Chapter 2: The Child I Chose to Lose

After a brief examination, the doctor determined Pilar was only suffering from emotional distress and post-childbirth weakness.

Nothing was seriously wrong.

Reed let out a long breath of relief. Only then did he realize I wasn’t there.

He frowned, pulling out his phone to call me.

Diana stopped him.

“Reed, she’s angry.”

“If you call her now, you’ll only fight. Give her some space.”

At that same moment, I was being wheeled into an operating room.

The ultrasound photo had fallen out of my pocket.

“She’s pregnant,” a doctor said grimly. “From the look of it, we’re not going to be able to save the baby.”

A nurse frowned and dialed the contact saved as “My Reed” again and again.

No one answered.

Reed was sitting in Pilar’s private room, listening intently as the staff explained how to care for a new mother and her infant.

Pilar’s voice was weak.

“Reed, don’t worry about me. Go check on Fernanda. She’s so upset. What if something happens?”

Reed frowned, his refusal blunt.

“No. You just had my child. I can’t leave you alone.”

Just then, his phone rang with an unknown number.

It was the nurse, calling from her personal cell.

Before she could get a word out, Reed cut her off impatiently.

“Pilar just gave birth. She can’t be left alone.”

“Whatever it is, it can wait until she’s stable.”

He hung up.

Lying on the operating table, I felt my heart being carved out of my chest.

The doctor handed me a consent form.

“You don’t have any other family?”

I shook my head and signed my name.

I had no one left.

My husband had betrayed me. My parents were dead, and it was their fault.

“Don’t save the baby,” I whispered.

“I don’t want it.”

The anesthetic flowed into my arm.

A cold numbness crept through my veins, and then… nothing.

In my dream, I was back eight years ago.

We were on our honeymoon in the Caribbean when the earthquake hit.

The world was shaking apart.

I’d twisted my ankle and couldn’t walk, but Reed refused to leave me.

He ran back through the falling debris and carried me on his back.

When the building finally collapsed, he threw his body over mine, letting a steel rod tear through his arm to shield me.

“Fernanda, don’t be afraid,” he’d whispered. “God will protect us. We’ll be all right.”

I woke up crying, waves of pain pulsing in my lower abdomen.

An Instagram notification lit up my phone.

It was a photo of Reed holding the baby.

The caption was a single sentence.

“Mom and baby are doing great.”

Congratulations from people who didn’t know the truth were flooding my iMessage.

I closed Instagram and sent a message to my assistant.

“Contact Switzerland. I’m accepting the partnership.”

“For the next five years, I’ll be based there until the branch office is fully established.”

After the nurse went over the discharge instructions, I forced myself to walk out of the operating room, fighting through the pain.

I ran right into Reed in the hallway.

“Are you done making a scene?” he snapped. “You upset Pilar so much she started hemorrhaging. She almost had a major complication.”

I clutched my stomach, my face ashen, and sank onto a nearby bench.

He glanced down at me.

“Are you not feeling well?”

I ignored him, turning my face away.

My silence only made him angrier.

“I was wrong. I admit it. If you want to take it out on me, fine.”

“I’ll transfer the majority of my assets to you as compensation.”

“When the child is a little older, I’ll send him to boarding school.”

“Now stop making trouble. Go tell Pilar you forgive her and agree to be the godmother.”

A small, bitter laugh escaped my lips.

“I can’t do that.”

Reed’s gaze went cold.

“Your parents’ burial plot still isn’t finalized. My family pulled strings to get that lakeside spot.”

“If you don’t agree, I’ll have to give it to someone else.”

The only thing holding me back from leaving the country was my parents’ burial.

I pushed myself up against the wall and nodded once.

Reed reached out, wrapping an arm around my waist and kissing my cold forehead.

“Fernanda, I knew you’d make the reasonable choice.”