Chapter 2

2

The message was sent, but it was met with total silence.

I turned back into the hospital. Without a second thought, I checked myself in to clear my womb.

The nurse tried to stop me as I went to sign the papers.

"The baby is perfectly healthy. Are you sure you want to end this journey?"

I didn't say a word. Bringing a child into a home like mine would be the ultimate cruelty.

After the procedure, I stayed in the hospital for three days. I dragged my weak body back to an empty house.

I sat on our cold bed and touched my flat stomach. The ghost of the pain was still sharp in my mind.

It wasn't until the first light of dawn that I finally got a text from Landon.

"What are you throwing a fit about now? It was just a checkup. What's the big deal about going alone? Can't you be more supportive of me?"

Supportive?

I wanted to laugh. He was busy playing nurse to another woman, and I was supposed to be supportive.

Maybe because I didn't reply, Landon lost his patience. He called me and immediately started screaming.

"Jocelyn! I've had enough of you! Why are you so petty? You keep throwing the divorce word around like it's a joke. You're about to be a mother. Stop being so childish!"

His insults didn't hurt until he mentioned the word mother.

"Enough! Landon, who gave you the right to question me? Since I got pregnant, have you cared about me even once? You don't deserve to be a father―"

Before I could finish, Skylar's sweet, high-pitched voice came through the line.

"Landon, thank you for staying with me yesterday. I can't believe you got so worried over a little stomach ache. You really are my favorite guy."

My favorite guy...

She was marking her territory. She was mocking me.

But Landon ate it up. His voice softened into something I hadn't heard in years.

"Don't worry, honey. Your health is the only thing that matters."

I let out a self-deprecating laugh.

When was the last time he spoke to me like that?

Never.

I felt a weight lift off my chest. Suddenly, everything felt very simple.

"Come home to sign the papers," I said.

I hung up the phone before he could respond.

I sent a text to my former boss, Jessica.

"Hey Jess, that project you mentioned... is there still room for me?"

She replied almost instantly.

"Of course! But Jocelyn, you're so far along. Can you handle the stress?"

Before I married Landon, I was the top project manager at the firm.

After the wedding, Landon used every excuse to make me quit.

When I refused, he went behind my back to my office and told them I was resigning to focus on my family.

Luckily, Jessica knew the truth. She kept in touch with me privately.

Landon and I had a massive fight about it back then.

He didn't think he was wrong. He just shrugged it off.

"Women should stay home and raise kids. Are you worried I can't provide for you?"

Every argument ended in a stalemate.

It wasn't until I got pregnant that I stepped down from the front lines. Landon and his mother brainwashed me until I gave in.

I finally quit.

But now I understood a hard truth.

You have to hold the reins of your own life. Letting someone else drive is suicide.

Giving up a career for a man was the stupidest thing I'd ever done.

"Don't worry. I'm just ready to live a different life now," I told Jessica.

She didn't ask questions. She just sent one line：Welcome back.