Skylar

The day I found out I was pregnant should have been one of the happiest days of my life.

Instead, it became the beginning of the end of my marriage.

I stood in front of the full-length mirror, turning slightly as the deep red dress hugged my body. It was elegant: sleeveless, with a soft flow at the hem that made me feel beautiful, confident, even a little bold. For once, I wanted to feel like the woman Alex had fallen in love with.

“Alex?” I called softly. “Can you help me with the zipper?”

He looked up from his phone, eyes flicking over me. For a brief second, the familiar warmth returned, the same look he used to give me when we were still new and hungry for each other. He set the phone down and walked over.

His hands brushed my back as he slowly pulled the zipper up. Then he stopped.

I watched his reflection. His jaw tightened.

“You can’t wear this tonight, Skylar.”

My stomach dipped. “Why not?”

“It’s too much.” His voice was calm, but firm. “Too revealing. The way it clings to your hips… I don’t want those men staring at what’s mine.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but the words died on my tongue. This wasn’t new. The comments about my clothes, my makeup, the way I smiled too brightly at parties. I had learned to adjust. To keep the peace.

“Okay,” I whispered, forcing a small smile. “I’ll change.”

His expression softened instantly. He leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on my forehead. “That’s my woman.”

The words should have warmed me. Once upon a time, they did. But tonight they landed differently in a way that made my stomach clench.

As he left the room, I changed into a softer, more modest dress. One that didn’t hug my curves.

While sliding the new fabric over my skin, my hand instinctively moved to my still-flat stomach. The pregnancy test results were tucked safely inside my purse downstairs.

‘Two years of marriage,’ I thought, a fragile hope blooming in my chest. We’ve been drifting… but a baby could change everything.

I imagined Alex’s face when I told him later tonight, after the party. The surprise, then the joy. Maybe he’d pull me into his arms the way he used to.

Maybe he’d kiss me and whisper that we were going to be a real family. That this child would fix the growing distance between us.

“Please…” I silently begged. “Let this be the thing that brings us back together.”

I grabbed my purse, feeling the weight of that little paper inside it like a promise.

Downstairs, Alex was already waiting on the couch, scrolling through his phone. When he saw me, he gave an approving nod.

“This one looks much better on you.”

I swallowed the small sting and returned his smile. “Thank you.”

We drove to the party mostly in silence. When we arrived at the five-star hotel, the grand entrance glowed under golden lights. Alex pulled up to the curb but didn’t turn off the engine.

“Go ahead inside,” he said. “I need to park properly. I’ll find you soon.”

I hesitated, fingers tightening around my purse. “You sure?”

He nodded, already looking distracted. “Yeah. Go on.”

I stepped out, smoothing down my modest dress, and walked into the venue alone.

The moment I entered the ballroom, the contrast hit me. Everything was polished and expensive. From the crystal chandeliers and soft laughter, to the scent of fine wine and perfume. This was Alex’s world. A world I had never quite learned to belong in.

I swallowed quietly and took another step deeper into the hall.

That was when I heard it.

“Skylar!”

My name rang through the noise.

I halted in my tracks. Then I turned.

And there she was.

Kate.

She was pushing through the crowd toward me, her face lighting up instantly when our eyes met. Something inside me loosened.

“Finally!” she said when she reached me, throwing her arms around me without hesitation.

For a second, I stiffened.

Then slowly… I relaxed into the hug. It wasn’t forced. It was warm.

“You scared me,” I murmured, half-laughing as I hugged her back.

Kate pulled away just enough to look at me properly. Her eyes scanned my face like she was actually seeing me, not just greeting me.

“You look tired,” she said immediately.

I blinked, caught off guard.

She clicked her tongue softly. “Don’t tell me Cecilia already started with you again.”

A small, reluctant smile pulled at my lips.

“It’s not that bad,” I lied.

Kate raised a brow like she didn’t believe me for a second. “Skylar.”

That one word carried too much understanding.

Before I could respond, she gently reached up and brushed a strand of hair behind my ear.

“You always forget you don’t have to change yourself for them,” she said quietly.

My throat tightened slightly at that.

For a moment, I didn’t answer.

Because she was right. And I hated how easily she could see through me.

Kate sighed and glanced around the hall, then back at me.

“Anyway,” she said, switching her tone back to light. “I’m starving. I’m going to grab food before these rich people finish acting like they don’t eat.”

