What Grew Inside Me

When the pain started, my mother-in-law called me a monster, then drove off like a madwoman. My doctor slit his own throat in front of me. My husband locked me away "for my safety."

I thought they didn't want my baby. That they were horrified by the child I carried.

But I was wrong.

The thing growing inside me was never my child at all.

——

The pain ripped through my lower abdomen.

One second, I was sitting gracefully at a high-society charity gala. The next, a violent hunger completely hijacked my brain. The scent of the raw, bleeding Wagyu beef on the porcelain plate drove me insane.

Before I could stop myself, I grabbed the bleeding red meat with my bare hands and shoved it into my mouth.

"Sarah!"

Beatrice, my mother-in-law, slammed her hand on the table. Her aristocratic face twisted in pure disgust. "What on earth are you doing?!"

I couldn't answer. I swallowed the meat whole, the rich taste of iron coating my throat.

Before I could even apologize, something inside my stomach violently tore. It wasn't just a cramp—it felt like something was trying to claw its way out.

I choked out a bloody gasp, knocking over my crystal wine glass, and plummeted headfirst into total darkness.

The rapid beep of a heart monitor yanked me awake.

The sterile, icy scent of the Sterling family's private VIP ward burned my nostrils. I blinked against the blinding white lights.

Beatrice stood at the foot of my bed.

"Mom?" I croaked, trying to sit up. The tearing pain in my gut flared instantly, forcing me back against the pillows. "What happened? Am I sick again?"

Beatrice slowly raised her head.

The absolute disgust and sheer, primal terror in her eyes paralyzed me.

"Who are you?" she demanded, her voice trembling with panic.

I frowned, reaching a hand out toward her. "Mom, what exactly are you talking about? It's me. It's Sarah."

"Don't touch me!"

Beatrice shrieked like a hunted animal. She violently hurled the tablet across the room, shattering it against the wall. She backed away, her spine slamming into the doorframe. Her chest heaved, her trembling finger pointing directly at my stomach.

"You're not her! You're a monster! It woke up... you brought him back!"

"Brought who back?!" Panic squeezed my throat. I looked down at my pale hands, trembling against the white hospital sheets. "Please, just tell me what the blood test says!"

The heavy door flew open. Dr. Hayes, the newly appointed Chief of Medicine, barged in.

"Mrs. Sterling, please," he breathed, stepping between Beatrice and my bed. "It’s just a biological anomaly. Her body is experiencing a severe rejection response to—"

"Liar!" Beatrice screamed, her voice tearing at the seams.

She didn't give me one last look. She spun around and bolted down the hospital corridor.

"Wait! Mother!" I ripped the IV from the back of my hand, ignoring the fresh blood trickling down my skin. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. My knees buckled instantly, sending me crashing to the tiles.

"Mrs. Sterling, you need to stay in bed!" Dr. Hayes urged, trying to grab my arm.

"Get off me!" I shoved him aside and forced myself up.

Leaning heavily against the cold wall, I dragged my aching body out of the room and into the quiet VIP corridor.

"Beatrice?" I called out, my voice echoing back at me.

I limped past several empty suites, panic rising in my chest as the minutes ticked by. The hallway was dead silent.

Where did she go? Why was she looking at me with such absolute horror?

As I reached the floor-to-ceiling windows near the elevator banks, a deafening crash shook the entire building.

The sickening sound of shattering glass and twisting metal echoed from the courtyard below, followed immediately by the blare of multiple car alarms.

I stumbled to the glass and looked down. Beatrice’s black Maybach was upside down, utterly crushed into a brutalized lump of metal. A thick spray of blood smeared across the smashed windshield.

My breath hitched.

"Sarah?"

The familiar voice made me flinch. Arthur rushed out of the elevator, out of breath, his tailored suit slightly disheveled.

He felt the vibration beneath his feet and frowned. "What on earth was that crash?"

He followed my frozen gaze out the window. The color instantly drained from his face as he stared at the brutalized metal below.

Before he could react, Dr. Hayes and two security guards sprinted down the hall. "Mr. Sterling!" Dr. Hayes panted, his face completely pale. "It's your mother... She drove her car straight off the top floor of the parking garage!"

Arthur staggered back a step as if physically struck.

The invincible Arthur Sterling looked utterly shattered. His bright blue eyes rapidly filled with a raw, agonizing disbelief.

"Arthur!" I sobbed, throwing myself into his arms, gripping his jacket like a lifeline. "She looked at me like I was a monster before she ran! What is growing inside my body? I need Dr. Evans. He cured me when I was a kid... please, call Dr. Evans!"

Arthur slowly wrapped his strong arms around me, pulling me away from the gruesome window.

After a long, suffocating moment, he pulled back slightly.

"I can't let him near you," Arthur said, his voice low. "Who else could it have been? He told my mother your blood was mutating—that's what pushed her over the edge."

I shook my head, confused and terrified. "But—"

"The board will dismiss him," Arthur interrupted.