Twelve Years Of Salvation, Six Months Of Betrayal Chapter 05

Twelve Years Of Salvation, Six Months Of Betrayal Chapter 05

He saw the blood spreading through the bathwater and finally seemed to wake up.

“Emily… blood… why is there blood?”

He staggered to the tub, hands trembling.

He fumbled with the belt; the buckle refused to budge.

He tried again and again, his voice cracking.

I watched him, his panic, his clumsy fingers. Pain shot from my belly, radiating through me.

“Get away from me…”

The words came out weak. Even breathing hurt.

My vision started to blur. I felt him finally work the belt loose, then pull me out of the icy water and

crush me against his chest.

His hand brushed against me, and he froze, shaking.

“Emily, please, don’t do this to me. I’m taking you to the hospital!”

He grabbed a towel, wrapped it around me, and ran out the door.

He trembled as he carried me, tears landing on my face.

He begged me not to close my eyes, his voice small and terrified.

But I was so tired. I let my eyes fall shut.

At the hospital, they rushed me into the ER.

Nurses cut away my soaked dress. The sharp smell of disinfectant filled the room.

The doctor frowned, quickly giving me a shot of painkillers and starting an IV,

“She’s hemorrhaging. It’s serious. Prep her for emergency surgery,”

Tears slid into my hair as I lay on the table.

The tiny life I’d been so happy about for six months… he had killed it with his own hands.

The anesthesia kicked in, and everything went black.

When I opened my eyes again, the hospital room was silent except for the steady beep of monitors.

I tried to move my fingers and realized my right hand was being held tightly.

I turned my head. James was kneeling by my bed, his eyes red and swollen.

He was still wearing the same soaked clothes from before, disheveled and broken.

When he saw me wake up, fresh tears splashed onto my hand.

“Emily, you’re awake. Does anything hurt?” His voice was wrecked, pleading.

I stared at him, my face blank. I pulled my hand away.

“I lost the baby, didn’t I?” I said quietly, staring at the ceiling

James’s whole body went rigid. His eyes filled with agony and regret.

“I’m so sorry, Emily. I didn’t know you were pregnant.”

“If I had known, I never would have… I swear I wouldn’t have…”

He slapped himself across the face. The sound was sharp and loud.

“I’m a monster. I’m worthless. Please, hit me, yell at me, anything.”

I watched him punish himself, but I felt nothing at all.

“The ultrasound was on the coffee table for a week. You didn’t see it when you came home?”

James froze. Tears rolled down his face in heavy drops.

“I was too worked up. All I could think was that Lucas was missing…”

“So that gave you the right to hold me down in the bathtub and drown me in cold water and disinfectant?”

I turned my head and stared into his pale, ruined face,

“You weren’t worried, James. You didn’t care whether I lived or died.”