The night of our engagement party, my fiancé's first love drove drunk and slammed into me. The wheels rolled hard over my belly.

Then the car stopped. The engine roared, and it reversed, and rolled over me again.

My fiancé came running. He spared me a single glance.

A man who couldn't stand a speck of dirt on himself, he crouched down and stripped off his suit jacket to wrap the scraped skin on Flora Pruitt's arm.

I dragged my last strength into one hand and caught the hem of his trousers.

"Jerome Henson. My stomach—"

He took out a bottle of liquor.

"Flora's name's in the engagement notice. She can't get a DUI."

He pinned my jaw shut and forced the liquor down my throat.

"Flora barely touched you. She has a clotting disorder, she needs a hospital, now."

"When the police get here, you confess and behave. After you're out, the Henson name is still yours."

The burn poured down my throat and surged through my whole body, like everything inside me had caught fire.

My mind began to slip.

I drifted in the black sky, weightless, holding the hand of my unborn baby.

Baby tugged at the hem of my dress.

"Mama, where's Daddy going?"

"Doesn't he want us anymore?"

My throat went dry.

"No. We don't want him anymore."

"……"

Baby bowed that little head.

A long moment passed before the eyes lifted again, careful, and gave my dress another tug.

"Mama, I haven't met Daddy yet."

"I want to follow him and look at him. Can I?"

The words caught in my chest.

All I could do was nod, stiff.

"Okay."

Jerome, who never broke a single rule, tore through the streets and blew through one red light after another.

He rushed into the hospital, that always-perfect hair of his soaked with sweat, strands of it plastered to his forehead.

He didn't care. He just kept his head down, soothing Flora in his arms, walking fast enough to outrun death itself.

Baby tipped that small face up at me, eyes full of confusion.

"Mama, why is Daddy so nice to the lady?"

Something twisted in my chest.

"The lady is Daddy's good friend. She's hurt, so Daddy has to take care of her."

Once she was settled, Flora leaned into Jerome's arms and cried, tears spilling right on cue.

"Jerome, I didn't mean to."

"I just saw the two of you getting engaged, and it hurt so much, I only wanted to drive away. I didn't know I'd hit her."

Jerome patted her back, slow and gentle, his voice carrying a tenderness I had never once heard from him.

"I know. You're too sweet, too kind to ever do something like that on purpose. It's not your fault."

Baby balled up two tiny fists, cheeks puffed out with anger.

"The lady's lying. She did it on purpose."

"She drove over Mama's tummy two times. It hurt so much, so much."

My nails dug deep into my palm.

Flora seemed to remember something.

"Jerome, you've only looked after me. Won't she be angry?"

"I saw it earlier, there was so much blood between her legs."

Jerome didn't even crease his brow. His voice was certain.

"Nancy Fox's always been sensible. She won't fuss over something this small."

"That blood is just her period. She forgot to bring pads, that's all."

I went still with shock.

He remembered when my period came. I'd thought he never paid attention to any of it.

A flicker of jealousy crossed Flora's eyes.

"Jerome, you're so thoughtful. You even remember that."

Jerome let out a soft laugh.

"Her period falls on the same day as yours. Hard not to remember."

A nail snapped clean off against my palm.

Out in the hall, a sudden scramble of noise broke out.

Threaded through it, someone shouting, "Save her, hurry!"

Jerome's face darkened. He was about to lose his temper.

A nurse said, low,

"That woman from the car crash earlier, it's awful. I think her last name was Fox?"

Jerome flinched and started to rise on instinct.

Flora's hand shot out and gripped his, tight with nerves.

Another nurse picked up the thread.

"Right? I heard her belly was crushed flat under the tires."

The breath went out of Jerome in plain relief, and he patted the back of Flora's hand.

He smiled.

"You barely brushed against Nancy. It can't be her."

A flicker of panic crossed Flora's eyes.

The nurse went on. "There was a baby inside her too. Two lives, gone just like that."

Jerome relaxed enough to sit back down.

"Same surname, that's all. Nancy and I never slept together. There's no way she could be pregnant."

"And here I was, worried about her."

Flora settled against his chest, the smugness in her eyes impossible to hide.

Baby burst out crying, tears falling fast.

"Stupid Daddy, Mommy really was carrying me."

"Why don't you know? I'm never talking to you again."

The door eased open and a nurse crept in, bowing to Jerome.

"Lawyer Henson, the hospital only had two bags of rare Rh-negative plasma, and you bought both of them."

"The Fox woman is hemorrhaging now. She needs plasma to survive. Could you release one bag?"

Baby flung himself forward, tiny hands clawing at the hem of Jerome's clothes.

"Daddy, hurry, save Mommy."

But he was only a weightless spirit. Jerome couldn't see him at all.

Jerome's face stayed cold.

"Flora has a clotting disorder. She needs a guaranteed supply. There's nothing to spare."

The nurse went pale, said nothing more, and hurried out with her head down.

The room fell quiet, leaving only the sound of blood dripping through the transfusion line.

