Chapter 4 Shadows of Loss
The scent of lemon polish choked Elizabeth as she gripped the grand staircase's bloodwood railing. Eight weeks of morning sickness had painted her cheekbones hollow, yet Edward's absence left deeper bruises than Anne's poisoned words.
"Careful, gutter rat." Anne materialized behind her, French manicured nails tapping Elizabeth's protruding collarbone. "Wouldn't want the heir to slip."
Elizabeth jerked away, nausea rising with the cloying jasmine perfume Anne wore - Christabel's signature scent. "Your petty threats won't—"
The world tilted.
Anne's stiletto hooked around Elizabeth's ankle with practiced precision. Marble stairs rushed up to meet her, Edward's monogrammed handkerchief fluttering from her pocket like a surrender flag.
Crack.
Pain exploded through her abdomen first, then the sickening crunch of wrist meeting stone. Through ringing ears, Elizabeth heard Anne's stage whisper: "Oh heavens! She's miscarrying!"
Monitor beeps counted the seconds Elizabeth's baby still lived. Edward's shadow fell across her hospital bed, smelling of bourbon and boardroom battles.
"Three bodyguards." His signet ring cracked the bedside table. "A dozen security cameras. Yet you managed to kill my heir in the one corridor without surveillance?"
Elizabeth stared at the fetal heartbeat flickering onscreen - 122 BPM, 118, 113... "It was Anne."
"Always Anne!" Edward smashed the ultrasound monitor. Glass shards rained onto Elizabeth's cervical collar. "Christabel's necklace, the bathhouse fire, now this—when will your jealous fantasies end?"
Dr. William Chen entered holding a clipboard, his white coat starched with judgment. "Visiting hours are over, Your Grace."
Edward gripped William's stethoscope. "You prescribed her prenatal vitamins, didn't you? Sabotaged them with—"
"Enough!" Elizabeth's scream sent monitors haywire. "Get out! Both of you!"
William waited until Edward's footsteps faded before producing a velvet box. "Your emergency contraceptives from last month. Never opened."
The fetal heartbeat flatlined
Elizabeth stumbled through the storm clutching hospital discharge papers. Lightning illuminated two figures arguing by a Bentley - Edward shoving Anne against the car, her silk blouse tearing at the shoulder.
"Liar!" Edward's roar drowned thunder. "The DNA test says—"
"Science can be bought!" Anne laughed hysterically, mascara bleeding down her cheeks. "Just ask your precious William!"
A manila envelope slipped from Anne's Gucci tote. Elizabeth crouched behind a dumpster, rainwater blurring the words *Worthington Maternity Clinic - 14 Weeks Gestation*.
Ultrasound images fluttered to the pavement.
Twins.
Edward's twins.
Lightning struck nearby, burning the truth into Elizabeth's retina: Anne's pregnancy predated their contract by three months. The night of the bathroom fire. The broken lamp. The DNA-swapped towel...
"Looking for souvenirs?" Anne's stiletto crushed Elizabeth's fingers against the ultrasound photo. "Don't worry, I'll name one after you. Stillbirth has a poetic ring."
Edward's silhouette froze mid-stride.
Elizabeth ran.
William found her dangling Christabel's pearls over the rose thorns. "The press thinks you attempted suicide."
"Did I?" Elizabeth watched Edward's searchlights carve the gardens below. "He's hunting me like a stag."
"Because of this." William produced a forged paternity test claiming 0% match. "Edward believes the baby wasn't his."
Rain blurred the ink. "Why show me?"
"To set you free." William's kiss tasted of morphine and ambition. "Run, Elizabeth. Before he inherits another tragedy."
Edward's voice shattered the night: "GUARDS!"
Pearls scattered like frozen tears as Elizabeth climbed the railing. William's grip tightened on her hips - not to save, but to push.
"Jump," he breathed against her neck. "I'll catch you."
Thunder drowned the lie.
Edward strapped her into the leather seat, his trembling hands betraying the ice in his voice. "You'll birth the next heir at my Swiss estate."
The plane lurched upward. Elizabeth pressed her forehead to the window, watching lightning fork through Anne's leaked pregnancy announcement on the tarmac billboards.
Somewhere over the Alps, she unclasped her hospital bracelet. Edward's sleeping fingers still dug into her bruised thigh as the tiny plastic tag spiraled into darkness.
Patient Name: Elizabeth Grey
Status: Missed Abortion
Gestation: 10 weeks 3 days
The mountains swallowed the evidence whole.
