My husband abandoned me after he recovered

I hung up on the stranger who called me outside the villa. A prank. A scam. I didn't care. I just needed my family.

"You signed them?"

My mother snatched the divorce papers from my shivering hands the second I stepped into my childhood foyer.

"He slept with Eddy," I told her. My voice cracked. "In my bed."

Mother rolled her eyes, tossing the manila folder onto the entryway console. "You couldn't give him a child in three years, Nancy. What did you expect a man like Owen to do? Stay celibate?"

"I lost my uterus saving his life!"

"And that was your choice," my father snapped from his leather recliner in the adjoining living room. He didn't even look up from his tablet. "Eddy is carrying a Brown heir. That makes her infinitely more valuable to this family than you."

I stared at the people who raised me. The chandelier light overhead felt harsh, blinding.

"Valuable?" I asked. "I paid off your mortgage. I cleared your gambling debts with my own salary while Owen was paralyzed. You're tossing me out for the sister who fucked my husband?"

"Watch your language," Mother scolded. She crossed her arms, her posture rigid. "Be smart about this. Don't make a scene. The Brown Group is our only ticket to high society. You're going to ruin Eddy's future."

"What about my future?"

Father set his tablet face-down on the glass table. He pointed a thick finger at the front door. "You have no future here. Your bank cards are linked to the family trust. I froze them an hour ago. Leave."

I blinked, trying to process his words. "You're kicking me out? I have nothing."

"We are protecting our investment," Father corrected. "Eddy is useful. You are not."

"You can't do this," I whispered. "I'm your daughter."

"Eddy is our daughter," Mother replied smoothly. "You are a liability. Owen explicitly told us that if we support you, he will pull his investments out of your father's firm. We won't go bankrupt over your jealousy."

"Jealousy? She slept with my husband!"

"She secured our future," Father countered. "Now get out before I call security."

Mother stepped forward and shoved me backward onto the porch.

"Don't come back until you learn how to behave," she said.

The heavy oak door slammed in my face. The deadbolt clicked.

Rain soaked through my thin blouse. I sat on the metal bench at the bus stop, the icy downpour stinging my cheeks.

Three years of my life. Erased.

I had no money. No home. No family.

Memory hit me like a physical blow.

"Get away from me!" Owen roared.

Glass shattered against the hospital wall. He sat in his wheelchair, his legs dead, his eyes wild. He pressed a jagged shard of a broken mirror against his own wrist. Blood beaded on his pale skin.

"I'm half a man!" he screamed. "Let me die!"

"Put it down, Owen," I pleaded, stepping closer.

"Don't touch me!"

I didn't think. I lunged forward. I grabbed the bloody glass with my bare hands. The sharp edges sliced deep into my palms, but I held on.

"You're alive," I sobbed, pulling his head to my chest. "I'm right here. I'll always be here."

He dropped the glass. He gripped my bleeding hands, his tears mixing with my blood.

"Nancy," he vowed, his voice raw. "I will never betray you in this life."

The memory faded, leaving only the cold reality of the storm.

I buried my face in my hands. The rain washed away my tears. I wiped his ass. I fed him. I held him through night terrors and muscle spasms. I bathed him when he couldn't control his own bladder.

A joke. I was a massive, pathetic joke. My sacrifice meant absolutely nothing.

My phone vibrated in my wet pocket.

I pulled it out. The screen glowed in the dark.

*Owen.*

My pulse jumped. A pathetic, desperate spark ignited in my chest. Did he realize what he did? Was he calling to apologize? To tell me it was a mistake?

I swiped the green button. I pressed the phone to my ear.

"Owen?" I whispered.

"Get to City Hospital right now," his voice commanded. Cold. Hard.

My stomach twisted. "What?"

"Eddy has pregnancy-induced anemia," Owen stated. "She needs a blood transfusion immediately. You have the same rare blood type. Come bleed for her."

I stopped breathing. The rain battered the plastic roof above me.

"You want me... to give my blood... to the sister who stole my husband?"

"She's carrying my child," Owen replied. "Don't be selfish, Nancy."

"Selfish?" I laughed, a bitter, hollow sound. "I gave you my youth. I gave you my uterus. Now you want my blood?"

"It's just blood," Owen dismissed. "You owe her. She's giving me the family you never could."

A soft, whining voice echoed through the speaker.

"Sister?" Eddy whimpered. "I feel so dizzy. You wouldn't just leave me and the baby to die, would you?"

I gripped the phone tight enough to crack the case.

"Please, Nancy," Eddy continued, her tone heavy with fake innocence. "Owen is so worried about me. Just come to the hospital. We'll pay you for it."

"Go to hell," I spat.

"If you don't show up in twenty minutes," Owen threatened, his voice dropping an octave, "I'll make sure you never find a job in this city again. I'll ruin you."

"You already ruined me," I said.

I hung up.