Taking Back My Life After My Fiancé And Best Friend Destroyed Me Chapter 03
The Final Breath
The doctor stitches up my forehead. Behind the curtain, two nurses are whispering.
“Did you see that couple in the ER earlier? So cute. The guy literally froze when they told him she was pregnant. Just stood there with this huge smile.”
“Right? And they look so good together.”
I close my eyes. Perfect together. A cheater and a snake. Of course they match.
The doctor frowns at my chart. “Miss… you’re pregnant.”
I go completely still.
“About four weeks along,” he says. “I’d recommend a full check-up.”
I stare at the wall. This baby. Coming now. The worst possible timing.
The next morning, I go to the nursing home. I’m getting Mom out. Today.
She sees the exhaustion on my face and presses her thumb between my brows the way she always does. “Honey, stop working so hard. Your boss is basically your husband—what’s he gonna do, fire you?”
My nose burns. I throw my arms around her and break down. She strokes my back, alarmed, asking what’s wrong.
“Nothing,” I choke out. “Just stressed. I’m okay.”
She pats my hand. “When I’m feeling better, I’ll take you on a trip. We’ll go to the coast. Just us.”
I leave to grab lunch. Twenty minutes. That’s all.
When I get back, a nurse grabs my arm and pulls me running down the hall. “Miss Chloe—your mother—she fell from the window—”
The food hits the floor.
I’m on my knees outside the ICU. I can’t stand. I can’t breathe. My face still feels warm where she touched me ten minutes ago.
I press my forehead to the cold metal door and beg. Out loud. To no one. To anyone.
*Take me instead. Whatever it costs. Just let her wake up. Please. I’ll trade my life for hers.*
Four hours pass.
The doors open. The doctor steps out.
He shakes his head.
“I’m sorry. We did everything we could.”
Everything inside me comes up at once. I double over and vomit on the floor. I can’t stop. The world tilts and spins. I grab the doctor’s coat, trying to form words, but nothing comes.
Back in her room, the window is still open. The bed still holds the shape of her body. For one second, I almost expect her to walk back in.
I pick up her phone.
Her last call—outgoing—was to Maya.
What did Maya say to her?
Why did my mother fall?
Rage takes over. I move.
I don’t think. I just move.
I drive to Maya’s office building. The receptionist hears who I’m looking for and covers her mouth, giggling. “Oh, you might have to wait. Maya’s fiancé is here. They’re… busy.”
From behind the closed office door, I hear them. Sounds that make my stomach turn.
Swallow it down? Stay quiet?
I’ve been swallowing it down my entire life.
I grab the fire extinguisher off the wall and swing it into the door with everything I have.
BANG.
The door flies open.
Maya and Ethan. Clothes half off. Buttons undone. They stop dead and stare at me.
And the only thing I feel is the weight of the extinguisher in my hands—and the phone in my pocket, still holding my dead mother’s last call.
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