After You Destroyed Me, I Chose to Live

“Ray, why did you bring me here?”

He slammed the car door shut, dragged me out of the passenger seat, and shoved me forward.

I wrenched free with everything I had and stumbled back a few steps, my voice shaking so badly the words barely held together.

“Ray, what are you doing?”

Ray spun around. His eyes were bloodshot, veins standing out on his forehead, his voice raw.

“Do you have any idea what you did? Those things you said at the courthouse today sent Carissa over the edge. She ran straight to the alley where you two were attacked, and that animal had just gotten out of prison!”

“If I hadn't gotten there in time, she'd be dead!”

“Is that what you wanted? Would that make you happy?!”

He stared at me, unblinking, like I was the one on trial.

“Come on. You're giving blood.”

I hadn't even processed what he'd said before he grabbed my wrist and started pulling me toward the blood draw room.

“Carissa lost too much blood. The hospital's blood bank is running out, and your blood type matches hers. You have to donate.”

My mind went white. I clamped down on his hand and the words tore out of me.

“Ray, I can't give her blood.”

Ray stopped. His brow furrowed, and his voice was threaded with exhaustion he couldn't hide.

“Alice, I know you're upset about me and Carissa, but this isn't the time. Can you stop being so selfish?”

“I'm pregnant!”

I screamed it, cutting him off. My eyes burned with tears I refused to let fall.

“Ray, I'm carrying your child! How am I supposed to give her blood?!”

Something flickered in his eyes, a split second of hesitation, before it went cold again. His voice was flat and certain.

“That's impossible.”

“The doctor said during our prenuptial physical that your chances of conceiving were almost zero.”

“And this baby just happens to show up now, of all times.”

The disappointment in his eyes deepened.

“Alice, you're really something. Carissa is your best friend.”

The doctor beside us spoke up, keeping his voice low.

“Mr. Henson, per medical protocol, a pregnant woman cannot donate blood to a patient.”

“To be safe, we should run a pregnancy test on her first.”

Ray cut him off, his voice like a blade.

“No need. She's faking it. Whatever happens, I'll take responsibility.”

He lifted me off the ground and carried me toward the blood draw room.

My pupils shrank. My whole body went cold, as if I'd been dropped into a frozen lake.

For years, because of how unlikely it was that I'd conceive, Ray had never once used protection.

Whenever I worried about an accident, he'd pull me close and murmur against my hair.

“Alice, if it really happens, we'll keep it. I promise I'll be a good husband and a good father.”

And now, for Carissa, he'd betrayed me and was sacrificing our child.

No matter how hard I struggled, how hard I cried, the dark red blood still drained out of me.

Tears slid down my face. I looked at Ray through blurred, reddened eyes, nothing left inside me but despair.

“I hate you. I will never forgive you for as long as I live.”

Pain flashed across his eyes. He reached for me, but the doctor behind him spoke first.

“Mr. Henson, Ms. Butler is out of danger!”

“And she's pregnant!”

Ray didn't hesitate. He turned and ran out without looking at me again.

I lay on the hospital bed and forced a bitter smile.

Fighting through the weakness in my body, I braced myself against the wall and left the hospital one step at a time.

When I got home, Mom was in the living room, cutting down the red paper decorations from our wedding.

The moment she saw me walk in, her eyes lit up, her smile so wide it could barely be contained.