Chapter 6
Johansen stared at the screen.
The text blinked back at him, emotionless but cutting through the chaos around him like a blade
I lost our baby today. From the stabbing. But I guess you don’t care. I’m not your legal wife, right? Goodbye, Johansen. I don’t want to ever see you again.
Attached below is a photo. Their marriage certificate–his and Maureen’s.
The very document he’d hidden so carefully. Buried beneath old business files, behind layers of dust. The one secret he never thought Cassandra would find.
He froze. His brain couldn’t seem to process the weight of it. Not just the revelation–but her knowing. That she had walked around him, smiled in front of him, spoke to him after learning. the truth. And still… still chose silence–until now.
A bitter taste crawled up his throat.
She knew. She had always known.
And he hadn’t even asked if she was okay.
He remembered the look in her eyes when he told her to buy fruit for Maureen. The blood–stained gauze at her side. Her quiet obedience. Her silence. Her stillness.
Johansen felt something twist inside his chest. A sharp ache. Heavy. Unfamiliar.
It wasn’t guilt. Not exactly. It was regret–but one he couldn’t name yet.
Before he could untangle that feeling, the hallway door opened, and the doctor stepped out.
“She’s stable,” the doctor announced. “Both the mother and baby are safe. She just had an allergic reaction to the soup she ate. It contained traces of shrimp–very mild, but enough to trigger her nausea.”
Johansen blinked. “Shrimp?”
The doctor nodded. “Very small amounts, but Maureen’s file shows a known shellfish allergy. She’s resting now.”
Shrimp. Shrimp in the soup.
His eyes widened.
Cassandra. She knew. Of course she knew–she and Maureen were best friends before everything. Cassandra was the one who had told him about Maureen’s allergy years ago. That meant… she did this on purpose?
Revenge. That message. That quiet dinner. The obedient silence. It all made sense now.
“She planned this,” Johansen muttered under his breath. His fingers clenched into fists. “She wanted to hurt Maureen. She wanted to punish me.”
The ache inside his chest twisted again–mutating into something bitter. Something hot. Anger. The doctor nodded, completely unaware of the storm brewing behind Johansen’s expression. “She’ll need to stay the night. But she and the baby are going to be fine.”
As soon as the doctor disappeared down the hall, Johansen was already pulling out his phone.
My Husband Fakedo
3:56 pm
He dialed his butler. “Check the house. Now. Find Cassandra. See if she’s still there.”
Then he marched down the hallway, grabbing a nurse by arm. “Cassandra Ruiz. She was recently admitted. Room 807, I think. What can you tell me?”
The nurse hesitated. “I’m sorry-”
“I’m her husband,” he snapped.
The woman glanced down at her chart. “She was discharged earlier this evening. But… before that, yes–she had surgery. She was stabbed during a robbery. There were complications because of the pregnancy…”
Johansen’s head snapped up. “Pregnancy?”
The nurse blinked. “She… didn’t tell you?”
He shook his head slowly, as if the air had suddenly turned thick. “No. No, she didn’t.”
“She was around six weeks,” the nurse said gently. “She lost the baby due to trauma. I’m sc sorry.”
Something flickered across his face. Something close to horror.
“She was pregnant?” he whispered. “With… my child?”
The nurse gave a quiet nod and excused herself.
Johansen stood in the hallway like the walls had collapsed around him.
He had been so angry. So caught up in what Cassandra might have done, what Maureen needed, what he thought was important–that he never even noticed the one thing that mattered most.
He lost his child.
His.
And Cassandra never said a word.
He fumbled with his phone again, tried to call her.
No signal.
Tried again.
Call failed.
He went to their old thread and typed a message.
Cass, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. Please come back. Let’s talk. I didn’t mean to. Why didn’t you tel me? I know you’re hurt, so you’re leaving, but let’s work on fixing this.
Failed to send.
He tried again.
You lost the baby? Cass, I didn’t know. I didn’t know, please. Please answer.
Nothing.
Over and over he tried, until the phone buzzed and a new message appeared:
Number no longer in service.
His hand went slack. The phone dropped onto the hospital bench, clattering on the floor with a hollow sound.
Chapter 6
3:56 pm M MM
And in the stillness that followed, the truth hit him like a freight train.
She was gone.
Not just gone from the hospital.
Not just gone from the house.
Gone from his life.
She knew everything.
She’d always known.
And he hadn’t noticed–not when she was bleeding. Not when she was broken. Not even when she was standing right in front of him with the truth in her eyes.
The tears came then. Silent. Hot.
He sat down slowly, resting his elbows on his knees, hands in his hair. The nurse passed by but didn’t say anything.
For the first time in years, Johansen felt the full weight of a mistake that couldn’t be fixed.
He hadn’t just lost her.
He lost the only person who had loved him enough to stay quiet–even in betrayal. Even while carrying his child.
Now, there was only silence.
And a phone that would never ring again.
