I Woke Up to Your Suicide

Blood soaked my white linen dress, seeping down my thighs. I clutched Blake Sterling's hand, my nails digging into his skin.

"My stomach… it hurts so much…"

He coldly shook my hand off. "Enough, Clara. Cut the drama. I know you're faking it with red wine again. Julianna had a scare at the party and needs me. Don't be so theatrical."

But this wasn't red wine. It was my life, draining away with every agonizing second.

Blake's tone was ice. "Don't use our child as a pawn to get my attention, Clara. You're exhausting me."

He hung up. The click of the disconnecting call left me paralyzed on the floor, too weak to stand, let alone reach for the phone to call for help.

I never knew that in my final moments, the phone’s screen lit up, vibrating with an incoming call I couldn't answer.

In truth, even if I had known, I wouldn't have lasted long enough. Watching the expensive Persian rug darken with my blood, I willed myself to inch toward the table.

As the pool of blood beneath me widened, a horrifying certainty washed over me. I was losing our child.

A tidal wave of grief crashed over me.

I knew my life was a tragedy, but I never imagined my child's would end so absurdly.

Maybe I’d seen this coming all along. So when I found myself floating in the air, gazing down at the woman bleeding out on the floor, all I felt was a vast, hollow ache.

A cold voice in my head sneered, "Look at the man you loved so desperately. See what he truly is."

I got what I deserved.

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1

Can ghosts get dizzy? After a moment of vertigo, I opened my eyes to find myself in a hotel ballroom.

In a private lounge, Julianna leaned weakly against a velvet sofa, a look of concern etched on her face as she gazed at Blake.

"I'm so sorry to drag you all the way from the Hamptons this late. I'm fine now. It's just… I don't know many people in this city, and you were the only one I could think to call."

She bit her lower lip. "It's all my fault. I knew Clara was pregnant, and I still bothered you. I thought… I thought you wouldn't actually come. I'm so afraid she'll misunderstand."

Blake handed her a glass of warm water. "You two were so close. You know she’s just a bit sensitive; she won't blame you. And I told you, I'll always be here for you. You never have to apologize to me."

At his words, tears welled in Julianna's eyes. She nestled into his arms.

"Blake, you're so good to me."

His body stiffened for a second before he gently patted her back.

If I'd been clinging to any shred of hope for Blake, it shattered the moment he accused me of faking it, abandoned me and our unborn child for Julianna, and told me I exhausted him.

So now, watching them huddled together, I felt nothing. It was like an old wound that had finally scabbed over. It looked ugly, sure, but if you picked at the edges, you’d find it no longer hurt.

People passed by the lounge entrance, and I caught the waiters whispering.

"That woman, what's-her-name... Julianna? Yeah, her. She practically trips over her own feet and then spins this whole story about having a 'huge scare.' The crazy part is, she ropes anyone she can into calling for her, gets her assistant to play up how 'panicked' she is."

"Isn't it all just to get that guy to come running? Last time she used Gloria, this time it was Nydia. I just drop off her food and bolt. If she corners you for a favor, it's impossible to say no, and I'm not about to help her spin those lies."

"Tell me about it. Last time she made me say she was so startled by a champagne cork that she had heart palpitations. Every time she's here, she's 'dizzy' and 'emotionally fragile,' demanding the organizers give her a private lounge."

…

Listening to them, I found it both hard to believe and completely unsurprising.

Julianna's goal was crystal clear: win Blake back, no matter the cost.

But if she truly loved him, why was I the one who married him two years ago?

She didn't love him. She just couldn't stomach the idea that her former lapdog was no longer at her beck and call.