After My Husband and Son Betrayed Me, I Married My Stepbrother

The sharp crack of flesh meeting flesh echoed through the dining room.

My head snapped to the side. The force of Ryan’s hand sent me stumbling backward.

My hip slammed into the sharp edge of the oak dining table.

Pain flared instantly, but it was nothing compared to the shock burning my cheek.

"Are you out of your mind, Catherine?" Ryan roared.

He stood over me, fists clenched at his sides.

"You knew Vanessa was pregnant! Why would you push her?"

I grabbed the edge of the table, trying to steady my trembling legs.

"I didn't touch her," I said, my voice shaking. "She fell on purpose."

"Don't lie to my face!" Ryan yelled, stepping closer. "I saw you standing over her!"

Across the room, Vanessa let out a theatrical sob.

She stood perfectly fine, her hands cradling her slightly rounded belly.

"I just wanted to talk," Vanessa whimpered, burying her face in her hands. "I only tried to help you accept the reality of our situation, Catherine. You didn't have to attack me."

"You came here to gloat," I fired back. "You told me you were going to take my husband and my son."

"I never said that!" Vanessa cried, shrinking back as if I might hit her.

"Shut your mouth, Catherine!" Ryan warned, his shadow falling over me.

"She came into my home," I argued, refusing to back down despite the ringing in my ears. "She paraded her pregnancy in my face. But I never laid a finger on her."

"She is carrying my child," Ryan said, his voice turning dangerously low. "If you hurt her, I swear to God, I will make you pay."

A deep, twisting ache bloomed in my lower abdomen.

I pressed my hand against my stomach, the physical pain suddenly mirroring the betrayal in front of me.

"Your child?" I asked, my voice cracking. "Ryan, you just hit your wife. And you just hit your own baby."

The room went dead silent for a split second.

Ryan’s eyes narrowed, searching my face.

"What kind of sick game are you playing?" he asked.

"I'm pregnant," I told him, tears finally breaking free. "I was going to tell you tonight. Before she showed up."

"You expect me to believe that?" Ryan scoffed. "You've been acting crazy for weeks. Checking my phone. Accusing me of cheating. And now you attack the woman carrying my actual child."

"Because you were cheating!" I yelled back, the ache in my stomach intensifying. "You brought her into our lives!"

"I brought her in because she knows how to treat a man," Ryan sneered. "Something you forgot a long time ago."

Before I could respond, small footsteps pounded against the hardwood floor.

"Leave Aunt Vanessa alone!"

Noah, my seven-year-old son, darted into the room.

He barreled straight toward me just as I shifted my weight to stand.

His small hands shoved my knees hard.

Off balance, I crashed back down onto the floor.

"Noah!" I gasped, the impact jarring my spine.

"You're a bad person!" Noah yelled, pointing a tiny finger at my face.

He stomped his foot, glaring at me with the exact same fury his father possessed.

"You bully Aunt Vanessa! We don't want you here anymore."

"Noah, listen to me," I pleaded, reaching out a trembling hand toward my son. "Aunt Vanessa is lying. I didn't push her."

Noah kicked my hand away.

"You're the liar!" he screamed, his face turning red. "Aunt Vanessa buys me toys. She plays games with me. You just yell all the time!"

"Noah, what are you saying?" I whispered, my heart shattering. "I'm your mother."

"No you're not!" he shouted. "Dad and I don't need you now that we have her!"

The words felt like a knife twisting in my chest. My own son.

Then, a terrifying sensation washed over me.

A warm, thick rush of liquid slid down my inner thighs, soaking into the fabric of my dress.

Panic seized my throat.

I looked down. A dark crimson stain was already spreading across the pale rug beneath me.

"Ryan," I whispered, reaching a shaking hand toward him. "Please. The hospital. I'm bleeding."

Ryan stared at the blood. His jaw tightened, then unclenched.

He didn't move an inch to help me.

"Nice try, Catherine," he scoffed.

"What?" Tears spilled over my eyelashes, blurring my vision. "I'm losing our baby! Help me!"

"My baby?" Ryan let out a harsh, humorless laugh. "Do you think I'm an idiot?"

He crossed his arms, looking down at me with absolute disgust.

"You're supposedly what, two months along? Three?"

"Two months," I cried out, the pain in my stomach sharpening into agonizing cramps.

"I wasn't even touching you then," Ryan stated flatly.

"Yes, you were! The night of your birthday—"

"I spent that entire week in Hawaii," Ryan interrupted, his tone devoid of any emotion. "With Vanessa. And Noah. So whoever knocked you up, it sure as hell wasn't me."

"You're lying!" I screamed, clutching my stomach as another wave of agony hit. "You were here! You came home drunk!"

"Stop making things up to save yourself," Ryan sneered. "It's pathetic."

"She's just faking it again, Dad," Noah chimed in, stepping closer to Ryan and grabbing his pant leg.

My little boy looked at my tears with total apathy.

"She lied about pushing Aunt Vanessa, and now she's lying about this."

"Noah, please," I sobbed, curling in on myself. "Mommy is hurt."

"Don't call yourself that," Ryan snapped. "You're no mother. A real mother wouldn't try to kill an unborn child."

Vanessa stepped forward, linking her arm through Ryan's. She dabbed at her dry eyes.

"Ryan, let's just go," she murmured, her voice coated in fake sympathy.

"I forgive her, really. She's just acting out because she's upset. Let's not let this ruin our evening."

She looked down at Noah and smiled sweetly. "Are you hungry, sweetie? Want to go get dinner?"

"Yes! Can we get burgers?" Noah cheered, instantly forgetting the bleeding woman on the floor.

"Ryan, don't leave me," I begged. My fingers scraped against the floorboards.

"You brought this on yourself," Ryan said.

He didn't even glance at the blood pooling around my legs.

"Consider that bleeding karma for trying to hurt a pregnant woman."

He turned his back on me.

"Ryan!" I screamed, the sound tearing my throat.

Noah grabbed Vanessa's hand, skipping alongside her as they headed for the front door.

"Noah, please!" I reached out, my vision swimming with black spots.

The heavy oak door slammed shut. The lock clicked.

The silence of the house pressed down on me.

The pain in my abdomen tore through my nerve endings, relentless and cruel.

I dragged myself forward a few inches, trying to reach my phone on the fallen chair, but my arms gave out.

The cold seeping from the floorboards wrapped around my trembling body.

My eyelids grew impossibly heavy.

The world faded into a dark, suffocating gray.

But just before the darkness took me completely, a sudden, violent crash shattered the silence outside my window.