Chapter 4

Before I could figure out how to end things with Alexander, the hospital's annual charity gala arrived.

Alexander insisted I attend.

"I want everyone to see my fiancée."

I picked a dress that concealed my slight bump and used makeup to hide my exhaustion.

At the gala, Alexander mingled with the crowd, keeping one hand resting warmly on the back of my chair.

It was a perfectly respectable performance. Until Sophie walked in.

I found out later that, as a former patient, she knew exactly when and where the gala was. She had waited outside the hotel entrance all night, slipping past security the second they turned to check the guest list.

Dressed entirely in white, the moment she saw us, her eyes locked onto Alexander and never wavered.

A second later, she marched across the ballroom and, in front of everyone, grabbed his arm in a death grip.

Tears streamed down her face as her voice echoed through the entire banquet hall.

"You promised you wouldn't give up on saving me! Are patients just trash you can throw away now?"

That last sentence was aimed directly at me.

The entire ballroom went dead silent.

Every single pair of eyes snapped to me. Alexander froze.

But what chilled me to the bone was that he didn't pull his arm away.

After what felt like an eternity, he finally spoke, using his calm, clinical doctor's voice.

"Sophie. Let's not make a scene here. Let's find a quiet place to talk."

Just like that. In his heart, I once again became completely insignificant.

I stood rooted to the spot, stared at by a room full of strangers and his colleagues.

Eventually, hospital security rushed in and escorted Sophie out.

As she was dragged away, she looked back and screamed:

"Alexander! I can't live without you! You promised you'd stay with me!"

We didn't say a single word on the drive home.

The scene replayed in my mind on an endless loop. A dull, heavy ache began to pull at my lower abdomen.

"Grace, she was clearly having an episode."

"In front of all those people, I couldn't escalate the situation. If she did something drastic—"

I cut him off. My body wouldn't stop shaking.

"She deliberately put on this show in front of all your colleagues, and you just let her."

"Can't you see what she wants? Do you have any idea what you just put me through?"

Alexander's face hardened, and his voice rose.

"Grace, stop projecting the worst onto her."

"She's a patient. She doesn't have the capacity for rational judgment."

"But she had the capacity to track you down. And she knew exactly which words would humiliate me the most."

Months of suppressed anger exploded all at once. The pain in my abdomen suddenly spiked into a sharp, blinding agony.

A second later, a warm liquid slid down my legs.

I looked down. Bright red blood soaked through the fabric of my dress.

"Grace!"

He went dead pale, slamming the steering wheel and swerving toward the hospital.

In the emergency room, the doctor's expression was grave.

"You're experiencing a threatened miscarriage, but there is still hope for the baby. We need to monitor you closely."

I lay in the hospital bed, the rhythmic beep of the monitor echoing in my ears.

Alexander held my hand, apologizing over and over again.

I let him hold it. My skin was ice cold. I didn't want to say a single word.

Just an hour ago, he was defending Sophie at every turn.

But who was protecting me? Who was protecting our child?

We were shattering into pieces again, and all of it stemmed from what Alexander called his responsibility.