Chapter 4: The Child I Refused to Carry for Her

I sat on the hospital bed, my hands rubbing the sheets subconsciously.

My best friend Anna was making some arrangements over the phone. A few seconds later, she ended the call and looked at me.

“Everything’s in place.” Her tone was steady as ever. “It’s all according to plan.”

I nodded calmly. “Good.”

The doctor came into my room, holding my chart. His expression was solemn. “Miss Gordon, let me check again before the surgery—”

He flipped through my chart and looked at me solemnly. “The baby is already quite far along. Any procedure at this stage carries significant medical risks. I need to make sure you understand that and that no one is forcing you into this decision.”

I looked at him calmly.

“I understand.”

His expression remained serious. “And you’re certain you want to proceed with the medically recommended plan we discussed?”

My hand slowly moved over my stomach.

For months, I had spoken to this baby every night.

I had imagined what their eyes would look like.

I had bought tiny clothes and filled an entire room with things I thought my child would need.

I had endured injections, appointments, nausea, sleepless nights, and every frightening moment because I believed this was the child Jason and I had desperately wanted.

But that child had never existed.

At least, not in the way I had believed.

My body had been turned into something they could use without my consent.

They had made the decision for me before I even knew there was a decision to make.

Jason had looked into my eyes throughout the IVF process and lied.

My parents had known.

Rachel had known.

Everyone had known except the woman whose body was carrying the consequences.

I lowered my eyes.

“I’m sure.”

The doctor nodded and left us alone to complete the preparations.

Anna sat beside me.

She had been furious when I told her everything the previous night.

At first, she had wanted to confront Jason immediately.

I stopped her.

What would confrontation accomplish?

Jason would apologize.

My parents would cry about family.

Rachel would somehow become the victim.

And all of them would expect me to swallow my pain one more time.

I had spent enough years doing that.

Anna squeezed my hand.

“You can still change any part of the plan.”

“I know.”

“And if you do, I’m still with you.”

My throat tightened.

At least there was one person in this world who understood that supporting me did not mean deciding for me.

I gave her a faint smile.

“I’m not changing my mind about Jason.”

That part, at least, was painfully clear.

My phone was switched off, but Anna’s kept vibrating.

Eventually, she glanced at the screen.

“Jason.”

I said nothing.

She rejected the call.

It rang again almost immediately.

Then again.

Messages followed.

Anna finally turned her phone facedown.

“He’s asking which hospital you’re at.”

“Don’t tell him.”

“Wasn’t planning to.”

I leaned back against the pillow.

Somewhere outside this room, Jason was probably losing his mind.

Yesterday, I would have felt guilty for making him worry.

Today, I wondered whether he had felt even a fraction of that guilt when he arranged to steal my motherhood from me.

My parents began calling Anna next.

First my mother.

Then my father.

Then Rachel.

Anna looked at me.

“Popular today, aren’t we?”

I almost laughed.

For years, getting my family to care about where I was had been nearly impossible.

Now that their plan was in danger, suddenly everyone needed to find me.

“Block them.”

Anna did.

Meanwhile, across the city, Jason had already driven to the hospital where I normally received prenatal care.

He stormed through the reception area, demanding to know whether I had been admitted.

The staff refused to give him information.

He called my doctor.

No answer.

He called me again.

Straight to voicemail.

That was when panic truly began to consume him.

He remembered the nurse’s words.

Sign this agreement before the surgery.

He remembered the broken bracelet outside my parents’ house.

More importantly, he remembered exactly what I could have overheard inside.

When he rushed back to the Gordon house, Rachel was waiting in the living room.

“Did you find her?”

Jason ignored the question.

He looked at my parents.

“Did Nina say anything to either of you?”

My mother shook her head anxiously.

“Nothing. Why would she suddenly need surgery?”

Rachel crossed her arms.

“Maybe she’s just trying to scare you.”

Jason turned sharply toward her.

“Scare me?”

“She’s always dramatic when things don’t go her way.”

His expression darkened.

For the first time, Rachel seemed unsettled by the way he looked at her.

“What?” she asked.

Jason's voice dropped.

“If she heard us, she knows.”

Silence fell over the room.

My mother immediately said, “Even if she knows, she wouldn’t do anything reckless. Nina has always been sensible.”

My father nodded.

“Exactly. She loves that baby.”

Jason’s face went white.

That was precisely why he was afraid.

He knew how deeply I loved the child I believed was mine.

He also knew what discovering the truth would do to me.

Rachel placed a protective hand over her own stomach.

