The Bride Wore Blood At The Finish Line Chapter 08
Hunter stood in the doorway.
The blood-stained ultrasound was crushed in his fist. Balled up. Then forced flat again.
The dried blood on the edges had gone black.
“Nora.”
He was staring at me. The red in his eyes looked like it might bleed out.
“Tell me. This baby… was it real?”
His voice was shaking.
I stayed on the edge of the bed. Didn’t stand.
“You’ve seen it, haven’t you?”
I looked at him. Voice quiet.
“Black and white. Signed by the doctor. Or do you think I’d stab my own uterus just to lie to you?”
Hunter stumbled a step back. His shoulders hit the doorframe.
“Impossible…”
He shook his head. Like he was trying to convince himself.
“The specialists said I couldn’t. My whole life. They said it was impossible.”
Then he lunged. His hand clamped around my wrist. His grip could snap bone.
“You’re lying! Nora, you’re trying to punish me, you’d bring somebody else’s bastard in here and try to pin it on—”
A slap cracked across the room.
It wasn’t me.
Grandma Ellie found strength out of nowhere. Her palm connected with the side of his face.
“You monster.”
Her whole body was shaking with rage. “You kicked your own child out of her, and now you’re calling her a liar?”
Hunter’s head jerked sideways. A red handprint bloomed on his cheek.
He turned slowly. Looked at Grandma Ellie. Then at me.
His eyes dropped to the ruined wedding dress. To the dried blood.
“My baby…”
His throat convulsed. The tears finally broke.
His knees hit the floor.
“Nora…”
He reached for my hand. His voice was wrecked.
“I didn’t know. I swear I didn’t know you were pregnant. Chloe told me you were faking, I thought you were lying to me—”
“Chloe?”
I pulled my hand back. Looked down at him.
“Hunter. Even now. You’re still blaming other people?”
“When you kneed me. Did you see the blood? You saw it.”
“When I told you I was pregnant. Did you hear me? You heard me.”
“You know what you said?”
I leaned in. Locked eyes with him.
“You said, ‘You think bleeding a little is going to make me feel bad?'”
Every drop of color drained from his face.
“No… no, it wasn’t—”
He was shaking his head, frantic.
“I lost it. I didn’t mean it. Nora, please, forgive me. We’re young. There’ll be other babies—”
“Hunter!”
A shriek from the doorway.
Chloe rushed in on her heels.
She saw him on his knees and her face changed. She grabbed his arm and yanked him up.
“Hunter, what are you doing?! You’re the heir to Vance Group! You do not kneel to her!”
Then she rounded on me. Teeth bared.
“Nora, drop the poor-me act! It was an unborn embryo! Who knows if it was even Hunter’s? And even if it was, it was an accident!”
She dug into her bag. Pulled out a folder. Slapped it down on the cabinet next to the bed.
“Mrs. Vance. This is the eighty-million-dollar investment my father just signed.”
Chloe lifted her chin. Back to acting like she owned the place.
“The second Hunter takes over Vance Group, the money hits the account. An unborn baby for eighty million in cash flow. That’s a good trade for the family. Isn’t it?”
The room went dead silent.
I looked at Chloe.
And I laughed.
A laugh that twisted something in my gut.
“Eighty million?”
I turned to Hunter.
“That’s what my brother’s life was worth to you? That’s what your own baby was worth?”
Hunter was staring at the folder. Didn’t say a word.
He was actually thinking about it.
Even now. In this moment. His selfishness was still running the numbers.
Grandma Ellie looked at Chloe like she was garbage that had wandered into the room.
Mr. Brooks stepped forward and swept the eighty-million-dollar offer straight into the trash can.
“What are you doing?!” Chloe screamed.
Grandma Ellie pulled the trust amendment out from under her pillow. Threw it into Hunter’s face.
“Read it.”
Her voice was ice.
“As of today. Every Vance share in your name is frozen. Every position revoked. As far as this family is concerned, you have no inheritance.”
“And one more thing.”
She turned to Chloe. And she smiled.
“The Vance family? You think we’d blink at eighty million?”