Powerless

I remembered that day. I had found out that I was pregnant just a week earlier. Kenneth seemed to be anticipating that baby as much as I did. That day, he said that he had some urgent matters to discuss with his father. He left early, but he prepared an herbal tea for me. He said that it would help the baby. God… Had he put the pill in that teapot?

I felt sick. I clamped my hand over my mouth and tried breathing through my nose. My head was spinning, and my heart painfully hammered against my chest. I didn't notice when Raven sat beside me and started rubbing my back.

“Breathe, Lilly,” she whispered. “You need to calm down and breathe.”

Calm down? How could I possibly calm down? I could admit my defeat. I could heal my broken heart in time. I could forget that I had ever loved that bastard. But this? I wanted this baby! I would have raised it even if I'd had to do it alone!

“Lilly, this is only the prescription. You cannot be sure that he actually bought the drugs or that he gave them to you,” Raven reasoned, giving me a glass of water.

I took it and downed it in seconds, but it did nothing to cool down the rage growing inside me. I wiped my tears and shifted my gaze to her. “Why else would he have those prescriptions, Raven? I've never asked for contraceptive pills, yet he had those recipes in my name?”

She studied me for a moment. “One thing is for certain, if Doctor Rogers gave Kenneth prescriptions meant for you without your knowledge, he broke the law.”

The fury inside me rose by the second. “Then I'm going to confront him. I will force this bastard to admit what he did. I will force him to confess that he and Kenneth killed my baby.”

I started rising to my feet, but Raven grabbed my hand. “Lilly, you need to calm down first. Don't do anything without thinking it through.”

“Seriously, Raven? You want to stop me?” I frowned, fisting my hands. “Imagine that you were pregnant. Imagine that you couldn't wait to have that baby. And then imagine bleeding for five hours, screaming in pain, and then mourning the loss because two men decided this child shouldn't be born.”

Her mouth opened, but she said nothing. Her eyes filled with sympathy as she nodded, releasing my hand from her grip. “Just… be careful, Lilly. Don't do anything irrational.”

My lips formed a thin line. I couldn't promise her that. My rage grew strong enough to fight against my reason, and the pain I felt triggered all kinds of violent urges. I promised to call her later and stormed out of the cafeteria.

***

I forced my lungs to stretch, but my clenched chest fought against me. The shallow breaths only fueled my anger as I marched toward Doctor Roger's office on the clinic's fourth floor. Christine, Doctor Rogers' receptionist, shifted her gaze to me, but instead of greeting me with her usual smile, I saw her pursing her lips. Did the news about my divorce travel that fast? I guess I was no longer a VIP patient. That was fine with me because I wasn't planning on being nice or docile either.

“I need to speak to Doctor Rogers immediately,” I said, stopping in front of the reception desk.

“Doctor Rogers is currently busy, and I believe that you can no longer afford to be his patient.” A cold smirk curved Christine's lips.

I leaned over her. “Call that bastard here right now, otherwise, I will scream from the top of my lungs that he is a murderer who killed my baby,” I hissed.

As if on cue, Doctor Nicolas Rogers stepped out of his office. “Lilly, I didn't expect you today. Did I forget about our appointment?” His lips stretched into a wide smile, but his eyes remained cold. The truth was, this smile could have been no different from the usual smile he had given me. What changed was that I no longer looked at him through the filter of naivety.

“You gave Kenneth prescriptions with my name on them, and they were for the drugs I've never asked you for,” I strained through my teeth.

He frowned and stepped forward. “Why don't we talk inside my office.” He extended his hand toward me, but I stepped back.

“No. We will talk right here,” I stated, noticing that our conversation had already attracted a few onlookers.

He raised his hands in surrender and stepped forward warily as if he were approaching a wild animal. “Give me those prescriptions.”

My brows rose. “So you could destroy them? That's my evidence. I can only show you from a distance.” I pulled out the two pieces of paper.

He narrowed his eyes, pretending to study them, but his clenched jaw told me that he knew exactly what kind of prescriptions they were. Then he turned his gaze to me as his mouth twisted into another fake smile. “Yes, I remember those,” he admitted, surprising me. “I remember giving them to your husband because you asked him to.”

