They Gave My Newborn to His First Love,My Ruthless Revenge

The memory snapped me back to that gray, rainy day in my second trimester.

I tumbled down the stairs.

Warm liquid soaked through my pants in an instant.

A cramping pain drilled into my belly, wave after wave, gnawing all the way to the bone.

I lay on the freezing floor and, on pure instinct, called Nolan.

The phone rang for a long time before someone finally picked up.

But the voice that came through was Renee's, petulant and dripping with a boastful little edge.

"Hello? Who is this? Can't you see my Nolan's with me at the concert? I told him no phone calls. So annoying."

Behind her, a symphony rose and swelled, lush and refined.

"Help... help me..."

I forced out those three words with everything I had, and the call was cut off without mercy.

I lay there alone in a pool of blood, my mind slowly going dark.

In the end, it was a kind neighbor who found me and called 911.

When I woke, I was in the ICU.

The first faces I saw were my parents, who had come all the way from home.

And the husband who had been in the same city the whole time, keeping another woman company at a concert, never showed up.

The doctor's face was pained as he told me:

"Ms. Fox, you need to prepare yourself. This... may very well be the only child you'll ever have."

That day, for the first time, my parents begged me to divorce, their eyes rimmed red.

I looked down at the faint swell of my belly, thought of how good Nolan had once been to me, and in the end I couldn't bring myself to do it.

And from that day on, my parents and I fell into a cold standoff.

They refused to set foot in the home I shared with Nolan, and they refused even more to look at his hypocritical face.

"Prudence? Prudence, what's wrong?"

Camille Turner's anxious voice pulled me out of the painful memory.

She was my only family in this city, and she'd rushed over the moment she heard.

"Your mom and dad... the truth is, they've been up whole nights, sick with worry. They were just afraid you wouldn't want to see them, and they really couldn't stand the sight of that animal Nolan, so they sent me to check on you first."

As she spoke, she took a thermos and a phone out of her bag.

"This is soup they made for you. And there's a voice message from your dad."

My hands trembled as I opened the message.

It was my mother's voice.

"That good-for-nothing Nolan! Last time Prudence nearly died with the baby, and he was off having a grand old time with that little tramp! Then afterward he knelt in the pouring rain, slapping his own face, crying and swearing he knew he'd been wrong, just to trick Prudence into softening!"

"I regret it so much! I should have thrown him straight out back then! It's my fault, picking a fight with my own daughter... and now I don't even know if she still wants to see us..."

Below that were a whole string of money transfers.

"That's our life savings, the two of us. You give it to Prudence. Tell her, even if she gets divorced, we won't let her suffer one bit of grief in that family! Mom and Dad will always have her back!"

Everything I'd held down all day finally broke open in that moment.

I covered my face and sobbed until my voice went raw, until I nearly passed out.

Only one thought was left in my head.

I was going to take my baby and go back to my parents.

Ignoring the incision that still ached faintly, I grabbed Camille's hand.

"Camille, help me! Help me get a private ambulance. I'm taking my baby home. Now!"

She looked at me and nodded, hard.

She'd just finished arranging the car when Nolan's call came in.

"Renee booked a celebration banquet for the baby at the Millennium Ballroom. She and I are heading over to get things ready. I've put the baby on the bed. You bring the baby over yourself, nine o'clock tonight."

Beside me, Camille was so furious she wanted to curse him out, but I stopped her.

I motioned for her to hurry and bring the baby over.

Nolan, hearing no reaction from my end for a long while, must have taken my silence for agreement, and let out a breath of relief.

"That ratty little blessing gown of yours, I already ordered an identical one online. Don't hold it against her."

"Nine o'clock. Be on time when you make your entrance. Don't embarrass me and Renee in front of the guests."

I said only one word.

"Fine."

The call ended.

I slid the diamond wedding ring off my finger and, without a second's hesitation, dropped it into the trash can by the bed.

Camille came back carrying my sleeping daughter.

Downstairs, the lights of a private ambulance flashed.

Without a single look back, we climbed into the car and drove away from the place that had heaped humiliation on me.

And that man, so busy preparing the celebration with Renee, had no idea.