“She can be angry after the baby is born. We just need to make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid before then.”

Jason stared at her.

“That baby is inside Nina.”

Rachel frowned.

“But biologically—”

“I know what we did!”

His sudden roar silenced everyone.

Jason ran a hand through his hair.

For years, he had convinced himself he was merely helping Rachel fulfill a wish.

He had told himself Nina would never know.

He had told himself that after telling me the baby died, he would spend the rest of his life making me happy.

As if lifelong devotion could compensate for deliberately destroying me.

As if the lie would become kindness simply because he planned to comfort me afterward.

Now, for the first time, he was forced to imagine what his plan looked like from my side.

Rachel snapped, “Why are you acting like I forced you? You agreed to this.”

Jason looked at her without answering.

She was right.

No one had forced him.

That realization was worse.

Back at the hospital, Anna handed me a folder.

“Your lawyer sent everything.”

I opened it.

Divorce papers.

Financial records.

Documents concerning several investments I had personally funded during the early years of Jason’s company.

For four years, I had treated our marriage as a partnership.

When his startup struggled, I had used my own savings and connections to keep it alive.

When he doubted an investment, I analyzed it for him.

When his company needed credibility, I introduced him to people who trusted me.

He had built his reputation while standing on foundations I helped lay.

And then he had taken the knowledge and opportunities I gave him and used them to impress Rachel.

That ended today.

I signed the divorce petition.

My hand did not shake.

Anna watched me.

“You sure?”

I looked at Jason’s name beside mine.

Four years.

Four years of believing the man who rescued me from one betrayal would never become another.

I signed the final page.

“Completely.”

Anna took the papers.

“The financial side?”

“Proceed with everything legally mine.”

I was not interested in taking what belonged to Jason.

I simply refused to leave behind what belonged to me.

My phone would remain off.

My lawyer would handle the divorce.

Anna had arranged somewhere private for me to recover.

And once I was medically cleared, I would leave the city for a while.

There would be no dramatic confrontation.

No screaming match.

No begging Jason to explain why Rachel had once again mattered more than me.

I already had my explanation.

He had made his choice.

Now I was making mine.

A nurse entered and told me they were ready for the next stage of my treatment.

I drew in a slow breath.

Anna stood and squeezed my hand.

“I’ll be right here when you come back.”

I nodded.

As they prepared to wheel me away, the hospital doors downstairs suddenly burst open.

Jason had finally found the right hospital.

He had tracked down the information after calling nearly every medical center he could think of.

He ran toward reception, breathless.

“Nina Gordon. My wife. Where is she?”

The receptionist looked up.

“Sir, I can’t disclose a patient’s information without authorization.”

“I’m her husband!”

“That does not override her privacy instructions.”

Jason froze.

“Privacy instructions?”

The receptionist remained professional.

“Ms. Gordon specifically requested that no information be released to you.”

Those words hit him harder than anything else could have.

Not an accident.

Not a misunderstanding.

I was deliberately shutting him out.

Jason stepped backward.

Then he saw Anna approaching the reception desk.

“Anna!”

She stopped.

Jason rushed toward her.

“Where’s Nina?”

Anna's face turned cold.

“You don’t get to ask me that.”

“What surgery is she having?”

“Ask yourself why your wife would rather face a hospital procedure without you than tell you where she is.”

His lips trembled.

“She knows, doesn’t she?”

Anna stared at him.

That silence was enough.

Jason went completely pale.

“I need to see her.”

“No.”

“Anna, please.”

“She spent four years believing you were the one person who would never betray her.”

Jason's eyes reddened.

“I never wanted to hurt her.”

Anna laughed bitterly.

“You planned to take away the baby she believed was hers and tell her the child died.”

He flinched.

“I was going to stay with her.”

“And you think that makes it better?”

Jason had no answer.

Anna stepped closer.

“You weren’t protecting Nina. You were protecting your plan.”

Upstairs, I knew none of this.

I was already being taken through another set of doors.

I stared at the ceiling as the lights passed overhead one by one.

Strangely, I was calmer than I had been since overhearing Jason’s conversation.

My marriage was over.

The family that had sacrificed me once and then used me again was no longer my responsibility.

Whatever happened after today, I would face it as Nina Gordon.

Not Jason Law’s obedient wife.

Not Rachel’s convenient older sister.

Not my parents’ sacrificial daughter.

Just me.

Outside, Jason was still begging Anna to let him see me.

She gave him only one answer.

“Nina left you the moment she learned the truth. You just haven’t caught up to her yet.”