That made me laugh a little more genuinely this time.

“There’s a buffet over there,” I said.

“Perfect,” she grinned. Then she pointed at me. “Don’t disappear, okay? I just found you.”

I nodded slowly.

“Okay.”

Kate gave me one last smile before turning and disappearing into the crowd.

And just like that…

The warmth she brought with her faded slowly, swallowed again by the cold elegance of the room.

I found an empty seat near the edge of the hall, trying to ignore the way some guests glanced at me with polite curiosity. Alex’s family had never fully accepted me. His mother, Cecilia, especially.

I sat there, clutching my purse, telling myself it was fine. I would wait for Alex so we could greet his parents together. It would feel less intimidating that way.

Five minutes passed. Then ten. Then fifteen.

The knot in my chest tightened. I pulled out my phone and called him. It rang… and rang. But no answer. I tried again. Straight to voicemail.

‘He’s probably just having trouble parking,’ I told myself. ‘Or maybe he ran into someone outside.’

But the worry refused to settle.

After twenty minutes, I stood up. The party noise faded behind me as I slipped outside into the cooler night air and headed toward the parking lot. Rows of luxury cars gleamed under the soft lights.

I spotted Alex’s car at the far end.

Relief washed over me until I noticed it rocking just slightly. Unnaturally.

My steps slowed.

That… didn’t make sense.

I walked closer, heart picking up pace. A faint, muffled sound reached my ears. Low and rhythmic. A man’s deep groan.

I froze.

No. That couldn't be…

My mind scrambled for explanations. Maybe the radio. Maybe he was on a call. Maybe—

But my feet kept moving, drawn forward against my will.

When I reached the car, I hesitated only a second before leaning toward the tinted window, palms pressing lightly against the cool glass.

At first, everything was shadows and movement.

Then the shapes sharpened.

Alex.

In the backseat.

His shirt half-unbuttoned, hips moving with unmistakable urgency.

And beneath him, her legs wrapped around him, fingers digging into his back… was Kate.

My cousin.

The world tilted violently. My breath locked in my throat as my mind screamed in denial.

No. Not Kate. It couldn't be her. I just spoke to her. She hugged me.

My hand flew to my stomach instinctively, the pregnancy test suddenly burning like fire inside my purse.

I came here tonight ready to tell him we were going to have a baby.

And he was fucking my cousin in the backseat of our car.

Alex’s head suddenly turned.

Our eyes met through the glass.

For one horrifying second, time stopped. His face shifted from pleasure to shock.

And the last thing I heard before my knees threatened to buckle was his voice, hoarse and broken.

“Skylar…?”

Skylar

My mind rejected the image before my eyes could fully accept it.

No. That wasn’t real. It couldn’t be.

I shook my head slowly, one hand pressed against the car for support as the ground seemed to tilt beneath me. My breathing came shallow and ragged, each inhale burning in my throat.

My heart pounded. Not Kate. Not the cousin who had hugged me just minutes ago inside the hall, laughing like we were still the girls who used to share secrets during family gatherings.

The door clicked open.

Alex stepped out, shirt hastily buttoned, hair disheveled. His eyes widened when they landed on me.

“Skylar—”

He muttered a curse under his breath and quickly shut the door behind him, as if that could erase what I had already seen.

I couldn’t speak. My chest felt too tight, like something was crushing it from the inside. Tears stung my eyes, hot.

“What are you doing out here?” he asked, voice edged with irritation as he adjusted his collar.

The question was so absurd it almost made me laugh. Almost.

“What am I doing?” My voice cracked. “What are YOU doing, Alex?”

Kate emerged from the backseat a moment later, smoothing her dress with surprising composure. She didn’t look ashamed. She barely looked surprised.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she said lightly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “He’s the one who came to me.”

The casual tone hit deeper than any shout could have. This was the same Kate who had once stayed up with me during my worst nights, promising we’d always have each other’s backs.

My stomach churned.

Alex let out a heavy sigh, rubbing the back of his neck. “Skylar, relax. It’s not that deep. Don’t overreact.”

I stared at him, waiting for something, anything that resembled remorse. An apology. Even a flicker of guilt.

There was none.

“You’re not even going to say sorry?” I whispered.

He looked at me like I was being unreasonable. “There’s nothing to apologize for. Let’s be honest… we didn’t exactly marry for love, did we?”

The words landed like a slow punch to the gut. My legs felt unsteady.

