SONIA I shouldn't have gone to the gala. My body had told me not to, and I would be a fool if I said I didn't see or feel the signs. I felt it in the dull ache in my lower back, the strange heaviness in my abdomen, and the instinct that kept whispering stay home. Heaven knows I would have listened, but Kayden had insisted. "You're fine, Sonia," he'd said while adjusting his cufflinks. He didn't so much as spare me a glance as he checked himself out in the mirror. "Your due date isn't for another month. Stop worrying, you're fine. Have I mentioned how gorgeous you look tonight?" Gorgeous. That was enough to make me ignore the way my fingers trembled when I slipped on my heels. Kayden kissed my forehead one last time before we got into the car and headed to the gala. The unease I'd been feeling before we left home made it hard enough to visualize how beautiful the night would be, but the moment we arrived, I was stunned to my heels. The ballroom was lit with gold lights and polished marble titles. Laughter erupted everywhere I looked and glasses clinked under the sound of music floating in the air. Women in silk gowns floated past me with the smell of their expensive perfume come to life, but for some strange reason, I felt wrong. Like I didn't belong here one bit, and maybe because I didn't. I told myself I was wound too tight, and maybe I was too heavy, and too aware of every step. Without wasting a second, I excused myself from Kayden's side when another politician cornered him. He didn't even notice my hand slipping from his arm, but I pushed the hurt that bubbled in my chest deeper into my skin. I'd barely made it three steps when I felt it. A warm trickle slid between my thighs and I froze. I was still processing it when another wave hit. It was sharper this time, and an intense and sharp ting of pain sliced through my abdomen so suddenly I gasped. Something wet slid down my leg and a drop of red hit the white marble. "No." my bones shook as my breath left me. "No, please no." "Kayden..." I tried to yell, but my voice came out thin and weak. Like that wasn't enough, my cry seemed to be swallowed by the music and conversation. Another contraction hit again, this one harder than the last, and this time, I felt my knees shook under me. "Kayden!" I tried again, louder, but he stood across the room laughing, champagne in hand, and surrounded by men who cared more about status than souls. "My babies..."I clutched my stomach as I whispered. "Please," whatever I had to say died on the tip of my tongue as the pain came in a violent wave that tore a scream from my throat. That got his attention. The room blurred into chaos as Kayden rushed toward me, his face draining of color when he saw the blood pooling beneath me. "Sonia, Jesus..." He caught me before I hit the floor. "Get the car! Now!" Everything after that became fragments. I barely remembered him scooping me up bridal style and rushing towards the car. I vaguely recalled the cold night air against my overheated skin, Kayden's shaking hands on the steering wheel, and his voice muttering, "It's too early. It's too early." The contractions were relentless. The farther we drove, the more they crashed down on me, crushing me from the inside out. "Please..." I gripped the seat and cried. "...please let them be okay." Kayden didn't answer, and honestly, I didn't blame him. I blanked out at one point during the drive, just to be woken up by bright lights. I felt cold hands stab my sides, alongside voices overlapping. "She's hemorrhaging..." someone called. "prep her now." Came a second later "Twins...heart rate unstable-" I didn't have time to process anything before they wheeled me into surgery. I barely remembered signing anything, I barely remembered breathing, and then darkness swallowed me whole. When I woke up, the pain was dull and my body felt like it had been hollowed out and stitched back together. I blinked at the white ceiling, just to come face to face with a nurse that stood beside my bed. She smiled softly when she noticed my eyes open. "Congratulations, Mrs. Wolfe," she said gently. "You have two beautiful baby boys." "What?" Tears filled my eyes instantly as my voice cracked. "Really, can I see them?" With her smile still on her face, she nodded and turned the bassinets toward me. My heart melted the moment I saw two tiny faces. They had identical wisps of dark hair, pink lips and with their closed eyes, they looked perfect. And they were mine. "They're beautiful," I whispered, reaching out with trembling fingers. "Yes, and healthy, we almost lost you back there," Concern flashed in her eyes before the smile returned. Relief flooded me so