He Streamed My Fifth Abortion For Her Chapter 03

He Streamed My Fifth Abortion For Her Chapter 03

Vivian’s scream still rang in my ears.

“Shut up! You don’t know anything!”

Her chest heaved violently as both hands clamped down on the wheelchair’s armrests so hard her knuckles turned white. The carefully crafted image she’d spent three years building, the devoted woman who had sacrificed everything for love, had cracked from a single sentence.

I looked her straight in the eye.

“Ethan Rhodes. Twenty-six years old. He was your upperclassman in college, three years ahead of you. You dated for two years. After graduation, he moved to Boston. Six months into the long-distance relationship, he dumped you.”

“The night he broke up with you, you drank an entire bottle of red wine and jumped off the roof of your dorm. You didn’t jump because of Damien. You didn’t jump because his family forced him to marry me. When you jumped, Damien hadn’t even told you about the engagement.”

The color drained from Vivian’s face. Her lips trembled as if she wanted to deny it, but no words came.

I didn’t give her the chance.

“When you woke up and realized you were paralyzed, Ethan never came to see you. He didn’t even send a single message. Damien was the one who stayed by your bedside every day, crying and blaming himself for what happened to you.”

“You never corrected him.”

“You let him believe you’d tried to kill yourself because of him.”

Vivian jerked her head up, glaring at me with bloodshot eyes like a cornered animal.

“So what?” she snapped, her voice shaking even as she forced herself to stand her ground. “So what? If the Sterling family hadn’t forced him to marry you, Damien would’ve been with me! I never would’ve gone looking for Ethan in the first place! This is all your family’s fault!”

“Ethan said I wasn’t good enough for him. He said I was just some small-town girl, and without marrying into the Sterling family I’d never be anyone.”

Tears streamed down her face.

“You all ruined my life! Damien owes me! And so do you!”

I simply watched her.

Now it all made sense.

Ethan had looked down on her because she came from nothing.

She and Damien had grown up together, and Ethan had assumed she’d eventually marry into the powerful Sterling family. The moment he realized the Sterlings had no intention of accepting her, he dumped her without a second thought.

She hated the Sterlings.

She hated the Harringtons.

She hated everyone.

Everyone except Ethan.

Instead, she’d poured every ounce of that hatred onto me and my unborn children.

“So you never loved Damien,” I said quietly.

“You just needed someone who felt guilty enough to take care of you for the rest of your life… and help you get your revenge.”

Vivian’s whole body trembled. Her mouth opened, but nothing came out.

Then…

Bang.

The SUV door was yanked open from outside.

Damien stood there holding a folder of hospital paperwork. He had obviously just finished handling Vivian’s discharge forms and had come back to take her home.

His eyes swept across Vivian’s tear-streaked face before landing on me. Fury instantly filled his expression.

“Clara, what the hell are you doing?”

And Vivian…

The instant she saw him, it was like someone flipped a switch.

The rage.

The hatred.

The hysteria.

Gone.

In their place were trembling shoulders, a bitten lower lip struggling to hold back tears, and misty eyes filled with heartbreak.

“Damien…” she whispered softly. “She said so many awful things to me. I know she hates me, but…”

She lowered her head before finishing the sentence.

Silent tears rolled down her cheeks one after another.

Fragile.

Pitiful.

Perfect.

Damien immediately took her hand and turned on me.

“She’s in a wheelchair, Clara. You still had to bully her? Do you have any compassion left?”

I looked at him.

I wanted to laugh.

Instead, I just felt numb.

From beginning to end, he hadn’t even bothered to hear my side.

He’d already found me guilty.

Just like three years ago.

Just like every single time.

“I didn’t bully her.”

“You didn’t?” Damien ground out through clenched teeth. “She’s crying like this, and you’re seriously telling me you didn’t do anything?”

Right on cue, Vivian let out another quiet sob and buried her face against his hand.

They were flawless together.

One played the helpless victim.

The other played the devoted protector.

And I was always cast as the villain.

Suddenly…

I was tired.

I’d spent three years trapped in this performance, playing the fool while never being allowed a single line.

“Damien.”

My voice was calm.

“Leave yourself a way back. One day, you’ll wish you had.”

He frowned, clearly not understanding.

“You’d better remember those words.”

I turned and walked away.

Behind me, Vivian’s voice drifted over in a whisper.

“Do you think she knows something?”

Damien answered without hesitation.

“What could she possibly know? She’s just jealous and throwing another tantrum.”

“Everything goes as planned tomorrow.”

Everything goes as planned tomorrow.

Good.

The elevator doors slid shut.

As soon as I was alone, I rested a hand over my swollen belly.

The baby kicked again.

Looking down at the life growing inside me, I whispered,

“I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“I’ll never let them steal another one of my babies.”