“You're lying!” I snapped. “Why would I ever ask you for contraceptive pills if I wanted to have a baby?! Not to mention that I would never abort my pregnancy!”

The crowd around us grew by the second. I could see the anger flash in Doctor Rogers' expression, but it disappeared quickly, giving way to fake concern. “My dear… I warned you that you might regret that decision. I knew that in your fragile mental state, you could even blame me for it.”

“What the hell are you talking about?!” I yelled. “I wanted to keep this child, but you gave my husband an abortion pill! You killed my child!”

“Shall I call security?” Christine interjected from her desk.

My rage exploded. “Security?! This man committed a crime, not me!”

“Lilly, you need to calm down and understand the truth.” Doctor Rogers inched closer, keeping his hands raised. Was he treating me like a mental patient?!

“I know the truth!” I argued. “Kenneth didn't want the child I carried, so you helped him kill it!”

He shook his head and let out a breathy chuckle. “No, Lilly. You were the one who didn't want the child. But it's normal to regret your decision, especially now after your husband divorced you.”

I stumbled back. “What?!”

A mask of sympathy appeared. “I know that you're suffering, but you cannot blame me for your decisions. You said it yourself, the prescriptions are in your name.”

“No!” I croaked, vehemently shaking my head. “I wanted that child!’

He sighed. “Lilly, don't make me call security to drag you out of here.”

I looked around, meeting other people's gazes, and saw irritation, anger, and pity. Some shook their heads in disapproval. But their anger and irritation were aimed at… me. They all sided with the doctor. In their eyes, I was nothing but a mentally unstable woman.

My eyes returned to the doctor, and my blood turned into molten lava. “You son of a—”

“Security!” Christine yelled, and before I took another breath, two guards appeared behind me.

“What's going on here?” The sound of Kenneth's voice made my stomach churn. I turned around and saw him passing the long corridor, heading toward the doctor and me.

“Oh, you've got to be kidding me,” I muttered under my breath as more fury seethed through every pore of my skin. I locked my eyes on him, and as the crowd began to disperse, I saw that he wasn't alone… Kathrine, the ginger-haired woman who once pretended to be my friend, had her hand looped around my ex-husband's arm.

The guards caught my hands in a tight grip as Kathrine and Kenneth slowly moved forward. And then I saw it: Kathrine's round belly and the diamond ring on her finger… Not only was she in an advanced pregnancy but they were already engaged?! My breath caught in my throat. Suddenly, all the pieces came together, creating a disgusting picture. He had never wanted me to be his wife, and he killed my baby because it would have been an obstacle to a quick divorce. The one whom he wanted as a wife was currently walking beside him—the wealthy heiress to Lacroix Health Insurance Group.

“Lilly? What are you doing here?” Kenneth gave me a cold glare while Kathrine smirked. God, I bet that all three of them were enjoying the show.

“Let's go, Miss,” one of the guards growled, shifting his grip on my wrist.

Rage still buzzed within me, but the remaining slivers of reason forced me to submit. The bitter truth flooded me, making me realize the simple fact: I was powerless.

A moment later, I was pushed into the elevator and escorted to the ground floor. I slowly walked toward the clinic's revolving door while all the emotions within me died, turning me into an empty shell. I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. I couldn't breathe. I was falling apart, and this time, I had no strength to stop this process. I might have started crying because my vision became blurry. I was nauseous. My head spun. My legs began to wobble. I stumbled forward, losing my balance as I tripped on a curb.

Multiple sounds exploded in a second. I heard car horns and screeching tires. Someone shouted. Someone cursed. I squeezed my eyes shut, waving my hands as if it could save me from hitting the ground…

The hit never came. Strong arms wrapped around me, and I was swept into a tight embrace. “I've got you,” a man's deep voice whispered. I knew that voice. Slowly, I opened my eyes and met the pair of familiar blue irises. I smiled, or at least I thought I did. “My dark angel,” I breathed out and drifted into unconsciousness.