powerfully I almost sobbed. I was okay and my babies were, and that was all that mattered. "I...Where's my husband, Kayden?" As if summoned by his name, the door burst open and Kayden stormed in. His mother followed close behind, and my smile widened. "Kayden..." I smiled weakly. "they're...." "How could you?" he cut me off immediately, the words hitting harder than the surgery incision. I didn't even notice the look on his face when he walked in until he spoke. I blinked. "What?" Confused, my incision throbbing with pain. "How could you?" he asked again, voice shaking, not with relief, nor with joy, but with rage. That made me worry more than the pain I was feeling. What could have happened? Or better yet, what had I done? "I..." Confusion wrapped around my chest. "I don't understand. What are you talking about darling?" I tried to sit up, that way I could look at him even better but pain seared through me, and I lay back down. "Explain this." He strode to my bedside and threw a sheet of paper onto my lap. My hands trembled as I picked it up. It was a paternity test. My eyes scanned the words and I almost passed out for the second time. Twin A - 99.9% probability of paternity: Kayden Wolfe. Twin B - 0% probability of paternity: Kayden Wolfe. My stomach dropped. And stopped at the same time. Realization downed on me, and it was heavier than anything I had ever felt in my life. I shook my head. He had done a parternity test on our children without my knowledge, that was the first blow. Did he not trust me? My eyes made a journey to his face, then to his mother's, who was standing arms crossed on her chest beside him, throwing me a scowl like I had committed the worst sin on earth. Because to her, to them, I had. That was what the paper in my hand said. The second blow was that one of my children was not mine. But that was impossbile because Kayden was the only man I had been with. "That's impossible," I breathed, my voice breaking just as loud as my heart was. Because of this lie, my husband and his mother thought I had cheated, carried another man's seed and let it grow inside me. My hands trembled as I gripped the papers, hoping a miracle would change it somehow. It didn't. The nurse shifted uncomfortably. "I'll go get the doctor," she murmured before slipping out in a hurry. My eyes remained on Kayden's and they were filled with something I had never seen directed at me in all our two years of marriage. Disgust. "You expect me to believe you didn't know?" he forced through clenched teeth. But the fact that he was even asking me this tore my heart to pieces. It told me how little he thought of me. Of our bond. Two freaking years and he didn't trust me. Whatever happened to seeking for a second opinion? Tears I didn't know had gathered in my eyes streamed down my face. And I forced the words out even though my body felt like shutting down. "I've never been with anyone else," I strained, my voice breaking. "Kayden, you're the only man I've ever been with and you know that." He craned his head to the side slightly, one hand moving into his pocket while the other tugged on the already loose tie around his neck. "Do I? That's not what the fucking paternity test says, Sonia," He laughed bitterly. "God, I'm such a fool, I should've listened to my mother." His mother? The same woman who from day one tried everything to put a wedge between us? Her? The woman, my mother-in-law who had been silent all this time stepped forward then as if summoned as well, her heels clicking sharply against the tile. "I did warn you Kayden. But instead you chose this...." she sneered coldly her red painted finger nail pointing at me like a dagger. "Because my son thought he was in love." "I didn't cheat," I tried again hoping he would just listen to me, tears spilling freely now. "I swear to you." But the door swung open then, and the doctor walked, adjusting his glasses. His jaw ticked with something heavy, like he was here to deliver bad news. "I understand you have concerns ma'am," he started to say. The nurse must have told him everything. "But your pregnancy was a rare condition, and it's called heteropaternal superfecundation. What this means is that twins can be conceived by two different fathers." I stared at him mind completely blank. Since when did a wrong report have a name? Because that was all it sounded to me. "It is rare, Mrs Wolfe," he pressed again, then turned to Kayden. "But I assure you, it is medically documented." "I would have believed you if I really had another man in my life, doctor. But I don't. So I want another test done. "This is a mistake and it's making my husband think that I cheated on him."

