Filed to story: When His Wife Can’t Forgive
Her baby…
Her heart twisted with fear and sorrow as she clutched her stomach, gasping through her sobs.
“Someone… Help me… Is anyone there? Someone… Please save my baby…” she whispered desperately.
Tears and blood clouding her vision, she peered ahead. Amidst the rushing traffic, one car had come to a halt not far from her. Its window was lowered, and through the blur, she saw Dorian watching her.
Alicia clung to a desperate hope, crawling forward.
“Please… Help me…”
The accident had been solely Dorian’s fault; he’d blatantly ignored a red light. Focused on going to the airport for Yolanda, he barely registered the accident he’d caused. Yet, when he caught sight of Alicia, bloodied and struggling, an unexpected pang hit his heart – one he quickly stifled.
He reached for the ignition to restart the half-wrecked car.
“What are you doing?” Sitting beside him, Regina grabbed his hand, her voice thick with alarm.
“Open the door – I need to help Alicia! She’s hurt!”
Dorian locked the doors, his face chillingly impassive.
“Yolanda’s life could be hanging by a thread. How can I worry about anyone else?” He shrugged off Regina’s pleas.
“This is her destiny. Why else did my car have to collide with hers out of all the cars on the road?”
To him, everything was Caden’s fault.
Regina’s desperation turned to fury as she slapped him across the face on seeing his indifference.
“She’s a human being! Are you out of your mind?”
She desperately tried to open the door, but it was futile.
Ignoring her, Dorian pressed the gas and sped away, vanishing before the authorities arrived.
Alicia was in so much pain that she couldn’t speak. Desperately, she pressed her legs together, hoping that it could somehow halt the bleeding – of course, it didn’t work. She could feel her baby slipping away with every passing second.
Her body trembled as she fought back tears, crawling to the car in search of her phone. With the last of her strength, she dialed Caden’s number. Blood mixed with her tears, splattering onto the screen.
A cold, automated voice replied, “Sorry, the number you have dialed is currently unavailable.”
Alicia began to cry profusely.
“Caden, please… Please answer the phone. Save our baby.”
She tried to redial, but her strength failed her. Darkness slowly closed in.
It was unclear how much time passed before the wail of sirens pierced the air. Traffic continued; some people went on with their lives, oblivious, while others endured silent, unspeakable agony.
An hour later, Caden’s plane landed at Warrington Airport. He had left in anger, hoping a day apart would make her see reason, but on the flight, he realized he’d made a mistake. Leaving her while she was pregnant? Impulsive, thoughtless – how could he have been so reckless? He sighed, bracing himself to face her wrath and prepared to swallow his pride.
As soon as he was seated in his car, he reached for his phone, intending to check on Alicia. However, his phone was dead. Shrugging it off, he glanced out the window, watching the snow coat the world in silence.
“Is there a flower shop nearby?” he asked his driver, Hank. He couldn’t return empty-handed. He had to apologize.
Hank nodded, driving to a quaint shop he knew well.
As Caden stepped out, Hank’s phone rang.
It was from the hospital.
“Hello?”
Caden carefully selected Alicia’s favorite white roses. Just as he took the bouquet, a thorn pricked him. It was a shallow cut, but the sting sent an unsettling chill through his chest. He stood still, staring at the blood beading on his palm, his heart suddenly tight, as if bound by invisible threads. When had he become this sensitive?
Noticing his pale face, the shop assistant, clearly concerned, offered him a bandage.
“Sir, let me help you with that.”
At that moment, a loud crash sounded from the entrance. Caden looked up to see Hank rushing inside, having knocked over a flowerpot in his haste.
“Mr. Ward… Something happened,” Hank stammered.
Caden’s eyes narrowed.
“What happened?”
Hank’s voice trembled.
“It’s the hospital. Ms. Bennett… She was in a car accident.”
The terror was not death, but the thought of losing a loved one. The half-hour drive to the hospital felt like an eternity. Caden’s mind was reeling, and he could barely keep his footing when he stepped out of the car. Alicia was out of surgery and in recovery.
The corridor outside her room was crowded. Caden hurried forward, only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder.
“Let go!” he growled, his voice rough as he punched the bodyguard blocking his way.
The guard stumbled back, but Ciara appeared, her tear-streaked face twisted in rage.
