My Fake Sister Stole My Pup and My Sanity

Marlowe's POV

In my past life, I went into labor and they wheeled me into surgery. When I woke up, my stomach was flat. My baby was gone.

My husband held my hand, his eyes rimmed red, and told me I'd never been pregnant at all. He said the thing growing in me was a ten-pound tumor.

My own mother held me and cried, saying I'd wanted a baby so badly that I'd started imagining things.

The doctor pulled out my entire medical file. Even the head nurse, the one who'd felt my belly the night before and told the camera how healthy my pup was, looked at me with pity and swore she'd never seen me before in her life.

But I felt him kick. I heard his heartbeat. I'm sure of it.

I ran through that hospital barefoot, screaming, tearing through every room, grabbing every person who walked past me, until the enforcers dragged me off like I was some lunatic.

They chained me up and threw me in the deepest cell in the Abyss.

I rotted down there alone, half out of my mind, until I died.

When I open my eyes again, I'm back in the car, contractions ripping through me, on my way to Silverleaf Medical Center.

The baby is still kicking.

"Breathe, honey. Just breathe. Our pup's almost here. You're going to be fine."

The low voice fills the back of the Maybach.

Beckett grips my hand. His palm is warm, his eyes full of worry.

Beside me sits my mother, Rosalind, dabbing at the cold sweat on my forehead with a warm washcloth.

"Marlowe, sweetheart, just hold on a little longer. We're almost at Silverleaf. The best OB in the city is waiting for you. You and the baby are going to be just fine." Her voice cracks like she'd take the pain from me herself if she could.

I'm gasping for air, my belly seizing with another wave of pain that feels like it's tearing me in half. But it isn't the physical pain that scares me most right now. It's this scene in front of me, so warm it makes my skin crawl.

I've been reborn.

Last time, I nearly died from the pain in this same seat, and once we got to the hospital, they wheeled me straight into an OR.

When I woke up, my stomach was flat. My baby was gone.

My whole family told me I'd never been pregnant. That I'd grown a tumor and let my desperation for a child turn it into a full-blown delusion.

I screamed through that hospital like a madwoman, searching every corner, until the enforcers hauled me off and locked me up, where I lost my mind completely and died there in the dark, alone.

I look down at my belly, still round and full, and feel that little body shifting inside me.

It's real. I'm alive. My baby is still here.

"Marlowe? Why are you shaking? Is the pain that bad?" Beckett leans in closer. The cedar smell he always wears, the one I used to love, turns my stomach now.

I bite down on my lip hard enough to hurt and force myself to calm down.

I can't lose it. I need to figure out why they all turned on me last time, and this time, I have to keep my baby safe no matter what.

"I... I want to remember this moment." My hand shakes as I reach for the phone on the seat next to me. "Beckett, hand me my phone. I want a picture. This is our first baby..."

Beckett frowns. "Honey, you're exhausted right now. Can we take pictures after the baby's here?"

"No! I want it now!" I push my voice higher on purpose. "What if... what if something happens to me in there? I want everyone to see me like this, right now!"

"Okay, okay, whatever you want. Just don't get worked up, it's not good for the baby." Rosalind hurries to soothe me and hands over the phone.

I grab it, unlock it with my thumbprint, and flip on the camera. I point it at my belly first, then pull Beckett and Rosalind into frame.

"Smile, Mom, honey."

I grin for the camera. The photo freezes us there, my belly huge, Beckett and Rosalind both smiling back at the lens.

I don't stop there. I open PackCircle right away.

My thumbs fly over the screen: "Finally going into labor! On our way to Silverleaf and this little pup is kicking up a storm. Beckett and my mom are with me the whole way. Wish us luck, everyone!"

I hit post.

The status goes live, and within seconds a handful of likes and comments start rolling in. Something in my chest finally loosens, just a little.

"All done, honey?" Beckett reaches for the phone, his voice gentle. "Let me hold onto it for you. We're almost there."

"I've got it." I pull away from his hand and shove the phone deep into my maternity dress pocket, zipping it shut.