Nine C-Section, Nine Dead Sons, One Escape novel Chapter 2

Chapter 2

“You come from nothing. Old Mrs. Ashworth wouldn’t even look at you. Without a baby to lock you in, she’d never let you through the door.”

“I won’t let you suffer a single indignity. I’ll clear every obstacle myself.”

My blood froze solid. I stopped breathing.

Priscilla let out a girlish laugh.

Julian, you’re the best!”

“But if Vivienne finds out what you’ve done, won’t she be mad at you?”

Julian’s voice dripped contempt.

“She’s the one who shoved you down the stairs. She wrecked your

body. She doesn’t get to stand there and blame me for making her children pay the price.”

Then, like he was tossing scraps to a dog, he added:

“Worst case, after you’ve had your child, I’ll

permit her to have one.”

Every word was a knife twisting in my heart.

I lay in that hospital bed, nails digging into my palms so I wouldn’t cry.

The first child. Ripped from my womb too early. Died in an incubator.

The second and third. Bone marrow extracted right after birth. They lingered in agony for a few months

before fading.

Every single one after that. Cut open or drained of marrow. Not one survived past six months.

All of it was paving the road for her.

I bit down on my lip until blood filled my mouth. Pain and hatred churned in my chest.

The voices died down. The room went still.

Then a pot of scalding coffee hit me full in the face.

“Vivienne. You heard all that, didn’t you?”

“To clear my path, Julian put every single one of your children on an operating table.”

“Old Mrs. Ashworth has watched you lose baby after baby. She’s this close to letting Julian marry me.”

“Soon I’ll be Mrs. Ashworth. And your children? They’ll rot into nothing in the family cemetery. Maggots and dirt.”

off that bed.

Chapter 2

Rage detonated inside my skull. I didn’t care that my body was wrecked. I launched myself

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I swung my arm back and slapped her with everything I had.

“You vicious bitch! You talk about my children? Burn in hell!”

“Ah!”

Priscilla shrieked and hit the floor.

The commotion brought Julian’s face through the doorway.

His eyes dropped to her cheek, the bright red welts my fingers left behind and his gaze turned to ice.

He crossed the room in two furious strides and backhanded me across the face.

Smack.

I reeled and collapsed. The incision on my abdomen ripped open.

Pain detonated like a lightning strike.

Blood soaked my hospital gown in seconds.

He didn’t even glance at the pool spreading beneath me.

His eyes were all over Priscilla, filled with aching tenderness, as he gathered her gently into his arms.

“Julian, it hurts… it hurts so much… why would Vivienne do this to me…”

Priscilla’s face was a mess of tears.

“I’ll handle this.”

After soothing her, Julian turned on me with a stare that flayed.

“Vivienne! Priscilla came here out of kindness to take care of you. And this is how you treat her?”

I curled on the floor, shaking, cold sweat plastering my hair to my temples. I gritted my teeth and held

1. on.

“I’m Mrs. Ashworth. I think I have every right to put a mistress in her place.”

Julian’s face went dark.

“Priscilla is no mistress! She’s not beneath you in any way.”

He laughed coldly and snapped orders over his shoulder.

“Send word. As of today, Miss Priscilla Holloway is taking up residence at Ashworth Manor.”

“In public, she’ll be addressed as Mrs. Ashworth.”

Priscilla shot me a triumphant look from the shelter of his arms.

Chapter 2

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1. me.

I couldn’t stomach another word. I moved to leave. His hand clamped around my wrist.

“Did I say you could go?”

He ordered me to hold a candlestick and kneel at the foot of the bed.

Candlelight flickered across the tangled silhouettes on the mattress.

My wound was still raw. I hunched over from the pain, sweat dripping off me in fat drops.

Panting and moaning rolled through the room like waves. In the lull, he turned his head and sneered at

“I’ve been meaning to say this. You just lie there like a dead fish. Dull as hell.”

“Priscilla knows how to move. Watch closely. You might actually learn something tonight.”

I shut my eyes. My body shook beyond my control. My teeth shredded my lips until blood ran

down my chin.

‘But my heart was quiet.

Grief had burned everything out.

Two more days.

Then I could leave him forever.

Chapter 2