I pushed open the master-bedroom bathroom door and saw them through the gap in the frosted glass—two pairs of legs, tangled beneath the water.

The girl could really hold her breath. She'd been under for a long time and still hadn't come up.

I kept my eyes straight ahead and set a document on the vanity counter.

"The family sign-off form for tomorrow's checkup. I need your signature."

He was leaning back against the rim of the tub, head tilted up, his Adam's apple jerking hard. Without so much as a glance, he reached out and signed.

Only then did he open his reddened eyes. "I thought you were staying at your family's house for a few days. Why are you back early?"

I picked up the document. "Came back for a change of clothes."

Before I left the bathroom, I glanced at the shadow shifting beneath the surface of the water.

"Let her come up for air."

His whole body went rigid.

He probably expected me to lose it the way I used to. Smash things, scream, cry, call in the family.

I just closed the door. "Too long underwater and people die."

He scrambled to his feet in the water and called after me. "What are you really doing back here?"

I didn't answer. I just reached behind me and locked the bedroom door.

He had no idea that the form he'd just signed wasn't for a prenatal checkup. It was a consent form for labor induction.

……

Bang.

Joel slammed the bathroom door from the inside hard enough to shake the walls.

"Pauline, have you lost your mind? Open this door!"

I stood on the other side, folded the original copy of the consent form, and slipped it into my bag.

Through the frosted glass I could see the two overlapping silhouettes had separated.

Lillian's saccharine voice drifted through the door.

"Joel, I think Pauline got the wrong idea. I was only teaching you how to hold your breath."

"The water's so cold—what if it hurts Lily's baby?"

Joel's tone shifted instantly, thick with worry and tenderness.

"Don't be scared, Lily. I'll have someone break this door down right now."

He turned and roared toward the door.

"Pauline! Lily is pregnant. If anything happens to her because of the cold, I swear I won't let you off!"

The corner of my mouth twitched. Absurd. Completely absurd.

Right. She was pregnant.

Joel's childhood sweetheart, back in the country less than three months, and already carrying his child.

Meanwhile the baby in my belly, already six months along, was nothing to him—just an inconvenience he'd rather not carry.

I ignored the pounding on the door and walked into the closet.

Pulled out my black suitcase.

Threw in a few things I wore often, no order, no care.

I'd barely zipped it shut when the housekeeper came rushing in with a spare key and got the bathroom door open.

Joel stormed out in a bathrobe, hair still dripping.

He crossed the room in a few strides, stopped in front of me, and raised his hand.

I didn't flinch. Didn't move. Just looked at him, cold.

His hand hung in the air, then slammed into the closet door beside me.

"Are you insane? You sneak back without a word just to lock us in the bathroom?"

Lillian followed him out.

She was wrapped in my silk robe.

The one Joel had brought back from his Paris trip last month, swearing he'd had it custom-made for me and only me.

She padded barefoot to my vanity.

Picked up my most expensive prenatal medication.

"Pauline, please don't be mad at Joel. It's all my fault."

She was still shaping the apology when her fingers opened.

A sharp crack.

The glass bottle hit the floor and white pills scattered everywhere.

"Oops. Slippery fingers." She covered her mouth, eyes bright with open contempt.

Then she took a deliberate step forward.

Her bare foot came down on the pills.

And she twisted her sole into them, slow and hard.

"This medicine doesn't even look that good. Joel, take me to get something better tomorrow, okay?"

He didn't scold her. He crossed the room in two long strides, took her hand, his face soft with concern.

"Careful, you'll cut your feet. Trash like this—who cares if it's ruined."

Then he turned to me, and everything in his eyes was disgust and impatience.

"Pauline, do you have any idea how unhinged you look right now?"

"Lily was just borrowing the bathroom. Was that really worth trying to kill her over?"

I looked down at the pills crushed across the floor.

I'd gone to three different hospitals for those. Begged for them. They were the pregnancy medicine I'd spent weeks trying to get.

Now they were ground into powder under their feet.

I didn't make a scene. Didn't scream or interrogate him the way I used to.

I just zipped my suitcase shut and picked it up.

"Finish up and get some sleep."

I stepped around them and headed for the door.

Lillian stuck her foot out and tripped me hard.

I stumbled forward, barely catching myself. The suitcase cracked against the doorframe.

A dull ache dragged through my lower belly.

Joel's hands shot out to steady Lillian. He didn't even glance my way.

"Lily, are you okay? She didn't bump into you, did she?"

Lillian leaned into his arms, shaking her head, all grievance.

"I'm fine. It's just... Pauline seemed really angry."

I steadied myself and looked back at the two of them.

"I'm not angry."

"Dead people don't have anything to be angry about."

Joel stiffened.

He hadn't expected that from me.

His brow creased, his voice sharper now.

"Who the hell are you cursing this late at night?"

"You want to throw a fit, go do it at your parents' place. Get out of my sight."

I didn't answer. I carried my suitcase downstairs.