SONIA I didn't ask for a second chance. I only wanted a second test done. Or better yet, a second option just not this. Not the coldness he was giving me. His wife. The mother of his heirs. I waited a heartbeat for him to order it. But all that came was the change in his expression. The look of disgust had changed to disdain. Suddenly he hated me. "You think that is going to change the fact that you let another man fuck you? Kayden leaned closer to me, his words shot me like poisoned arrows, dangerous but in a whisper. There was anger laced in his voice, it was deadly and directed at me. I needed him to trust me now. Just once today. "You've made me a joke, Sonia..." he continued, and in that anger I could also see pain. He was hurting. And that was clouding his judgment. My lips moved to speak, I'd long forgotten about the pain from my belly. Because whatever this was hurt more. It was killing me. Kayden's mother rummaged her back and pulled out some papers and without a glance threw it at me. I gathered the papers and glanced down at them, sniffling. If I thought the test results were pain, this was the knife Kayden was piercing through me. Divorce papers. My heart dropped, and the papers fell off onto my lap. I struggled out of bed, linping towards the man I had loved all these years. Dated for two and married for two. "Please, Kayden..." I was crying. No, wailing more like. "Don't do this, not now. Not like this. Please." Suddenly everywhere hurt. My body, my heart and my soul. My babies couldn't be raised in a broken home. Not like their mother. I barely finished my words before he turned back to me, eyes so dark I thought the grim reaper had come for me. "Sign the fucking papers while I'm being nice, Sonia." Just like that, did I mean nothing to him now? Did he not love me anymore to fight for this like I was? "You see, when my son called me and told me what he had found out, I knew I had to bring the papers with me. Because I knew this would happen..." His mother cut in as though it was her place to. And I was this close to telling her to shut the fuck up because God knows I'd been wanting to do that for the longest time. But I didn't. Not because she didn't deserve it. But because she wasn't my priority at the time. "I just had your babies, Kayden. Our children..." I was holding onto the hospital bed frame for support, trying to take hold of his hand but he jerked away. "Apparently not both of them. Sign the papers Sonia. I won't tell you again." I shook my head but his mother grabbed my wrist and forced a pen into my hand. At that point, I didn't know what hurt more. Whether it was this betrayal, or the incision. And without another choice since he didn't want to listen, I did as I was told. My signature trembled across the paper, and I barely finished writing when the door opened again and Kayden's brother, Kint walked into the room holding another paper in his hand. He didn't spare me a glance. He just walked to his brother and handed the paper to him. "Another nurse just came by and I didn't want her to come to this so..." So he had been outside this room all this time. I thought to myself, my eyes not leaving Kayden's whose expression didn't change or become softer. I thought this was the second result, or the actual one that would reveal the truth but instead I got something else. Something crueler. Kayden lifted the paper and smirked and I wondered what could be amusing to him. "It says here, my darling wife, that you're terminal." He spoke in an eerily calm voice. I froze. My ears rang, blood rushed in so fast I got dizzy the next second. "Stage four cervical cancer. That's why you had a complication." He spat venomously. Another lie. It had to be. I clutched the collar of the hospital gown, feeling the IV needle piercing me. It reminded me that this was not a dream as much as I wanted it to be. This was real. I was living in a nightmare. And I was alone in it. Without so much as pity or whatever they called it, my mother-in-law walked over to the bassinet where the boys were, gave one look and too the baby who had a tag, A, on his leg into her arms. I reached out immediately, panic exploding inside my chest. "What are you doing?" She shoved me to the side and I collided with the bed frame. "What does it look like I'm doing? Now that you're getting a divorce, we're taking our family's heir. He will stay with us..." I choked on my sobs, adrenaline pumping into my veins and I ran toward her, arms stretched for my son. "No, please don't take my baby from me. I'm begging you." Kayden stood like a wall in front of me, shielding the child and his mother from me. Before he pushed me backwards and I fell to the floor, the incision wound bursting in pain. I could feel the wound opening. But I didn't care. I just wanted my son. "Kayden please. He's a new born. He needs me. Don't do this. Please." I cried out loud. He didn't say a word at first. And I thought I finally got to him. But then he lowered his eyes at me and chuckled. "Funny how Karma works right? At least when you die, your bastard won't be ashamed that his mother was a whore." He said so quietly I almost didn't hear him from my loud sobbing. The man I had loved, the man I trusted with my heart, my body, my life. He just called me a whore and our son a bastard. He turned his back on me and was now taking my other child from me. My vision blurred then, everything was finally crashing down on me and I couldn't take it. My body went limp on the floor, and I could do nothing but watch them leave as darkness too over me. But not before I called out to him one more time. "Kayden, I didn't betray you." Except no one was in the room anymore. I was truly alone.

