Scars of the Abandoned Bride

Bella shot me a mocking smile. "Grace, I talked to this expert, and he said if we hold a funeral for my hamster here, it'll come back as a human. Isn't that, like, a good deed?"

Ethan gazed at her adoringly. "You're always so thoughtful. Don't worry; your hamster will feel it."

Then Bella's eyes landed on the urn in my hands. "That white urn is beautiful. It'd be perfect for my hamster's ashes."

I tightened my grip on my grandma's urn, glaring at them. "If you even think about touching her ashes, I swear, I'll fight you both."

Ethan rolled his eyes. "Your grandma adored you, and here you are cursing her with this pathetic fake funeral. Don't you feel any shame?"

My hands shook as I stared him down. "My grandma died yesterday—at the wedding. If you don't believe me, go ask the hospital!"

Bella's tone turned sickly sweet. "Grace, we both know those ashes aren't real. But my hamster's death is real. Can't you just give me the urn?"

Ethan looked at me, annoyed. "I've got a hamster funeral to plan and no time for this drama. Hand over the urn."

I went ice-cold. "Over my dead body."

Ethan finally snapped, signaling to his bodyguards. They tore the urn from my arms, ignoring my desperate struggle to hold on.

Two more bodyguards pinned me down as I fought, screaming, "Give it back! Give me my grandma's ashes!"

It was no use. I watched, horrified, as one bodyguard dumped the ashes onto the floor like they were nothing.

My whole body shook with rage. All I wanted was to grab something sharp and end Ethan right there.

Bella stepped forward, grinding her heel into the ashes. "Grace, on behalf of my hamster, thank you."

Seeing her crush my grandma's ashes under her heel sent me over the edge. I let out a raw scream, "Get away, Bella!"

With everything I had, I broke free from the bodyguards, lunging at Bella and shoving her down. Dropping to my knees, I frantically tried to gather up my grandma's ashes, hands trembling as I whispered, "Grandma, I'm so sorry. I couldn't protect you."

Bella, still on the ground, touched her forehead and shrieked when she saw blood on her fingers. "Ethan, I'm bleeding so much!"

Ethan's face changed instantly at the sight.

"Grace, give Bella a blood transfusion—now!"

The words "blood transfusion" jolted through me, and I wrapped my arms around my stomach. "I can't. I'm pregnant."

In the past, they'd treated me like Bella's personal blood bank. But this time, things were different.

Ethan's eyes widened. "You're pregnant?"

Desperate to make him believe me, I pulled my medical report from my bag and handed it to him. "I'm really pregnant. I can't give blood."

I'd already lost my grandma—I wasn't risking my child, too.

Bella's voice trembled, eyes filling with tears. "Grace, I know you've always hated me and don't want to help, but faking a pregnancy report just to get out of it? Just let me die if that's how you feel."

Her tear-streaked, pitiful look and the blood on her forehead seemed to hit Ethan hard. He looked at me with cold, accusing eyes.

"I thought you were kind and gentle. I never knew how low you'd go. Faking a pregnancy report? I was so wrong about you. You will give Bella that transfusion!"