Chapter 9
A few months later, my children were born–a healthy pair of twins, one boy, one girl.
It was strangely symmetrical. The girl looked like me; the boy, like him.
Inside the delivery room, my mother wept loudly. She said it was because her daughter, who had suffered for so many years, had finally found peace. A home.
I lay weakly on the hospital bed, barely able to lift my hand to see the babies.
Xavier, who had been hovering anxiously at my side all day, suddenly, frowned and
muttered,
“What’s so great about looking at them? If it weren’t for those two, you wouldn’t have had
to suffer so much.”
blinked, startled, then reached out and gave his shoulder a light punch. “You’re being childish. Don’t tell me you’re jealous of your own kids.”
He didn’t say a word. Just bowed his head and gently began wiping down my body with a
warm towel.
“It’s because he feels sorry for you,” my mother said, sighing. She understood him better
than he understood himself.
Of course, I knew that already.
The moment they wheeled me out of the operating room, Xavier, who had always carried an unshakable calm, broke down in tears. Not just tears. He was sobbing uncontrollably.
Later, I found out he had written a will months ago. If anything had gone wrong during childbirth, he had no intention of staying behind.
The girl next door he had loved since they were teenagers was finally his. To lose me again… it would’ve destroyed him.
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Chapter 9
That day, the weather was unusually nice.
My mother took the babies out for a walk, slowly making her way around the hospital garden.
Xavier was tied up with business and said he’d join me later.
For the first time in a while, I had the room–and the silence–to myself.
I closed my eyes, ready to nap, when the door creaked open.
A nurse walked in. She wore a medical mask and carried a tray. She said she’d come to change my bandages.
But there was something about her movements–something about her posture–that stirred a strange, disquieting feeling deep in my memory.
I squinted at her.
“Have we… met before?” I asked, uncertain.
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She froze mid–step. Then straightened. And in a cold voice said, “Of course we’ve met. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be like this.”
She spun around sharply and tore the mask from her face.
I gasped.
It was Chloe. What the hell was she doing here?
“Alyssa,” she spat. “Why didn’t you just die in that delivery room? Do you know what happened after you came back into his life? Scott threw me away like garbage. I got fired. My cards were frozen. I lost everything. All because of you!”
I hadn’t even seen the knife in her hand until she stepped forward, one slow footfall at a time, blade gleaming under the fluorescent lights.
Panic crawled into my chest.
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“What does any of that have to do with me?” I blurted. “I told him everything. I stepped aside–didn’t that give you two the perfect chance? Don’t be stupid!”
‘Why,‘ I thought bitterly, ‘does everyone wait until I’m at my weakest to stab me in the
back?‘
“Just calm down. We can figure something out. Even if you kill me, he’s not going to love you again. You’ll end up in prison. It’s not worth it–none of this is.”
But she wasn’t listening.
“My life is a tragedy because of you,” she hissed. “Why is it you, of all people, who gets to be an heiress? Why do you get a rich, powerful husband and a perfect little family? Everything you have should’ve been mine!”
Her voice cracked with rage. She was trembling.
And then–she lunged.
The knife was almost at my chest.
In that frozen instant, my eyes flicked to the nightstand.
There was a glass bottle.
I didn’t think I just grabbed it and swung.
The sound of it shattering against her skull was sharp, violent, and final.
She staggered once, then collapsed.
At that moment, the door burst open with a crash.
Scott rushed in, panting, eyes wide.
“Alyssa! Don’t be afraid–I’m here-”
Then he saw Chloe, lying motionless on the floor. His face crumpled.
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“No… no, this isn’t right,” he whispered. “She wasn’t supposed to be the one to get hurt…”
“Then who was?” a voice snapped.
Xavier appeared behind him and, without hesitation, kicked him in the side.
Scott hit the ground.
Xavier stepped between us and pulled me behind him, shielding me with his whole body.
My limbs were trembling. My strength was gone. Adrenaline had been the only thing
keeping me upright this long.
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And now that he was here–Xavier, the only person I trusted in this spinning, unraveling
world—everything went dark.
I collapsed, unconscious.
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