“I got bored,” he continued, his tone flat but defensive, as if he were explaining something casually. “You’re… plain, predictable. I needed variety. Don’t overthink it.”

Plain. Predictable.

The memory of my father’s debt flashed through my mind. The Blackwoods’ offer: marry Alex and the debt vanishes. I had agreed without hesitation, sacrificing my final year of college, my dreams, my freedom, just because I couldn’t watch my father be destroyed.

And this was what it had all been for.

I turned away, legs moving despite being so shaky.

“Skylar!” Alex called after me, annoyance clear in his voice. He caught up quickly and grabbed my arm. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Inside,” I said, voice trembling. “Or anywhere that isn’t here.”

He scoffed, eyes flicking toward the hotel entrance. “Like that? With your face swollen and tears everywhere? You want to embarrass me in front of everyone?”

A broken sound escaped me… half laugh, half sob. “You already took care of that yourself.”

Before he could respond, sharp heels clicked against the pavement.

“What is all this noise?”

Cecilia Blackwood’s voice made my body run cold like ice water. She stopped a few feet away, her gaze sweeping over the three of us with an unreadable gaze.

I looked at her, tears streaming freely now. “I… I saw Alex with Kate. In the car.”

Cecilia stared at me for a long moment. Then she let out a soft, humourless laugh.

“So?” she said calmly, as if I had complained about the weather. “Why are you making such a scene?”

The dismissal made something twist painfully in my chest.

She stepped closer, her expression cool and assessing. “I never understood why my husband initiated this marriage in the first place. You’ve always been… out of place here.”

Each word was delivered quietly.

“You changed everything about yourself to fit into this family. You gave up your studies. You reshaped your entire life. And still…” She tilted her head slightly. “It wasn’t enough, was it?”

For two years, I had been reshaping myself for this family piece by piece, until I barely recognized the woman I used to be.

I stopped wearing clothes Alex didn’t approve of. I learned how to smile softly instead of laughing too loudly because Cecilia once called it embarrassing. I stopped speaking about going back to college after Alex told me there was no need for his wife to work.

Even my old dreams slowly disappeared.

Somewhere along the way, I became careful about everything, how I spoke, how I sat, how much space I took up around them. I kept adjusting myself, thinking that if I loved Alex enough, if I became easier, quieter, and “better”… eventually this family would accept me.

And standing there now, with Cecilia looking at me like I was still beneath them after everything I had sacrificed, I realized none of it had ever mattered.

Cecilia’s eyes moved over me slowly. “Perhaps if you had tried harder to be the kind of woman this family needs, he wouldn’t have needed to look elsewhere.”

The implication sank deep and cold.

I staggered back a step, my hand instinctively moving to my stomach. The pregnancy test still hidden in my purse felt like metal.

I was going to tell him tonight. I thought this baby might have fixed us.

The realization crashed over me, making me feel slightly dizzy. There was no fixing this. There never had been.

I don’t remember breaking away from them. One moment I was standing there, the next I was back at the car, fingers shaking as I pulled the door open. The keys were still in the ignition.

I slid behind the wheel of the same car where my husband had just been with my cousin. The scent of perfume and sweat still lingered faintly. My stomach twisted.

The engine roared to life.

I just needed to get away. Far away.

The road blurred as tears kept falling, no matter how many times I wiped them. Streetlights stretched into hazy streaks. Rain began to fall, light at first, then heavy, pounding against the windshield like the chaos inside my chest.

My hands gripped the steering wheel until my knuckles ached.

“I was going to tell you today…” I whispered brokenly to the empty seat beside me. “We were supposed to have a baby, Alex.”

A sob escaped my throat. The pain was so sharp it felt physical, like something tearing apart inside me.

The rain intensified. My vision swam. The tires lost traction on the wet road.

For one terrifying second, everything slowed.

Then the car spun violently. Metal screamed. The world tilted as the vehicle slammed into something solid.

My body jerked forward, the seatbelt pressing across my chest. A blinding pain exploded through my head. Warm liquid rolled down my temple.

The last thing I felt before darkness swallowed everything was the crushing fear for the tiny life I hadn’t even told him about yet.

Skylar

The lights were too bright.

I squeezed my eyes shut the moment I opened them, but the sterile white glow burned through my eyelids anyway. A dull, steady ache pulsed behind my forehead. The sharp scent of antiseptic filled my nose with every breath.

