Chapter 3

Brenna's POV

"I'm sorry... I know Janessa's passing has made you terribly sad." Delphina's tears instantly broke like a dam. She covered her face, sobbing. "I'll pack and leave immediately. I won't be an eyesore to you."

"Brenna, it's a tragedy about your mother, but what does that have to do with Delphina? Why are you taking it out on her?"

The bathroom door was yanked open. Eamon strode into the living room, wearing only a towel around his waist, water dripping from his hair. Seeing Delphina crying, he instinctively pulled her behind him, glaring at me furiously.

"A tragedy?" I gritted my teeth, staring at him. "When my mother was strictly being resuscitated, I called you seventeen times. Where the hell were you?"

"You're being unreasonable!" His eyes dodged mine for half a second before he raised his voice to hide his guilt. "I was in surgery! Can you stop going crazy every time something goes wrong?"

The accumulated terror of the past days, the agonizing pain of losing my mother, and the fury of his betrayal detonated all at once. I rushed forward, grabbing his towel and shoving hard at his chest.

"You're a liar! You two make me sick!"

"Enough!" Eamon violently shoved my hands away.

I stepped on a scattered magazine, my foot slipped, and the back of my head slammed hard against the sharp edge of the coffee table. My vision instantly blurred. Delphina's screams and Eamon's panicked silhouette blended together before everything went pitch black.

When I woke up, ER nurse Sarah was standing by the bed with a clipboard.

"Dr. Voss, you're finally awake. Extreme exhaustion paired with immense grief triggered the fainting." She paused, lowering her voice. "Also... congratulations. You're seven weeks pregnant."

My trembling hand reached for my flat stomach. It felt like I had swallowed broken glass. My phone vibrated. A text from Eamon.

[If you’re awake, come to my office. We need to talk.]

I ripped the IV needle from the back of my hand, clutching the thin prenatal scan, and walked step by step toward the Head of Surgery's office.

I pushed the door open.

"Eamon, I—"

The words choked in my throat.

Medical reports were scattered all over the desk. Delphina's dress was bunched at her waist, her legs wrapped around Eamon. My husband was forcefully pinned against her.

Eamon whipped his head around, his face turning an ashly, sickly white. He pushed Delphina away like he’d been electrocuted and scrambled to zip up his pants.

"Brenna?!" he stammered, terrified. "Why aren't you resting in your room? What are you doing here?!"

The words were barely out of his mouth, and he was already conjuring excuses. "Let me explain! Delphina said her chest hurt. I was just giving her an examination—"

"Don't misunderstand, Brenna..." Delphina grabbed a lab coat to cover her chest, shaking as she shrank behind Eamon. "It's really not what you think."

I stood in the doorway, crushing the prenatal scan in my hand into dust. I didn't scream. I didn't go crazy. I was unnaturally calm.

"An examination?" I sneered, my voice drifting out like a ghost from hell. "Does an examination require you to bury half your body between her legs?"

I locked eyes with the woman cowering behind the man. "You were never abused, were you? It was all designed. Faking the injuries to gain sympathy, moving into my house, wearing my robes, using my kitchen, and sleeping with my husband when I was on night shift. That was your whole plan, Delphina. Brilliant."

Hearing this, the panic vanished from Eamon's face. Deciding there was nothing left to hide, he shielded Delphina and roared out of humiliated rage, "Enough! Stop spitting venom! If it wasn't for your dead mother constantly trying to drive a wedge between us, we wouldn't have ended up like this!"

This was the true face of the man I married.

I let out a cold laugh, gripped the crumpled scan tightly in my fist, and walked out of that door without looking back.

That night, I returned to an empty, freezing home, collapsed on the floor, and cried, covering my mouth until dawn. Eamon never came back.

Early the next morning, a call from Medical Administration shattered my life completely.

"Dr. Voss, the patient in bed 8 died of sudden heart failure. The family found electronic records showing you tampered with orders and used unauthorized medication. The Medical Board has stepped in. Your license is temporarily suspended."

How was that possible?

Freezing cold, I rushed to the hospital, only to run straight into Eamon in the administration hallway. He pulled a document out of his briefcase and slammed it coldly into my chest.

"I plan to liquidate all my assets to bail you out of this crisis, but on one condition—sign this divorce agreement." There was zero warmth in his tone. "Also, Delphina is pregnant. I'm marrying her."

For the sake of the unborn child in my womb, I stood there trembling, and signed my name.