Chapter 4

Mia and I were in the hospital for two whole weeks, and neither of them called once.

Not one text asking where two pregnant women had disappeared to.

Or why we hadn’t been home.

Their silence made our already broken hearts sink even lower.

Then I saw Serena’s new Instagram post, and it all made sense.

Dozens of photos of the three of them on vacation—laughing, hugging, looking like one big happy family.

Their grins were like salt in our wounds.

The caption read: 【Family isn’t always blood—grateful for my chosen family!】

I stared at Julian’s carefree smile in the photos, feeling absolutely numb inside.

I texted him calmly.

【I’m being discharged. Court tomorrow—bring Leo.】

He called right away, but I declined and blocked his number.

Mia and I finished the discharge paperwork, then finally had time to report the hit-and-run driver to the police.

After we described what happened, the officer frowned:

"It’s been two weeks—why wait until now to report this? Tracking them down might be tough."

I just nodded awkwardly, forcing a smile as I asked for their help.

When we explained that my husband had bailed to be with his mistress, and Mia had miscarried trying to save me—so we’d had no one to help us until now—the officer looked sympathetic.

"Don’t worry, we’ll do everything we can to find that driver."

After leaving the station, Mia and I moved into a new apartment.

We were both still pretty weak, so we hired a cleaning service.

But Julian somehow got through using Leo’s phone, even though I’d blocked him.

He was yelling: "Where the hell are you? The house is a disaster! Why aren’t you home resting like a pregnant woman should be? Haven’t two weeks been enough for you to get over this? How long are you gonna keep acting like this?"

"Even if you want a divorce, stop brainwashing Mia! Are you jealous she had a good marriage?"

Mia heard every word and snatched the phone from me, livid.

She screamed into the phone, "You two assholes! Mia and I never should’ve married you! Tell Leo if he doesn’t show up tomorrow, he’s a coward! This divorce is happening—with or without you!"

With that, she hung up.

We blocked both brothers’ numbers right after.

The next morning, Mia and I got to the courthouse early to wait for them.

But Serena showed up instead—and we should’ve known better.

Her eyes were red like she’d been crying.

She clicked over in her heels, sniffling and putting on that innocent act:

"I’m so sorry—I came to apologize for them. I know there’s been a misunderstanding. It’s not what it looks like, I promise."

"That trip? We planned it five years ago! I was out of town for a while, so we’re just now getting around to it. I told them to say goodbye before they left, but they must’ve forgotten to text…"

This wasn’t an apology—it was a flex.

I let out a dry laugh. "Oh really? So their divorce today—did you sign off on that too? Are they even man enough to show up, or did you volunteer to handle their dirty work?"

Serena’s phone buzzed quietly in her purse.

Her expression flickered, and then she suddenly lunged at us.

I flinched and pushed her away on instinct.

Serena fell hard on her butt, scraping her palm open.

I froze, confused, and was about to help her up when Julian’s voice roared from across the lobby:

"Chloe, what the fuck are you doing?! Get away from her!"

Before I could process what was happening, he was in my face.

He shoved me hard in the chest.

I stumbled backward, crashing into Mia.

Julian’s eyes dropped to my flat stomach, and his face went white as a sheet.

He stammered, "The baby…?"

Leo wandered over, glued to his phone, not even glancing our way. He was talking urgently:

"No, I can’t today. The station just got a report about a hit-and-run from two weeks ago—they’re calling it attempted murder! I gotta head back to investigate."

Then he finally noticed our empty bellies and froze.

His phone slipped from his hand, screen shattering when it hit the floor.

"What happened? Chloe… your stomach…"