Why? Why did Noah’s indifference cut so deeply?
As Kyla mulled over his cold detachment, a tide of disappointment and bitterness threatened to overwhelm her. But she couldn’t let Sadie see her weakness.
Maintaining her composed facade, Kyla arched an eyebrow and spoke with forced nonchalance. “You know, I told Noah about your pregnancy, urging him to come to your side. But he refused. He chose to stay with me.”
She picked up an apple, her knife gliding smoothly as she began to peel it, her gaze fixed intently on Sadie’s ashen face.
“You see, Sadie, in his eyes, you and your child don’t weigh as much as I do.”
Her tone was soft, almost tender, but each word sliced through the air, sharp and merciless.
As Sadie observed Kyla’s smug grin, a shiver of dread crept across her heart.
So, Noah was already aware that she was pregnant.
He had known all along and had heartlessly allowed her to perish in that tragic car accident.
She had once harbored the naive hope that Noah’s heart was just unreachable, that perhaps his love was something she could earn through persistence and sacrifice.
But now, the truth was painfully clear-his icy indifference and calculated cruelty were directed solely at her.
In contrast, his demeanor towards Kyla was tender and considerate; he was even willing to sacrifice her for Kyla’s happiness.
This realization shattered her last vestige of hope, like fragile glass swept away by relentless winds.
With a heavy sigh, Sadie closed her eyes, her eyelashes quivering as they veiled the despair welling up inside her.
Well, just let it be.
It was time to let go.
Her fingers, cold and trembling, tenderly brushed over her flat abdomen, connecting with the faint but determined heartbeat within-a tiny life striving to blossom against the odds.
“Sweetie,” she murmured with a gentle resolve. “Your father doesn’t want us, but we have each other. Together, we’ll make it through.”
As Sadie lifted her gaze once more, her eyes mirrored nothing but steely resolve.
“So what if he wasn’t there to save me? I survived, didn’t I? He’s not that important to me.”
Kyla’s expression transformed in an instant, her meticulously applied makeup failing to mask the predatory glint in her eyes.
Her carefully laid plans were unraveling before her.
Fixating on Sadie’s belly, hidden only by a thin quilt, Kyla seemed to be searching for a glimpse of her greatest fear coming to life beneath the fabric.
The air thickened with tension as Sadie caught the lethal intent flickering in Kyla’s gaze. Her defenses rose instinctively.
She could already tell-Kyla wasn’t going to back down that easily. Faking vulnerability, Sadie let her eyes droop sorrowfully as tears began to spill, tracing damp trails down her cheeks.
“But it was because of him that I lost the baby. His child is gone. Maybe this is his retribution,” she murmured, her voice a mix of grief and manipulation, cleverly leaving her words open to Kyla’s interpretation.
“The child… is gone?” Kyla’s voice cracked, a mix of disbelief and sudden elation coloring her tone as she shifted her focus back to Sadie, searching her face for confirmation.
Sadie offered no reply, allowing the silent tears to gather and fall, leaving moist traces on her nose.
She portrayed the image of utter devastation.
As Kyla observed Sadie’s breakdown, a flicker of doubt shadowed her triumph.
Sadie had always presented a facade of toughness in her presence.
Since when had she become so visibly broken?
Yet Kyla quickly brushed aside the flicker of doubt.
Sadie-a pathetic fool. What kind of schemes could she even come up with?
She had Sadie figured out-dumb as a rock and twice as stubborn. Surely, if Sadie had been feigning weakness, she wouldn’t have been so thoroughly bested in the rivalry that simmered between them. With this realization, a weight seemed to lift from Kyla’s shoulders, a liberating exhale after holding her breath. What did it matter if Sadie survived?
The child was dead, and divorce loomed on the horizon like an inevitable dawn.
Suppressing a victorious grin, Kyla inhaled sharply, her joy bubbling just beneath the surface, yet her exterior remained a mask of concern. “Sadie, don’t take it too hard,” she murmured, her voice gentle as she wrapped her fingers around Sadie’s hand. “This loss doesn’t mean you won’t be a mother again.”
Sadie responded only by pulling her hand away, her head turning as her shoulders trembled slightly.
“Rest well.” With a final glance at the pitiful figure on the bed, Kyla turned and left the room.
Her steps were quick and purposeful as she approached the nurse’s station, grabbing the arm of a young nurse with a sense of urgency that bordered on desperation. “Hello, I’m a friend of Sadie’s. Could you please tell me how her baby is?”
The nurse, after a brief glance at the medical records, confirmed the tragic news. “The patient had a miscarriage. The child is gone.”
At those words, Kyla felt the last bit of worry melt away, leaving her truly at ease.
Noah strode into his office.
Outside, beyond the expansive floor-to-ceiling windows, the urban sprawl pulsed with life, its bustling traffic flowing like a vibrant, ever-moving painting.
Yet, he spared no glance for the view. His forehead was creased in concentration, fingers tapping a restless rhythm on the smooth surface of the desk.
His heart thumped with a foreboding sense of dread, a silent alarm signaling that something dire loomed on the horizon.
“Damn it,” he muttered, yanking at his tie with a mix of irritation and restlessness.
Throughout the earlier meeting, his mind had been elsewhere. The memory of Sadie’s phone call haunted him-her voice frail and fraught with desperation, her words a tangled plea for help.
“Noah… help me…”
Back then, he had dismissed her with a curt hang-up, annoyed. Now, the echo of her fear gnawed at him, a relentless reminder that he might have overlooked something critical.
“Samuel!” he barked into the internal phone line, his voice laced with urgency.
“Yes, Mr. Wall?” Samuel’s prompt reply came.
“Check on Sadie. Find out what’s going on with her,” Noah commanded, his tone clipped and decisive.
“Perhaps it would be best if you reached out to her yourself, sir,” Samuel advised, his tone tinged with confusion.
Noah’s fist clenched tightly, his knuckles blanching. He brought it to his lips and coughed discreetly, a feeble attempt to mask his growing anxiety. His voice, sharp and clipped, broke through the strained silence. “Just go look into it!”
He slammed the phone down and began pacing his office, each step echoing his restlessness.
Calling Sadie now to show he cared? That was never going to happen! He had been dismissive, almost harsh, when he hung up on her. To reach out now would only wound his pride.
Deep down, Noah began to rationalize his hesitation.
Unbeknownst to him, his defenses were slowly crumbling; he had, though unwittingly, started to harbor genuine concern for the woman he had so casually brushed aside earlier.
A soft, hesitant knock at the door pulled him from his reverie.
“Come in,” he called out, his tone more subdued than before.
Samuel entered, his posture rigid with formality as he stopped before the desk. “Mr. Wall, Mrs. Wall was in a car accident. She’s currently at the city hospital.”
“What?!” The word burst from Noah, his face draining of color as he leaped to his feet.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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