Chapter 2
I woke up in the hospital room. Laura was sitting by my bed, her eyes red and swollen.
"Christy, you're finally awake. You scared me to death," she said.
I moved my lips, but my throat felt like it was on fire.
"Where's the baby?" I asked.
"He's doing great. A big, chubby eight-pound boy, sleeping right over there," Laura said, pointing to the bassinet next to me.
I turned my head to look at that tiny, wrinkled baby, but I didn't feel even a hint of the happiness a new mother was supposed to have.
All I felt was a silent, desolate emptiness inside.
"Where's Jack?" I asked.
Laura's face instantly darkened, and she hesitated, like she wanted to say something but couldn't.
"He... Something urgent came up with his team, so he had to leave," Laura replied.
Something urgent?
My lips twitched, but I couldn't say a single word.
What could possibly be more important than his wife who just escaped death's door, and his newborn son?
Laura poured me a glass of water and helped me sit up.
"Christy, there's something I don't know if I should tell you," she said.
"Laura, just say it. I can handle it," I replied.
Laura continued, "When you were in surgery and we needed Jack to sign the consent forms, his phone was always busy.
"I went out to hurry him up and overheard him talking to a woman. His voice... was so tender that it made my skin crawl."
Laura's chest heaved with anger. "I wanted to slap him right then and there. While you were in there fighting to survive, he was out there flirting with another woman!"
I listened quietly. Not a single tear, not a word of protest.
After that near-death ordeal, it felt like I'd run out of tears.
Jack didn't show up in the hospital room until the next day.
He walked in carrying a thermos, his face perfectly balanced between exhaustion and guilt.
"Honey, thanks for everything. There was a big case at the station, and I really couldn't leave," Jack said, sounding apologetic.
He opened the thermos and ladled out a bowl of chicken soup. "Here, let me feed you."
He put on such a convincing act. If I hadn't overheard it myself, I might've actually bought his story.
Seven years together, and for the first time, I realized I never really knew him.
I looked at him, the man I'd loved for so many years, the police captain, and the hero everyone admired.
His hands had once caught criminals, and they'd also gently brushed through my hair.
But now, those same hands were tainted by betrayal.
"I'll do it myself," I said coldly, pushing his hands away.
Jack's hands hung awkwardly in the air, and his face showed a hint of confusion as he looked at me.
"What's wrong? Are you feeling upset?" Jack asked. "I swear, it's just this one time. Once this case is wrapped up, I'll spend real time with you and the baby."
He leaned in, trying to kiss my forehead.
I turned my head away abruptly, avoiding him.
A sweet, heavy perfume, definitely not mine, wafted from his collar.
I recognized it instantly. It was Chanel Chance.
Being an OB-GYN, I pick up on every scent.
I always wore something light and woody.
Jack's expression finally changed.
"Christy, what are you getting at?" he asked.
"Nothing," I replied. Looking at him straight in the eye, I asked, word by word, "Jack, who were you on the phone with while I was in surgery yesterday?"
His eyes darted away for a moment, and then he quickly pulled himself together.
"Just a work call. An informant," he replied.
"Oh, really?" I smiled, my voice icy. "An informant you'd drop 150 grand on?"
The air instantly froze.
Jack's face drained of color, inch by inch.
He stared at me, desperate to find something in my expression.
"You... You heard that?" he asked.
"Yeah, I heard it," I replied calmly. "After all, I wasn't exactly dead at the time."
He opened his mouth, but no words came out.
The only sound in the room was the baby's steady breathing.
After what felt like forever, he finally spoke, his voice edged with angry humiliation. "Christy, don't get the wrong idea. That was for Stella. Her family ran into trouble and needed money fast."
Stella, Jack's first love.
That name was like a poisoned thorn, buried in my heart for seven years.
I always thought it had faded away with time.
Turned out, it was lying in wait, ready to hit me where it hurt the most.
"So her family had trouble, and you just sent her 150 grand?" I shot back. "Jack, how much do you make a month? I know exactly how much we have in the bank. Where did you get that kind of money?"
His face looked even worse.
"That's my business. It's none of your concern," he snapped.
"Your business?" I scoffed, my voice tinged with anger. "We're husband and wife. Your business is my business. And you spent money from our home!"
"I told you, I'll pay it back," Jack said, raking his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Stella's struggling all by herself abroad. What's wrong with me lending her a hand? There's nothing shady between us."
Nothing shady between them?
And he whispered sweet nothings to Stella and wired her a huge amount of money while I was on the operating table, barely clinging to life?
My heart went completely cold.