When Grayson Blackwood arrived at the earthquake site, both Alice Blackwood and I were trapped beneath a massive boulder.
I couldn’t move an inch; the weight pinned me down, sending a sharp, dragging pain through my abdomen. A cold dread settled in my chest—I knew the baby inside me wasn’t doing well.
I hadn’t heard a single sound from Alice, and worry gnawed at me. Despite my own dire condition, I forced myself to comfort her.
“Don’t be scared, Alice,” I whispered hoarsely. “Your brother will come to save us soon.”
This morning, Grayson and I had quarreled over Alice. We were in the midst of a cold war, but even so, I believed he’d come for us. After all, I was carrying his child.
Even if he didn’t care for me, surely he cared about the baby.
But I overestimated the weight of my existence in his heart—and our child’s too.
When it came down to saving one of us first, he looked at me, his voice as icy as the ground beneath us. “I have to save Alice first.”
“What?” I thought I’d misheard him. My gaze locked onto his face, searching for some trace of hesitation or warmth, but his tone remained frigid, devoid of the slightest flicker of emotion.
“Belle,” he said, as if explaining to a dim child, “I hope you can be sensible. Alice’s health has always been fragile. If I save you first, she might die. I can’t let that happen. You just have to hold on. Once she’s safe, they’ll come back for you immediately.”
I bit down hard to stop myself from crying, but my voice betrayed me, trembling as it cracked. “Honey, you can’t do this. I can wait, but the baby can’t. The baby won’t make it.”
“No,” he said firmly.
“Grayson, please, don’t do this. Our baby—our baby will die!” I pleaded, desperation and agony clawing at my throat.
He looked at me, cold and resolute. “Belle, if the baby dies, it’s only what you owe Alice. You killed her child once; now you can repay her.”
The words landed like a knife to my chest, but he wasn’t done.
“And let’s be honest—you and I both know whether that child is even mine. I’ll just pretend that baby never existed.”
His voice was glacial, the words cutting me so deeply I trembled.
I tried to explain, my voice breaking as I struggled against the weight and my despair. “How could the child not be yours? I would never—”