Lillian followed me out anyway.

She leaned against the second-floor railing, looking down at me.

"Leaving already, Pauline?"

"Oh, that necklace you're wearing is pretty. Joel said you hardly ever put it on."

"Why don't you give it to me? Think of it as a little welcome gift for the baby."

I stopped.

That necklace was the only thing my mother left me.

Joel came out and followed Lillian's gaze down to my throat.

"It's just some old necklace. Lily wants it, so take it off and give it to her."

He said it like it was obvious. Like I was just a thing in this house, and things don't get to say no.

I tilted my head up and looked at the man I'd loved for five years.

"It was my mother's. It's all I have left of her."

Joel let out a cold, dismissive scoff.

"Your mother's been dead for years. What's the point of hanging on to some piece of junk?"

"Take it off. Don't make me do it myself."

Lillian was already coming down the stairs, quick and eager.

She walked right up to me and grabbed for it without a second's hesitation.

The thin silver chain bit into my skin, leaving a raw red line across my neck.

I didn't fight her.

A sharp snap.

The chain broke.

Lillian clutched the necklace in her fist and dangled it in front of me, triumphant.

"Thanks, Pauline. The chain's a little dated, but it'll do with my dress tomorrow."

Joel walked over and slid his arm around her waist.

"You're this happy over a cheap necklace? Tomorrow I'll take you to the auction. Pick out whatever you want."

I touched the welt on my neck.

It burned.

But not a fraction as much as what burned inside me.

"If you like it, keep it."

My voice was so calm it frightened even me.

"I hope you wear it always."

I pushed the front door open and walked out into the cold dark.

Joel's contemptuous scoff hit my back before the door closed.

"How many times are you going to play this little game? Doesn't it bore even you?"

"Tomorrow you'll crawl right back and beg."

I got into the rideshare.

The driver asked where I was headed.

I gave him the address of the private women's hospital downtown.

My phone screen lit up.

A message from Joel.

"Get your ass back here tonight and apologize to Lily, or I'm killing your card in the morning."

I looked at it for two seconds.

Then blocked his number.

Every social media account, every messaging app. Deleted, all of it.

Neon slid past the car window, light and shadow smearing across the glass.

Five years ago, Joel's startup had just collapsed. Creditors tracked him down—cornered him in an alley and beat him until he couldn't stand.

I stepped in front of him and took the bat meant for his head.

He held me—blood soaking through my hair, dripping down my temples—and sobbed like a child.

"Pauline, I swear I'll never let you suffer. Not ever."

"I'm going to give you the best of everything this world has."

Later, he really did make it.

And he really did give the best of everything to someone else.

I touched my swollen belly.

Baby, I'm sorry.

Mama can't bring you into this world to suffer.

The hospital corridor was cold.

The antiseptic smell crawled up my throat and sat there, thick and wrong.

I sat on the bench outside the operating room, waiting for the first surgery slot in the morning.

Notifications kept pinging on my phone. Spending alerts, one after another.

My supplementary card.

Lillian was using it, burning through the luxury boutiques that stayed open past midnight.

Bags worth hundreds of thousands. Jewelry past a million.

The charges poured onto my phone like running water.

Of course Joel had put her up to it. This was his way of grinding me down—making me crawl back and grovel at his little mistress's feet.

I opened the banking app and reported the supplementary card lost.

The world went quiet.

Just before dawn, my attending doctor arrived.

She looked at my pale face and let out a sigh.

"Miss Sullivan, have you truly decided?"

"Six months along. Inducing at this stage puts enormous strain on the body, and..."

She trailed off.

I knew what she wanted to say.

My womb was too thin. After this induction, I might never carry another child as long as I lived.

I nodded.

"I've made my decision."

The doctor held the consent form I'd had Joel sign last night.

"If the family member's signature checks out, we'll prepare to go in."

That was when a nurse came rushing over.

"Dr. Finch, there's a situation in the VIP wing."

"There's a pregnant woman—Lillian Fox—saying she's in pain and won't settle for anything less than our best suite."

"But that suite was reserved by Miss Sullivan two weeks ago."

I froze.

Lillian?

What was she doing here?

Before I could make sense of it, a commotion broke out at the far end of the corridor.

Joel had his arm around Lillian, flanked by a wall of bodyguards as they walked toward me.

Lillian's cheeks were pink, glowing. Not a flicker of discomfort on her face.

She spotted me instantly, and her eyes lit up.

"Oh, Joel—what a coincidence! Pauline's here too."

She cradled her belly with both hands and nestled against Joel, all softness and sweet helplessness.

"Pauline, I feel just terrible about this. I think I caught a chill last night, and the baby won't stop fussing."

"Joel insisted—he absolutely wouldn't let me stay home."

"I heard you booked the best VIP suite here. You wouldn't mind giving it up for me, would you? Just this once?"

Joel stared at me, his face cold.

"Pauline. You really know how to run, don't you."

"What's next—hiding from me in a hospital?"