They Pawned My Health For Her Happiness. And Now I’m Dead Chapter 02

They Pawned My Health For Her Happiness. And Now I’m Dead Chapter 02

[3.27 Luca: Pawn Nova’s unborn child. Swap for Celine’s chance to conceive.]

March twenty-seventh. A few days before I left for my work trip.

One short line. My throat closed up. I nearly threw up.

A sharp pain was through my lower belly.

I suddenly remembered—the day after I left, I collapsed at my desk.

Woke up in the hospital.

My coworker Blair was there. She looked at me with pity.

“You’re young,” she said softly, “You can try again.”

I always thought I lost the child because I’d run myself ragged.

I spent three days alone in that hospital.

The day I was discharged, Luca actually came to see me.

Her eyes glistened. Unshaven. His voice cracked as he spoke.

He said he knew. He said he didn’t blame me.

For weeks, guilt drowned me.

Now I knew the truth.

The tears I’d held back for so long finally spilled over.

They burned right through me.

I forced myself to keep reading.

Next entry. Mid-April.

[4.16 Luca: Pawn Nova’s eyesight for two weeks. Swap for Celine’s relief from morning sickness.]

The month after my miscarriage was the darkest time of my life.

First the child. Then suddenly, I went blind.

Despair. Breakdown. Terror. All of it clawing inside me.

I gritted my teeth through sleepless nights, waking up in panic.

My arms, my thighs, even my stomach—covered in bruises.

Two weeks later, my sight came back.

I vaguely remembered Luca texting me every day during that time.

But every message ended with the same line:

[Don’t reply. Just rest.]

I used to think that was care.

Now I knew. It was damage control. It was strategy.

After May, my parents and Celine took over the pawns.

Early July, my project won an award.

A fifty-thousand-dollar bonus.

The next day, they pawned that bonus. Swappedd it for Celine’s stretch-mark-free pregnancy.

Mid-August, I told them my stomach felt off.

Tests came back clear—just needed some meds.

That night, they pawned my stomach health.

Swappedd it for Celine to eat well during pregnancy.

I ended up in the ICU for nearly a week. Stomach hemorrhage.

Every holiday, my mother pawned my memories.

Just to make sure I didn’t remember them. Didn’t come home.

Whenever Celine felt even slightly unwell, my father pawned my health without a second thought.

She couldn’t stand the smell of fish. But she needed the nutrients.

So I lost my sense of smell.

She was afraid her feet would swell in the third trimester.

Didn’t want them to look worse.

So in just two weeks, I broke my fingers three times.

My feet—once on each side.

I read down the list. Every line.

I felt colder with each one.

Until all that was left was bitterness. And absurdity.

I heard my father sigh heavily.

“What if Nova finds out the truth? She might not accept the child.”

Iris snorted. She didn’t care.

“So what? The kid’s still related to her.”

“If she dares to hurt it, that makes her the villain.”

My mother frowned and backed her up.

“With us around, she won’t cause any trouble.”

“If she lays a hand on my grandchild, I’ll disown her.”

“There’s still that other thing,” Iris said suddenly.

I looked up. Met her eyes.

A bad feeling crept in.

The next words out of her mouth pulled me under—straight into the ice.