SONIA The only kindness Kayden showed me that night was paying my hospital bills, but I knew better than to think it was a gift. He didn't do it out of remorse or because he cared. No, he did it because he didn't want a scandal. With how hard Kayden had worked to fix his image, I knew for a fact that he wouldn't want anything smudging it, especially if it had to do with me. I didn't recall a lot of things after the drama in the ward, but I knew after I was discharged, weak and stitched and hollow, I went back to the house that used to be my home. I told myself I just needed my things. I told myself I was going to grab some essentials, a suitcase, baby clothes, documents, and maybe another chance with Kayden. A life. Instead, I was pushed out into the rain. I'd barely taken a step onto the porch before I was pushed into the downpour. It poured mercilessly, soaking through the thin blanket wrapped around my newborn. I fought a shiver, pulling my baby closer to me, like that could make things any better. My mother-in-law stood at the doorway, dry and composed, while I shivered on the marble steps, and maybe if I wasn't so hurt, I would have laughed at the irony of it all. Her voice was cold, colder than the rain, and believe me when I said I wasn't exaggerating. "Who the hell told you, you could come back here?" I parted my lips to speak, but before I could get the words out, she cut in again. "With you gone," she said smoothly, "Kayden can finally be with the girl I chose for him." The words barely registered in my ears. Behind her, standing in the living room like she belonged there, was Laila. She wore one of Kayden's shirts. She didn't look ashamed, she looked victorious, like she'd won a lifetime battle. Maybe she had. For the longest I had known Kayden, I knew Laila too. She was the ex he could never get rid off, not really because his mother practically worshipped this woman. "Please," I begged, this wasn't the time to think of the past, there was more at stake at the moment. I swallowed my pride, my dignity, the little I had left. "Let me see him. Just once. I need to explain. Once he listens to me, he'd understand and....," "There's nothing to explain, leave before I have you thrown out, Sonia. You don't belong here anymore. You never did." my mother-in-law replied sharply, cutting me off in the blink of an eye. The pouring rain had already drenched me, but even with the rain, if she bothered to look, I was certain she could have seen my tears. "I didn't cheat on him." I hated how much I'd had to repeat these words tonight, but I was all out of options. "If you don't want that bastard to die in this rain," she cut in coldly, glancing at my baby, "you'll leave. Now." The word bastard sliced deeper than the surgical blade ever had and I recoiled. My heart pounded loudly in my chest as I looked down at my son. His tiny face scrunched as he whimpered, and for some strange reason, it stirred something in me. Something I hadn't felt in a long time. Time seemed to slow to a standstill as my gaze darted from my baby to Kayden's mother, Laila, and back to my baby again. Her words echoed in my head, louder this time, so I did the only thing I could think of. I rose to my feet, clutching my child against my chest where it was now soaked and I left. In the rain. My head had been aching ever since I left Kayden's home. I refused to associate myself with it anymore, but it did nothing to dull the constant and pounding reminder of everything I'd lost. It had been a week. One week since my life ended, and since fate had decided to play a silly prank on me that wasn't close to being funny. And I could afford was a rundown motel in a neighborhood where sirens replaced lullabies. The wallpaper peeled, the sheets smelled like old smoke, the lock barely worked, and the water? It smelled bad and looked like urine left out for days. I stared at the cracked ceiling and wondered how I ended up here. From a mansion to this, from a wife to nothing, from luxury to barely scraping by. All because my husband believed a lie even I didn't know who was behind it. And that hurt more than anything. Tears pricked at the corner of my eyes, but Oliver's cry pulled me back to reality. I sat up slowly, biting back a groan as pain tore through my abdomen. I'd been enduring for a while now, but I was slowly getting to my breaking point. My stitches burned, and no matter how careful I was, the skin around them felt hot and tight. A little too red. I pushed my own pain aside as I gathered him into my arms and nursed him. He was so small, too small, nothing short of a premature baby who hadn't known proper care for days because his mother had been too broken to function. "I won't leave you," I whispered into his soft hair. "I can't." I couldn't die. Not when he only had me. Those were the words I muttered as I gathered my things and set out to the hospital. And getting there felt like climbing a mountain. I limped to the street with Oliver in my arms and flagged down a taxi. Every bump in the road sent pain radiating through my body, but I didn't stop. I couldn't. As the taxi sped by and into the night, I felt the pain in my sides worsen. I was this close to losing it, but I bit down on my bottom lip to keep myself from screaming. When we arrived, I stepped out, and my feet had barely kissed the ground, before the world tilted. The hospital entrance blurred, and my vision darkened at the edges. My grip on Oliver tightened as I leaned against the nearest car to steady myself, not even noticing what kind it was. "Hey!" a sharp voice snapped. "Get your filthy hands away from that car!" I blinked, dizzy as I pushed myself up from the car. I was standing straight now, barely, and that was all it took for me to realize that the car was probably worth a million times of my net worth, not that it was a lot though. "Do you even know how much this cost?" From the inside, a man in a suit glared at me like I was dirt. "Do you know who owns it?" "I...I'm sorry," I mumbled weakly, pushing off the car. "I didn't mean to." My voice quivered and my knees buckled. I had only taken a couple of steps away from the vehicle when another voice cut in. "Wait," someone called from behind. The voice was deep and commanding that I had no idea but to turn toward it. I tried to though, but I never made it. One minute I was standing, and the next, the ground was rushing up to meet me, and a wave of darkness was the last thing I saw. I wasn't sure how much time passed or how long I was out for, but I woke up screaming.