Hospital.

The realization came slowly, like my mind was moving through thick fog. I tried to sit up, but the room tilted violently. A soft groan slipped from my lips.

“Don’t move too quickly,” a gentle voice said.

A nurse stood beside the bed, her expression careful and kind. An IV line tugged at the back of my hand.

“What… happened?” I rasped, my throat painfully dry.

“You were in a car accident. Mr. Blackwood brought you in. You’re stable now, but you need rest.”

Mr. Blackwood. Alex?

My fingers instinctively drifted to my stomach. A strange, heavy dread settled there.

“Is my baby okay?” I whispered.

The nurse went still.

The silence stretched.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “The accident… W-we couldn’t save the pregnancy. You had a miscarriage.”

The words hung in the air, refusing to settle. I blinked once. Then twice.

“What?” My voice sounded small. “No… that’s not possible.”

Hot tears rolled down my cheeks, dripping to my hands. A broken scream tore from my throat.

“No… no, please…”

My hands pressed harder against my stomach as if I could somehow hold on to what was already gone. The emptiness hit like a physical wound, hollow and sharp at the same time.

Everything I had lost in one night crashed over me again. The betrayal in the parking lot. Kate’s casual shrug. Cecilia’s cold stare. And now this.

The nurse murmured something soft and sympathetic, but I barely heard her. She eventually stepped out, leaving me alone with the steady beep of machines and the crushing silence.

I didn't know how long I laid there.

At some point the tears stopped, not because the pain had faded, but because I had gone numb. My body felt heavy. Like I was floating just above myself, watching everything from a distance.

The door opened again.

Alex stepped inside.

For a long moment, I simply stared at him. No anger surged. No desperate hope. Just a vast, tired emptiness.

He stopped at the side of the bed, his expression carefully blank. Almost uncomfortable.

“Glad you’re alive,” he said quietly.

Before I could respond, he pulled a folder from under his arm and dropped a stack of papers on my lap.

Divorce papers.

My fingers brushed the edge of the document.

“Sign them,” he said. His voice was low, almost tired. “Let’s end this cleanly.”

I lifted my gaze to his face, searching for something… regret, guilt, even irritation. There was a flicker of discomfort in the way he shifted his weight, the way his eyes avoided lingering on mine for too long. Like this conversation was costing him more than he wanted to admit.

“If you’re worried about your father’s debt,” he added, glancing away briefly, “it’s already handled. Just… sign. We both know this marriage stopped making sense a long time ago.”

Something inside me broke even further, but the break felt distant now.

That younger version of me, the one who would have begged, who would have asked what she did wrong— was gone. Buried somewhere beneath the betrayal, the humiliation, and the tiny life I had just lost.

My hand moved almost on its own. I took the pen he offered.

Each signature felt like erasing pieces of myself.

When I finished, Alex took the papers without a word. He didn’t thank me. He didn’t apologize. He simply turned toward the door.

For the briefest second, he paused, shoulders tight. His jaw tightened slightly, but he said nothing.

The door clicked shut behind him.

Silence swallowed the room again.

I sat there for several long minutes, staring at nothing. The numbness wrapped tighter around me. Suffocatingly so. My body felt like it belonged to someone else.

My thoughts moved slowly. I didn’t remember deciding to move. I only remember the moment I was suddenly standing beside the bed, the IV line dangling loosely after I had pulled it free.

A thin trail of blood ran down the back of my hand, but the sting felt unimportant.

My bare feet touched the cold tile floor. The chill traveled up my legs, distant and muted.

I started walking.

Not with purpose. Not with determination. Just… moving. One unsteady step after another, guided only by a hazy instinct to get away from that room, from that bed, from the pain of everything I had lost in a single night.

The hallway lights blurred overhead.

Voices called out behind me, a nurse shouting “Miss, you can’t leave yet!” but the sounds felt muffled, as if they were coming from underwater.

My legs trembled beneath me. The world tilted dangerously.

Then I collided with something solid.

Strong arms caught me before I could crash to the floor, steady and surprisingly gentle. A clean scent of rain mixed with faint woodiness broke the sterile hospital smell, flooding my senses for a fleeting second.

My breath hitched.

I tried to focus on the face above me, but everything was already fading.

A deep, calm voice spoke close to my ear, steady and controlled.

“Easy. You’re going to fall.”

The words lingered for a heartbeat...

Then darkness swallowed me completely.