Chapter 2
When I opened my eyes, Maya was holding my hand.
Daniel wasn’t there.
Pain spread through my abdomen when I tried to move.
“The baby?”
Maya’s eyes filled with tears.
“There’s a heartbeat.”
Our child had survived until this moment.
Nothing more was guaranteed.
“The crash caused bleeding around the pregnancy,” Maya said. “The delay before surgery made it worse. The next forty-eight hours are critical.”
My hand moved over my stomach.
There was no curve yet. Nothing to show that the child Daniel and I had wanted for two years was finally here.
With shaking hands, I wrote two words inside the blank card.
Hello, Dad.
For ten minutes, I still believed he deserved to learn gently.
“Does he know?”
“No.”
Relief came before I could stop it.
Maya noticed.
“He’s the father.”
“He was also my husband.”
I looked at the empty chair beside the bed.
“That didn’t make him protect me.”
A nurse entered with a clipboard.
“Daniel Carter is listed as your emergency contact. Should we notify him about the pregnancy?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
“Remove him.”
“Who should replace him?”
“Maya.”
The nurse checked the form.
“Augustus Vale is listed as your secondary contact.”
My father’s name struck somewhere deep inside me.
“Remove him too.”
My voice didn’t shake.
That surprised me.
Seven years ago, I had walked away from my father for Daniel. I still couldn’t bring myself to call him now.
I requested that no medical information be released without my permission.
After the nurse left, I asked Maya for Rachel Morgan’s number.
“The divorce attorney?”
“Yes.”
“Evangeline, you just woke up.”
“And I almost didn’t.”
Maya handed me her phone.
I typed:
“My name is Evangeline Vale. Maya Lewis gave me your number.”
I had kept my own name when I married Daniel. At the time, it had seemed like a small decision. Now it felt like one piece of myself I could still carry away.
“I need a confidential consultation about ending my marriage.”
Rachel replied within a minute.
Does your husband know you’re considering divorce?
I typed one word.
No.
Maya’s phone vibrated again.
She read the message and went still.
“What happened?”
“Daniel is still with Sophie.”
Of course he was.
Maya hesitated.
“The police already spoke to her.”
I looked at her.
“What did she tell them?”
“That you were angry before the crash. She said the two of you had been arguing in the car.”
“Did she tell them what the argument was about?”
Maya’s silence answered me.
Sophie had already given the police her version of the accident.
I hadn’t even been awake long enough to give them mine.
Footsteps stopped outside my room.
The door opened.
Daniel entered carrying one cup of coffee.
Mine.
He placed it beside my bed.
He didn’t ask about the surgery.
He didn’t ask why his name had been removed from the board.
His first words were:
“You need to understand why I chose Sophie.”