Chapter 4

"Well, if it isn't Layla Fox."

The shrill voice cut through Layla's thoughts.

She looked up. A wealthy-looking woman in a designer dress and jade necklace stood a short distance away, an Hermès bag over her arm, staring at Layla with open contempt.

It was her former mother-in-law, Hubert's mother, Rosemary Whitney.

Of all the people to run into.

Layla instinctively crumpled the ultrasound report into a ball and shoved it into her pocket, then stood. "Aunt Rosemary."

They were divorced now. There was no reason to call her "Mom" anymore.

Rosemary raised an eyebrow, looked her up and down, and let her gaze settle on Layla's pale face.

"What's this? Sick? Well, no surprise there. Cut loose from a family like the Delgados, life must be hard. Look at those cheap clothes. How pathetic."

Layla had no interest in this. "If you're here to see a doctor, Aunt Rosemary, I won't keep you."

"Not so fast." Rosemary gave a cold snort. "I'm here today with Letitia, for her checkup. Letitia's health is delicate, and Hubert dotes on her so much he insisted she have a full workup.

"She's only two weeks along, and Hubert's beside himself with joy. He just stepped out to buy her supplements."

The words landed like a thunderclap.

Two weeks pregnant?

Letitia was pregnant?

Which meant that before their divorce was even final, Hubert and Letitia had already—

It felt like a knife driven into her heart, then twisted, salt ground into the wound.

So it turned out he hadn't touched her out of coldness. He'd been saving all his warmth for someone else.

So it turned out he'd been so generous in the divorce agreement to make room for the child in Letitia's belly.

"Then that's... congratulations." Layla clenched her teeth, mustering everything she had just to stay on her feet.

"Of course it is." Rosemary stroked the huge diamond on her finger, smug. "Letitia comes from a good family, an artist trained overseas. She and my Hubert were made for each other.

"Not like some people, from some little nobody household. What can you do besides cook and do laundry? Taking up space and producing nothing. Three years, and you couldn't even lay an egg."

Every word was a poisoned barb sinking into Layla's chest.

Inside her pocket, her hand clenched around the ultrasound report. Triplets.

Who said she couldn't?

She was carrying three.

But in that moment, something cleared in Layla's mind.

Cleared completely.

If Rosemary found out she was pregnant, the woman would do everything in her power to seize the children and kick Layla to the curb.

Her children would call Letitia "Mommy," would scrape by under this snobbish woman's thumb, while their own father, Hubert, revolved only around Letitia and the child they'd have together.

Her children, from the moment they were born, would be surplus. Little more than bastards.

She could never let that happen.

"You're right, Aunt Rosemary." Layla lifted her head, her eyes colder and harder than they had ever been. "Miss Pruitt and Mr. Delgado are a perfect match. I have things to do. I'll be going."

With that, she walked away quickly, not looking back.

Behind her came Rosemary's disdainful sneer. "Stray dog."

Once she was out the hospital doors, Layla crouched by a flower bed at the roadside, and the tears finally came, unstoppable.

She pressed a hand to her belly, her whole body shaking with sobs.

"Babies, I'm sorry... it's not that Mommy's cruel. It's that this world is too crowded. There's no place for you..."

That night, Layla dialed the number the doctor had given her.

"Doctor, I've decided. The abortion... can you schedule it as soon as possible?"

"You're sure? These are triplets. That's very rare." There was regret in the doctor's voice.

"I'm sure." Layla stared out at the pitch-black night sky, her voice frighteningly steady. "I can't raise them on my own. I can't give them a good life. If it's doomed to be a tragedy, better they never come at all."

"All right. Come in the morning, day after tomorrow. Remember not to eat beforehand. Will a family member sign the consent?"

"There's no family. I'll sign it myself."