Chapter 4
NEXT DAY
SOPHIE WESLEY
I finished packing my belonging. Two suitcases standing by the door.
Anthony and Ivy would be at the church by now, exchanging vows and tying the knots. Mom and Dad seated in the front row, beaming. A perfect family portrait... with me finally cut out of it.
I looked down at my hand. The engagement ring caught the light one last time before I slid it off and set it on the centre table.
I wasn't entirely without means. The allowance they'd given me over the years... before Ivy came back and made me invisible. I'd saved most of it. Enough for me and my baby to start over somewhere new.
I picked up the suitcases and took one last look at the room before stepping out.
My legs stilled in the living room. My eyes moved over it slowly, pausing on the part of the wall where a portrait of me used to hang.
Now, it's Ivy, framed between mom and dad.
My throat tightened.
It's over now.
I took a deep deep breath, and continued walking.
I hadn't even reached the front door when it burst open.
Three men walked in. Masked and dressed in all black.
One had a pistol, one with a dagger, then the last one with a taser.
My legs stilled, my breath catching in my throat.
They stopped, just a few feet away from me.
The one with the pistol said, "found you."
I stepped back. The suitcase slipped from my hand.
"Who are you?" My voice came out smaller than I intended. "What do you want?"
He tilted his head, almost amused. "That's a pretty dumb question..." He started approaching me. "Can't you tell?"
My knees buckled beneath me. They almost gave in. Almost.
Robbers. They're robbers.
"I... I... I'll give you money... whatever you need, just..."
The slap came before I finished the sentence. Hard and deafening.
My legs have in, and my knees hit the floor hard, pain cracking up through my legs.
I scrambled backward until the stair rail stopped me.
He closed the distance, and crouched in front of me, dragging the barrel of the pistol down my cheek, across my lips, and pressed it to my throat.
My heart skipped a beat.
"Please." My voice cracked barely a whisper, tears already burning in my eyes. "Please don't do this."
His phone rang. He paused, held my gaze for a moment, then answered the call on speaker.
"Hey, sister." Ivy's voice echoed through the phone.
My blood ran cold, voice cracking shakily. "Ivy?"
"You got my surprise already..." A soft laugh. "Do you like it?"
Fear washed over me, my nails digging into the floor beneath me, heart pounding so hard like it was going to jump out of my chest.
"Wh...why are you doing this? I already gave you Anthony. I gave you everything---"
"You did," she said pleasantly. "Not that you had a choice. But you see, I'm not doing this out of spite, Sophie. I'm only protecting what's mine..."
I hadn't even found my voice when she spoke again.
"Did you really think I'd let you walk away carrying his child?"
The air left my lungs.
My hand moved instinctively to my stomach, eyes narrowing. "How did you---"
"Nothing stays hidden from me. You should have learned that by now."
I pressed my back harder into the rail. How did she find out? I'm sure I kept the test result hidden. She could never have found it.
For a second, I wanted to scream for help, but I knew that would be a mistake.
Nobody will hear my voice even if they nextdoor.
I need to think. Screaming wouldn't help. Threatening wouldn't either.
"Ivy, listen to me. You can have Anthony. I was already leaving. I swear I won't come back, won't contact him, won't say a word about the baby to anyone. I'll disappear. You'll never hear from me again. Just call them off. Please." My voice trembled in a single breath, tears streaming down my cheeks.
Silence.
"Iv---"
"Get rid of her and leave no trace," she said, then the line went dead.
My heart dropped.
I stared blankly for a moment, then snapped back to reality as the barrel touched my cheek again.
"Yo...you can't do this. You're going to get arrested for murder. You'll spend the rest of your lives behind bars..." I said, my voice shaking, hoping they would listen.
He scoffed.
"I'm preg...nant. You won't kill a mother and an innocent child, right?" My cheeks were already soaked with my tears, my heart pounding hard.
"I'll give you anything..." I barely had time to finish my sentence before the second man stepped forward and drove the dagger into my stomach.
Pain shot through me, but before I could let out a scream, his hand came around my mouth, muffling the sound as he
My hands flew to his shoulders, fingers digging into his skin. He pulled the dagger free, and pushed it in again... deeper this time.
Through the blur of pain and tears I heard the first man say, "charged with murder? Jail?" He raised the pistol. "You wish." Then pulled the trigger.
The bullet went right through my stomach.
I slumped against the rail, both hands pressed to my stomach, body trembling, breath hitching helplessly.
My baby... That was all I could think about... all I could feel past the pain.
I wanted to call for help. I had already lifted my hand to find my phone, but it only made it halfway then dropped back beside me.
The three men left without a word. They left me on the floor in a pool of blood to die.
I managed to get my hand on my phone.
Anthony. He won't abandon me. He would stop the wedding immediately and come over when I tell him what happened. He won't let me die. I was certain about that.
The call rang once. Twice. Then he picked on the third ring, already speaking before I could find my voice. "You know I'm busy, Sophie. What do you want?"
"Anth...ony…" My voice cracked shakily. "Please… I need help… I'm...dying"
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm hurt… I---"
"Are you seriously doing this?" he scoffed, his voice full of frustration and impatience. "Trying to stop the wedding?"
My stomach dropped.
"Anthony." My voice was trembling. "Please... Just this once. Save me, please."
A short exhale came through, then his voice followed. "We'll talk when I get back."
Then the line went dead.
The phone slipped from my hand before my hand dropped to the floor.
So that's it? My last hope, shattered, just like that.
My hand managed to find the wound again, pressing against it. The pain had gone numb. That frightened me more than the pain had. I knew what it meant when a body stopped fighting.
My birth parents... They were the ones who failed me first for abandoning me in an orphanage before I could even understand what abandonment meant.
They should've left me there if they were going to abandon me again. They should never have adopted me in the first place. And Anthony... I should never have loved him. I should never have said yes.
As if I ever had a choice.
If there is another life after this... I will make them all pay for this.
Mom. Dad. Anthony. Ivy. Every single one of them.
My fingers found my stomach one last time. Warm. Soaked.
Each breath came harder than the one before, the air burning on the way in, refusing to stay. My eyelids pulled downward with a weight I couldn't fight.
My baby... I'm sorry I couldn't protect you.
My eyes closed, and everything went blank...