Chapter 2
Those same hands had just been all over Veronica.
I ripped my hands away in disgust. My stomach churned violently again, and I leaned over, retching up bile.
The doctor quickly stepped in to soothe a frantic Alex.
"Pregnancy hormones cause severe mood swings. This kind of reaction isn't uncommon."
Alex nodded heavily, his eyes nailed to me.
Once I finished throwing up, I was completely drained.
He quietly helped me change out of my soiled gown, poured a fresh glass of water, and set it on the nightstand.
"Lillian, did you wake up and panic because I wasn't here?"
"I'm not leaving your side again. Not for a second."
I turned my head away. I couldn't look at him, and I certainly couldn't listen to his hypocritical lies.
I shut my eyes and faked sleep.
This time, he actually stayed.
But as I drifted in that hazy space between sleep and waking, I heard a woman calling his name outside the door.
"Alex, I heard you got hurt."
Alex immediately stepped out into the hall, dropping his voice to a harsh whisper.
"I told you to call me if you needed anything. Why would you just show up here?"
He thought he was being quiet, but the hospital wing was dead silent.
"Your son woke up," Veronica said. "He asked for his daddy."
"I had to tell him daddy was too busy with work to come see him."
Alex went completely quiet.
"I'm sorry," he finally said. "I've neglected you all day."
"Come on. I'll go see Ethan with you."
The man who had just sworn he'd never leave my side walked away, his footsteps fading down the hall.
I lay in that hospital bed, so numb I couldn't even cry.
As if sensing my despair, the baby in my belly gave a soft, fluttering kick.
Suddenly, the door pushed open.
Veronica stood in the doorway.
She had checked into the ward as Ethan's mother, and the nurses, assuming she was just visiting her child, hadn't stopped her.
"I know you're awake, Lillian."
I stayed silent for a moment before pushing myself up against the pillows.
Her makeup was flawless. She wore a tight, form-fitting dress that hugged every curve.
She didn't look like a mother whose child was fighting for his life.
"Ethan has leukemia?" I asked.
She shrugged.
"Yeah. I originally thought having a kid would be my ticket to replacing you as Mrs. Sterling. Who knew he'd be born so fragile and sick?"
"But hey, it keeps Alex tied to me, so it wasn't a total waste."
As a mother myself, I couldn't fathom how she could talk about her own son like that.
"If you want to use a kid to keep Alex, why not just have another one?" I asked.
Veronica laughed.
"Pregnancy is hell. Alex feels too bad for me to put me through it again."
"Plus, you can't have sex while you're pregnant, and he definitely can't hold out that long."
Every word sliced into my heart like a razor blade.
Then, as if remembering a fun piece of trivia, she added a final blow.
"You know, when I gave birth to Ethan, I think it was right around the time your mother died."
"Alex missed the funeral because I was in labor. He stayed with me through my entire postpartum recovery."
My entire body went rigid.
My mother, Margaret Hart, had raised me all on her own.
Her health had always been poor, and two years ago, she relapsed and was rushed straight to the ICU.
During that time, Alex claimed he had a massive product launch at work and couldn't step away.
I ran myself ragged between the hospital and my job, dropping over ten pounds in a single month.
And for that entire month, he never showed up.
On the day of my mother's funeral, we were supposed to go together.
Alex took a phone call, claimed there was an emergency with the launch, and walked out.
He missed the darkest, most agonizing moment of my life because he had someone more important to be with.