Chapter 33
“She’s never returning to you, you know. Isabella is probably laughing right now. Thinking how pathetic you look, Alexander. Willing to debase yourself just to win her back.”
Alexander’s breathing turned ragged. “What’s your point?”
“My point is…”
Sophia’s fingers slid beneath his shirt.
“What if you stopped trying? Acted like you couldn’t care less. Maybe then she’d come running back.” The sofa groaned under their weight.
Just as Alexander began losing himself in her once more, a flicker of movement caught his eye from the upstairs landing.
Eleanor stood there, swaying. She stumbled backward, hands pressed to her mouth. Her eyes flooded with tears.
“Alexander,” she whispered, voice shaking. But her words vanished beneath their heavy breathing.
A searing pain suddenly ripped through her abdomen. She folded in half, cold sweat drenching her nightgown.
She tried to cry out but missed a step. Then she was falling, tumbling down the staircase.
Her scream shattered the moment.
Alexander shoved Sophia away and bolted toward the stairs. Eleanor lay curled on the landing. A dark pool of blood spread beneath her.
“The baby… my baby…”
Her face was ghostly white. Trembling fingers clutched at his sleeve. “Help me… please.”
Outside the operating room, Victoria’s cries echoed down the hall. “My grandchild! My precious grandchild!”
She grabbed Alexander’s collar and shook him hard. “Give me back my grandbaby! Give my daughter her dignity back!”
It took three nurses to pull her away.
The doctor emerged, removing his mask with a grim shake of his head. “We lost the baby. It was a fully formed boy.”
Eleanor’s mother crumpled to the floor, her makeup streaking. “No! That’s impossible! I had his fortune told. They said he’d bring great wealth!”
She launched herself at Alexander. “This is your fault! You murderer!”
Alexander stood frozen, letting her nails rake bloody lines down his face.
Strangely, he felt no grief. Only relief. Like a weight had been lifted.
That child never should have existed. It was a chain holding him down. Now it was gone.
Alexander pulled out his phone. His hands shook slightly as he dialed.
It rang several times before she answered.
“Isabella,” he rasped, voice raw. “Eleanor lost the baby.”
A beat of silence. “And?”
“We can try again. Start over.” He spoke urgently, like it was the most obvious thing.
“No baby. No Eleanor. No more obstacles. Just like you said—we never legally married. Now the baby’s gone too.”
“Alexander.” Her voice was ice. “Have you lost your mind?”
He froze. “What?”
“I’ll repeat myself. Have you completely lost your mind?”
The line went dead.
Alexander stood there, phone in hand. The scratches on his face burned.
Did he really believe she’d come back without Eleanor? Without the child?
Without Eleanor, there would be someone else. Another woman. Another complication.
The problem was never another person.
It was him.
His faithlessness. His betrayal. His weakness.
The heartless one wasn’t her.
It was him.