Chapter 2

All I felt was despair, sinking deeper into a darkness where even air seemed to escape me. I opened my mouth, desperate to form words, to cry for help, but only a few strangled groans escaped.

"What's that noise?" Charlie's voice crackled through Fiona's phone, and a sliver of hope flickered inside me.

I groaned louder, praying he'd hear my pain.

Fiona shot me a look, her expression alert as she tried to cover up. "There's no noise. You must be hearing things."

He didn't question it, didn't even hesitate. "Alright. Do whatever you want—I'll back you up."

"Love you," she purred, ending the call with a smug smile.

I collapsed onto the floor, tears wetting my cheeks as Fiona stood over me, gripping my clothes with her fists.

Turning to the growing crowd, she announced, "Don't get the wrong idea, folks. I'm giving this homewrecker exactly what she deserves! This woman had the nerve to come between my boyfriend and me. Tell me, doesn't she deserve it?"

The murmurs around us morphed into a chorus of disdainful agreement. "Looks can be deceiving. Who could've thought someone who looked so proper would turn out to be a mistress! Shameless!" one woman scoffed.

"That's right! She's shameless!" another chimed in. "Honestly, she deserves every bit of it."

"Exactly! Mistresses like her should be taught a lesson!"

The stabbing pain in my abdomen left me unable to respond as my strength drained away.

Fiona basked in their support, a dark satisfaction lighting her eyes. She straddled me, slapping me repeatedly, each blow sending a buzzing shock through my head.

My hand rose, trembling, desperate to shield my belly. "My… child…" I groaned, nearly inaudible.

Fiona laughed, the sound hollow and merciless. "Consider yourself lucky the child hasn't been born yet. Otherwise, I'd have made sure that child knew exactly how ugly this world can be."

Her friends yanked my hair, and my vision blurred, tilting at the edges.

I could barely make out a few people in the crowd growing uneasy. "Alright, that's enough now," one voice finally piped up. "This is… a bit much, don't you think?"

"Just look at her face," another muttered. "Swollen, bleeding… it's over the line."

Someone spat, "Only a homewrecker would defend this woman! If you're on her side, maybe you're a mistress too!"

But Fiona's friend suddenly gasped, "Fiona, there's blood!"

That word jolted me awake.

Blood?

My body shuddered as I gathered my frayed senses, fighting against the pain. "My baby… please, my baby…"

A few voices shifted in tone, apprehensive now. "Is she pregnant? Even if she is the other woman, that's too much! What if she's miscarrying?"

"Oh, now y'all feel sorry?" someone else murmured darkly. "But if she loses that baby, it's on all of you—you all egged it on."

Fiona's mask faltered, and she stepped back, rattled but defiant. "Oh, please, she's faking. This can't make her lose a child—she's not even pregnant!"

Every ounce of my strength drained as I tried to move. I slipped my hand behind me to check and found the damp warmth of blood soaking my fingers.

Fiona motioned to her friends, and they lifted me roughly off the ground.

"Fine, since you're so desperate for the hospital, we'll take you there. But remember," she sneered, "this is your fault for being a homewrecker."

They clumsily dragged me to a dim, musty space. Instinct told me this wasn't a hospital, but my fading consciousness couldn't hold on long enough for me to open my eyes and see.

With a final surge of energy, I opened my eyes and pleaded, "Please… my child can still be saved… just take me to a hospital. I swear, I'll stay away from Charlie, I'll disappear… but please, just save my baby…"

Fiona's lips curled into a scornful smile. "Oh, we're supposed to believe a homewrecker now? You actually care about that child, huh?"

"Well, too bad," she hissed, her face twisted with malice. "You and that kid of yours can rot here together."

She pulled a glinting blade from her bag, running its tip slowly along the side of my cheek. "And just to be sure, I'm going to ruin that pretty little face of yours—the one you used to seduce him."