Chapter 3

Through the glass window of the ward, I saw them.

Vincent’s voice was soft, like he was coaxing a child.

“Drink slowly. It’s hot.”

I pushed the door open.

Clara saw me first.

“Eve... Evelyn...”

Vincent turned around. The second he saw me, he instinctively shifted to block Clara behind him.

His voice turned cold.

“I told you. Don’t come after her.”

I stared at Clara’s flat stomach.

“You’re pregnant?”

Clara’s tears fell. She turned her face away, too afraid to look at me.

“Yes,” Vincent answered for her. “It’s mine. Three months.”

Three months.

Three months ago, Vincent said he had to go out of state for family business. Then an earthquake hit there.

No messages. No calls. Nothing.

I took leave overnight and drove there to find him.

Halfway there, an aftershock hit. I was thrown forward, my stomach slamming into the steering wheel.

The baby I hadn’t even had time to tell anyone about was gone in that chaos.

When Vincent arrived, he knelt by my bed and held me, his voice shaking.

“I’m sorry, Eve... We’ll have another child. We will...”

That was the first time I saw him cry.

I touched his hair and said, “As long as you’re safe. We can have another baby later.”

So he hadn’t gone for business at all.

He had been with Clara.

That was when they had their child.

And I lost ours on the way to find him.

“Evelyn...”

Clara’s voice pulled me back.

Her eyes were red. She looked pitiful.

“The baby can’t grow up without a father... Please let us be together...”

Slap.

My palm landed hard across her face.

The ward went quiet for a second.

Then Clara covered her face and started crying.

Vincent shot to his feet and grabbed my wrist.

“Evelyn Moretti! That’s enough! If you’re angry, take it out on me!”

His eyes were full of rage.

In twenty years, he had barely ever lost his temper with me.

And every time, it was because I worked too hard and didn’t take care of myself.

But now, he was angry at me because of the woman he cheated with.

“Take it out on you? Vincent, do you even deserve that?”

I shook off his hand and stepped back.

Something slipped out of my pocket and fell to the floor.

It was an Italian dagger.

Vincent and I both froze.

Three years ago, on the day he proposed, he put the ring on my finger. Then he placed that dagger in my hand.

“Evelyn, you’re the only woman I’ll ever choose. If one day I betray you, take this knife and stab me to death.”

I looked down at the knife, my head buzzing.

Then I bent down and picked it up.

In that moment, all the hurt and rage in my chest rushed up at once. My eyes burned red.

I really wanted to stab him.

I wanted to press the blade against his heart and ask him why.

How dare he?

I wanted him to hurt too.

I wanted him to know what it felt like to be stabbed in the back by the person he loved most.

Clara screamed and spread her arms in front of Vincent.

“Evelyn, don’t hurt him! I’m the one who wronged you. This has nothing to do with him!”

I held the knife and took one step toward them.

Just one step.

Vincent’s eyes changed.

He yanked Clara behind him and shoved me hard.

I flew backward.

The back of my head hit the floor, and my ears rang.

When my vision cleared, I saw him holding Clara in his arms.

His voice was soft. Gentle.

“Did you hurt your stomach?”

Clara cried and shook her head.

From beginning to end, he never looked at me once.

The hallway was full of people.

“Oh my God, is that Dr. Moretti? Poor thing...”

“Dr. Moretti always seems so calm. Why is she acting like a lunatic...”

I lay on the floor, the back of my head throbbing.

When I was eight, my mother left me with my alcoholic, abusive father.

I knelt on the floor, grabbed her hand, and asked her why until I cried myself unconscious.

After that, I never broke down over anyone again.

I didn’t cry when a surgery failed.

I didn’t even cry when I lost my baby.

Vincent was the one who warmed me little by little.

He spent twenty years making me believe I could be loved and cherished too.

And he was also the one who turned me back into a lunatic.

I pushed myself up from the floor and walked out.

It was fine.

I only had myself left.

And that was enough.