“You heartless monster!” Her voice shook as she slapped him, her whole body trembling.
“How dare you show your face here?”
Caden stood, his eyes bloodshot, his once proud expression now filled with pain and regret. He ignored her words and pushed past the bodyguard, storming into the ward.
Caden couldn’t bear the thought of any harm coming to Alicia. He needed to see her for himself. His trust extended only to his own observations.
In the hospital room, Alicia was still under the effects of anesthesia from her surgery, lying peacefully unconscious. Only her pale, slender chin was visible beneath the swathes of bandages covering her face.
Caden sat at her bedside, half kneeling. Holding her hand and feeling its warmth brought his fraying nerves some solace. She was still alive. That fact alone was more important than anything else.
Cradling her hand against his cheek, Caden’s eyes dropped, and tears began to escape. He stared at a single tear in wonder. He hadn’t shed tears since his mother passed away. It wasn’t that men don’t cry; they just hadn’t been pushed to their limit-until now.
The soft sound of shifting fabric caught his attention. He looked up to see Alicia’s eyes fluttering open, red and fixed on him.
With Caden’s heart pounding and his voice rough and barely audible, he whispered, “Lucky.”
Alicia’s gaze was weary, her pupils lifeless. This was a side of him she had never seen before, one that made him seem almost unrecognizable. His face was the same, but he was still one she loved deeply. Yet she despised him with equal intensity.
That resentment left a hollow silence between them. It was as if her heart had ceased to beat.
Weariness overcame her, and her eyelids began to droop once more.
“Go check on the baby,” she murmured faintly.
Caden was momentarily speechless, his mouth agape but silent. Their child had been delivered just an hour earlier. The tiny form, immersed in blood, had a heartbeat but was no larger than a little finger.
Following directives from the Ward family, the hospital preserved the fetus instead of disposing of it. By the time Caden saw the tiny body, its form was no longer recognizable, its features blurred. He stood there, stiff as a board, staring without blinking.
He had cherished beautiful dreams for it. It was supposed to be safely born, grow healthy, and become the Ward family’s pride and joy. His impulsive departure had reduced it to a tragic stain of blood, cold, and abandoned.
As the room seemed to spin, Caden grabbed the doctor by the collar, his voice raspy with anger.
“With all the money I spent, how could you let this happen? Why couldn’t you save my child?”
The doctor remained still, responding calmly, “Mr. Ward, it’s not that we lacked the means. We could have tried to save a two-month-old fetus in an incubator. But the fetus had stopped developing before Ms. Bennett’s car accident.”
Caden was taken aback, his eyes, red and wild, no longer burning with pride or fury but subdued, as if quelled by an inner demon. He was completely consumed by his agony.
This day had been planned as a celebration of their engagement. However, instead of attending the party with Alicia, he had traveled abroad, leaving her alone to await his return.
She must have suffered profound despair, a despair too deep to bear, which led to their child’s demise. Caden felt as if every ounce of his strength had been drained from him instantly. Without the wall to lean on, he would have fallen in shame.
With the little energy he had left, he made arrangements for the fetus’s care. This loss would act as a relentless torment, a blade perpetually embedded in Caden’s heart, haunting him for life.
Later, Caden approached Alicia’s hospital room. Upon seeing his ghostly complexion, Ciara was overwhelmed with sorrow.
“Alicia needs tranquility right now. She detests you more than ever. Don’t make it worse by being here.”
Caden responded softly, “I need to be with her now. She needs me.”
“How could anyone need the cause of such sorrow?” Ciara cried out in anguish.
“Alicia will never be able to have children again because of this!”
Caden stiffened, his face lost in darkness. The biting wind mocked him as it whipped around, its cold gusts slicing through him. No longer was there a path forward together for him and Alicia.
In the offices of Hampton Group, an inquiry emerged.
“Was Alicia expecting a child?”
An assistant promptly clarified, “Mr. Hampton, she has suffered a miscarriage.”
Corey’s expression turned into a frown.
“What led to it?”
Responding to Corey’s question, the subordinate found the details peculiar.
“There was an accident involving a car. Dorian was supposedly driving to the airport when he ignored a red light, resulting in a collision that overturned her vehicle.”
Corey’s frown slowly eased into a smirk, amused.