
196 readers · 9 chapters · 3 free
My best friend and I married into the powerful Sterling family together. I got the eldest son, Julian. She got Damon, the younger. We got pregnant in the same month. We went into labor on the same day. I gave birth to a boy with a failing heart. The Sterlings treated him, and me, like a stain on their legacy. My best friend, Seraphina, delivered a healthy, robust boy. He became the family's golden child. To save my son, Julian and I sacrificed our inheritance, willingly cut off from the family. Later, the child recovered, but he recognized Seraphina as his mother. Julian and I froze to death by the roadside. Only after I died did I learn the child with the failing heart was Seraphina's. She swept them. When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the very day we were due to give birth... "Rory," her voice drifted gently from the next bed, "do you think our babies will be boys or girls?" I slowly opened my eyes and looked over. My best friend, Seraphina, was gently caressing her baby bump, a soft, maternal glow on her face. I stared at her, my mind reeling. My hand, hidden beneath the blankets, savagely pinched my skin. The pain was sharp. Real. It was true. I was back, trapped once more in the sterile limbo of the