Chapter 3

Marlowe's POV

Pain rips through my belly and spreads through my whole body.

My eyes snap open. The first thing I see is the white ceiling of a VIP room. The air smells like hospital-grade antiseptic and faint lilies, nothing else. No trace of that milky newborn scent.

I sit up fast, ignoring the sharp pain from the incision, and my hands claw at my stomach.

Flat.

The belly that used to rise like a small hill is gone. What's left is flat, terrifyingly flat, nothing but loose skin and a thick layer of gauze.

"My baby... where's my baby!" My voice comes out raw and cracked.

The door opens. Rosalind walks in carrying a steaming bowl of broth.

The moment she sees me awake, her eyes go red. She rushes to the bed and pulls me into her arms.

"Oh, thank the Moon Goddess. My baby girl, you're finally awake. Do you have any idea how scared you made me?" Her tears fall onto my shoulder, her voice shaking with relief.

I shove her off and stare her dead in the eye. "Mom, where's my baby? Where's the pup? Is he in the incubator?"

Rosalind freezes for a second, then reaches out to stroke my cheek, pity written all over her face. "Marlowe, what are you talking about? What baby?"

My stomach drops. That same bottomless dread from my past life comes rushing back. But I remind myself, this time is different. I have proof.

"My phone! Where's my phone!" I tear through the nightstand like a woman possessed until I find it in the drawer.

My hands shake as I unlock the screen and open the photo gallery.

Nothing.

Empty.

The pictures I took in the car, the video I recorded in the lobby, all gone. Not just off my phone. The cloud backup's wiped clean too.

I don't give up. I open PackCircle.

The post I made last night is gone. In its place, there's a new post from my own account, timestamped last night:

"Finally decided to get this belly cyst removed after it's been torturing me for months. Thanks to my husband and mom for being with me. Hoping the surgery goes well."

The photo attached shows me lying in a hospital bed, pale as a ghost.

"No... this can't be happening." I hurl the phone at the wall. The screen shatters instantly.

I rip the IV out of the back of my hand. Blood wells up, but I don't feel a thing.

I run out of the room barefoot, sprinting down the hallway.

"Mary! Nurse Mary!" I reach the nurses' station and grab the head nurse from last night by the collar. "Tell my mom the truth! You felt my belly last night, you felt him kick, didn't you! You told the camera my baby was healthy!"

Mary's face goes white. She yanks her arm free, her eyes full of fear and pity. "Mrs. Marlowe, what are you talking about? You came in last night to have a large abdominal cyst removed. You were never pregnant. Is the anesthesia still messing with you? Are you seeing things?"

"You're lying! How much did they pay you!" I scream, turning to the other staff passing by in the hallway. "You all saw it! I told everyone in the lobby I was in labor! You all heard me!"

The staff stop in their tracks, staring at me the way people stare at someone who's lost it.

"Ma'am, you really are sick." Dr. Green arrives with a few security guards, sighing, his tone heavy. "That cyst on your abdomen grew large enough to press on your nerves. It gave you a severe case of phantom pregnancy. We already removed it. You're safe now."

"That's bullshit! There's a real, living pup in my belly! I can feel him kicking!" I fight with everything I have, but two guards pin me down hard.

Beckett comes running from the end of the hallway, his eyes rimmed red, and pulls me straight out of the guards' hands, holding me tight against his chest.

"Marlowe, please, stop torturing yourself like this." His voice breaks. "You were never pregnant. We'll have kids someday. Seeing you like this is killing me."

I look at Beckett's face, so full of tender concern, look at the pity and sympathy on everyone else's faces, and I stop fighting.

They pulled it off.

Once again, in front of everyone, they turned black into white.