how truly disgusting you could be."

The venom in his voice dripped through the receiver.

He still did not believe me. Even after I spelled it out so clearly, he thought it was an act.

"I have work to do. I'm not wasting my time arguing with you."

The line went dead with a harsh click.

Outside the hospital window, heavy rain began to pour as thunder rattled the glass.