Chapter 2

Looking at their cold, self-righteous faces, I couldn't bear to stay another second.

I turned heavily, dragging my trembling legs, desperate to leave this place that was supposed to be my home.

But the moment I took a step, my wrist was yanked backward.

"Where do you think you're going?" Leonard's cold voice cut through the air behind me.

"Let go..." I struggled weakly, but my body, ravaged by cancer, had no strength left.

"Now that you've walked in on all this, I can't just let you walk out."

Leonard's grip tightened as he jerked me back roughly. "If you run to the media, destroy the peaceful life Claire's worked so hard to rebuild—you really want that on your conscience?"

I stared in disbelief at the man before me.

He'd faked his death to deceive me, conspired with my family to take every penny I had, and now he had the nerve to guilt-trip me?

"Enough, Briley!"

My mother strode over, frowning, her eyes devoid of any warmth.

"Today is Claire's baby shower. Can you please not act like some jealous psycho?" She gestured sharply at me. "Think about it—if Claire's parents hadn't died saving your brother in that accident, Arthur would be dead! Our family owes Claire everything!"

Mother's voice rang with righteous indignation. "Since Leonard and Claire are truly in love, can't you just let them be happy for once?"

Watching her hypocritical performance, the absurdity of it all crashed over me.

Why should I pay for what Arthur owes? With my husband? My whole damn life?

"Briley, please don't blame Mom and Dad..."

Claire finally emerged from behind Arthur. She wore a pristine white dress, her complexion rosy—not a trace of weakness anywhere.

Her eyes reddened as she approached me timidly, putting on her wounded, forgiving face:

"Everyone just cares so much about the baby. There's such a terrible blizzard outside—no matter how much you hate me, don't take it out on yourself. Look at you, your coat is soaked through..."

She sighed, reaching out to adjust my ice-crusted collar.

"Don't touch me!" The thought of her betrayal with Leonard made me recoil. I swatted her hand away violently.

The sudden movement dislodged something from my pocket. It hit the floor with a soft thud.

A pair of pale yellow baby socks—I'd bought them at a maternity shop this morning on my way to the cemetery. A gift I couldn't resist getting for the baby growing inside me.

At the sound, Claire paused, then bent down to pick up the socks. When she saw what they were, triumph flashed in her eyes for just a split second.

"Give them back!" I reached out desperately.

"Ah!" Claire lurched backward as if I'd struck her, stumbling directly into Arthur behind her.

The red wine in his glass splashed onto the floor. Claire released the socks, and the pristine white fabric was instantly swallowed by dark red stains.

"I'm so sorry, Briley, I didn't mean to..." Claire collapsed to the floor, tears streaming down her face like she'd suffered the world's greatest injustice.

Then she stared at the ruined socks with wide, horrified eyes, her voice shaking:

"But Briley... you don't have a child, and you just came straight from a graveyard—why would you be carrying baby clothes?"

She covered her mouth, her sobs intensifying. "Are you... are you trying to curse my baby? Do you hate me so much that you'd wish something terrible on my child, hoping Leonard comes back to you after losing his son?"

With just a few words and Oscar-worthy tears, she'd painted me as a vengeful witch here to hex the party.

"Shut up! Those were for my own—"

Rage burned through me. I lunged forward to grab the socks, but my body gave out. The emotional shock finally demolished the last wall my cancer-riddled system had been clinging to.

The words died in my throat. Devastating pain detonated deep in my abdomen, like rusted knives tearing through my insides.

My legs buckled. I hit the carpet hard, curling instinctively around the agony. Cold sweat soaked through my clothes in seconds, my face draining of all color.

A thick, metallic taste flooded my mouth.

Before I could stop it, dark blood mixed with clots erupted from my throat, spraying across the pristine white carpet.

The living room went silent.

Then Claire shattered it with a perfectly pitched scream.

"Oh my God... is that fake blood? Briley, I know you're upset, but biting blood capsules to fake being sick? Really?" She clutched Leonard's sleeve, her whole body trembling.

At her words, whatever shock remained in my family's eyes curdled into pure disgust.

"Jesus Christ, Briley." Arthur sidestepped the blood spatter, his laugh harsh and mocking. "Since we were kids, you couldn't stand not being the center of attention. But this? Vomiting stage blood at a baby shower? What's next, are you gonna pretend to collapse?"

"This is insane." Mother covered her nose like I was rotting garbage. "Pulling this kind of stunt just for attention? You're absolutely pathetic."

Their condemnation poured over me without mercy. Leonard pulled Claire protectively behind him, his eyes frozen over as he stared down at me.

"Look, I get that you're pissed we faked my death," he said, his voice glacial. "But this disgusting little performance? Briley, you could literally drop dead right here in front of me, and I wouldn't give a damn."

His words were a hammer blow, obliterating whatever survival instinct I had left.

I wanted to scream that the cancer was real, that the blood was real, that I was carrying his child.

But staring up at these faces that had already convicted me, I couldn't find the strength to speak.

What was the point? To them, even my suffering was just another manipulation.

"Get her out of my sight." Leonard didn't even look at me as he addressed the security guards. "Lock her in the basement guest room. Nobody lets her out until she's ready to apologize to Claire. Understood?"

Two guards hauled me up roughly. They dragged me like a sack of trash toward the dark stairwell.

Click.

The heavy door slammed shut, locking me into complete darkness.

The basement room had no heat. Arctic cold seeped through my wet coat, invading my bones. I collapsed onto the concrete floor, too drained to even crawl toward the ratty couch a few feet away.

Dried blood cracked at the corner of my mouth. In the suffocating dark, my trembling hand found my barely swollen belly.

Upstairs, they celebrated new life under chandeliers and laughter. Down here, they'd thrown their dying daughter into the basement like garbage.

This was the family I'd sacrificed everything for. The family I'd refused chemo to protect.

"Baby..."

Hot tears slid silently down my face. I curled around my abdomen, my arms forming a desperate shield, and closed my eyes.

"Nobody wants us... nobody ever did."