Drip. Drip.

Before long, nurses passed by outside, talking low.

"That Fox woman is just too pitiful. Bled out alive, and that was it."

"One bag of plasma and she'd have lived."

"Hush. The plasma's in the Henson heir's hands. You tired of living?"

Jerome's thumb and forefinger rubbed slowly together, twice, without his meaning to.

I hovered there at the edge of it all, watching, when Baby turned and looked up at me, choking on sobs.

"Mommy, why won't Daddy save you?"

I looked at his little eyes, swollen red from crying, and the ache nearly tore me apart.

All I could do was steel myself and soothe him.

"Daddy doesn't know it's Mommy. If he knew it was me he was saving, he'd save me for sure."

He should.

He would.

"But I saw it clearly."

Baby's mouth crumpled.

"The lady only scraped a little skin. She wasn't even bleeding. So why did Daddy keep all the plasma for her?"

The breath caught in my throat.

I opened my mouth and couldn't get out a single word.

Flora's eyes shifted, and she spoke in a small, timid voice.

"Jerome, the drunk driving won't come back on me, will it?"

"If they trace it to me, the government job I worked so hard to land is ruined."

Jerome smiled, sure of himself.

"Don't worry. I'm a top lawyer. I know how an accident scene gets cleaned up."

"And I already checked. We got lucky. There are no cameras anywhere near there. No one will ever know the truth."

I laughed coldly.

Lucky, nothing. Flora had scouted that backstreet long ago and picked it on purpose for how empty it was.

Flora wrinkled her nose.

"What if my sister won't admit fault and makes a scene about it?"

Jerome looked like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"She's already Mrs. Henson. She's only taking the blame for you. She has no reason not to be grateful."

As he spoke, he pulled out his phone and texted me.

"You should be at the police department by now. Confess quickly. I'll make it up to you once you're out."

He was about to lock the screen when the phone suddenly rang.

He picked up.

"Lawyer Henson? This is the police department, about your fiancée Nancy Fox and the crash—"

Jerome cut him off, voice flat and cold.

"She got herself into this driving drunk. Handle it however it needs handling. Don't ask me."

The officer pressed on. "No, that's not it. There's a problem with this case. She's—"

"She's throwing a tantrum, isn't she."

His tone dropped colder.

"Leave her be. The Hensons won't shield her. Sentence her however the law sees fit."

He hung up.

But something needled at him, faint and unsettling. He turned to Flora. "I'm going down to the station. Make sure she doesn't cause a scene."

Flora clutched the hem of his jacket, eyes rimmed red, brimming with hope.

"Jerome, you promised me once. You'd take me to the Arctic to see the northern lights."

"Let's leave first thing tomorrow, please? It's my last wish."

His expression melted, and he gave in at once.

"All right."

He sat back down and talked the trip over with her, gentle and full of anticipation.

Baby's eyes were red. His voice came out small. "Mommy, I don't think I like Daddy anymore."

The next morning, Jerome took Flora aboard the Henson family's private jet.

Flora took in the lavish interior, greed she didn't bother to hide.

In the Arctic they watched the lights and rode the sleds, both of them happier than I'd ever seen them.

Baby stayed glum the whole time, little head bowed, not saying a word.

I crouched down and stroked his hair.

"Baby, look how beautiful it is here. Cheer up a little."

He lifted his head, his small face dead serious.

"Mommy, I don't think Daddy and the lady are just friends."

I went still. "Why do you say that?"

"They look more like a husband and wife."

Something clamped tight in my chest.

It was true. All the years I'd been with Jerome, he was forever too busy at the firm, never once willing to walk the shops with me.

Let alone take a month off to travel together.

He said the Henson family kept a strict house, and he slept in a separate room from me the whole time.

Now he held Flora every night, the two of them shamelessly close.

He'd taken so many photos with her, posting them with that radiant smile.

Before, when I'd wanted a single photo together, he frowned and refused.

Said he was the Henson heir and a top lawyer. He couldn't flaunt affection like that and cheapen his standing.

Now none of it mattered to him.

The whole time, the texts kept coming.

One after another, all demands.

"How long did they give you? I checked. A case like yours, a month at most."

"Why aren't you answering? You dare sulk at me now?"

"Nancy Fox, answer me, or I'll cut off the Fox family's allowance."

It was almost funny.

I was dead. How was I supposed to text him back?

My mother's call came through, her voice careful and timid.

"Jerome, the police just called me. They said Nancy died in a crash, that we need to come claim the body."

"What... what on earth is going on?"

Jerome let out a cold scoff.

"There's a limit to how far she'll take a tantrum. Now she's cooking up an excuse this absurd."

"All she did was get detained for drunk driving. How could she be dead."

My mother went straight to placating him. "Yes, yes, of course. The station must have made a mistake."

In the background came my father's low, scolding voice.

"I told you it had to be fake."

"That body's pregnant. The Hensons run such a strict house they wouldn't even let the two of them live together before the wedding. How could Nancy be pregnant."