Chapter 2

2.

I woke up in a hospital room. Dim light. Dead quiet. No one there.

My head was thick, slow. It took a long time to piece together what happened.

My hand moved to my stomach. Trembling.

Seven months. Round and full.

Flat. Completely flat.

The baby was gone.

A white noise filled my skull. Blank. Empty.

My chest caved in. Like a sledgehammer had crushed it.

Yesterday, the baby had been kicking. Rolling around inside me, full of life. I'd been imagining his face.

And now―

Seven months. That was all we got.

Hatred surged up from my chest―wild, boundless. I wanted to kill Joseph. I wanted to do it right then.

I dragged myself off the bed.

Before I could stand, I crashed to the floor.

The thud echoed through the room.

The bathroom door banged open. An orderly rushed out.

"Mrs. Anderson! Are you okay? I'm so sorry―I was just in the restroom."

"You just had a hysterectomy. You cannot be out of bed."

Everything stopped. "What did you say?"

She helped me back onto the mattress.

"You came in with a placental abruption. Massive hemorrhage. They couldn't save the uterus. You absolutely cannot get up for the next two days. Let me handle everything―your husband already prepaid all the expenses."

Like being held underwater in freezing darkness. My blood turned to ice.

I came back to myself and tore free of the orderly's grip.

I was going to find Joseph.

I was going to end him.

She hit the emergency call button. Shouted for doctors.

A crowd rushed in.

A moment later, sedatives slid into my veins. I sank into unconsciousness.

The dreams coiled around me, suffocating.

Memories. Marcus and me when we were kids, just the two of us against the world. Him carrying me on his back, our small lonely shadows moving through trailer parks and cheap rentals.

The sweet moments after I married Joseph. The way he used to take care of me.

And then Olivia appeared. Everything shattered.

When I woke again, it was the next morning.

I opened my eyes.

Marcus was there. Sitting motionless beside my bed. His expression was flat. Distant.