The Betrayed Bride's Ultimate Retribution

Evelyn POV:

The world held its breath. Belen' s labor was a spectacle, an ordeal that dragged on for what felt like an eternity. News reports, carefully filtered by the powerful Morgan family, spoke of unforeseen complications, a difficult delivery. The whispers were far more alarming.

Days turned into a week, then more. Still, no official announcement of the birth. No triumphant cry of a newborn heir. Just strained silence from the Morgan estate. My father was beside himself, denied access to his daughter, blocked by Dedric's furious family.

I knew. I knew something was terribly wrong with the child. Belen's desperate rush, the unnatural speed of her pregnancy-it had to have consequences.

Then, the summons came. My father, his voice tight and urgent over the phone, demanded my presence at the Morgan estate.

"Evelyn, you have to come," he pleaded, his usual authoritarian tone replaced by a desperate tremor. "Dedric's family is... furious. Belen... she's in a bad way."

Ingram, who had been listening quietly, placed a hand on my arm. "You don't have to go, Evelyn," he said, his amber eyes filled with concern. "It sounds like a trap."

I shook my head. "No. This is it. The culmination of her schemes. I need to see it for myself." I looked at him. "Will you come with me?"

He squeezed my hand. "Always."

The Morgan estate was a scene of utter chaos. Servants scurried like frightened mice. Doctors, their faces grim, moved with an air of defeat. And in one of the opulent drawing rooms, Belen lay sprawled on a plush sofa, disheveled, pale, and utterly broken. Her eyes were vacant, staring at the ceiling. A small, blanket-wrapped bundle lay silently in the arms of a grim-faced nurse nearby.

Dedric stood over Belen, his face contorted with a furious disgust I had never seen, not even when I had first revealed my past-life pregnancy to him. Belen, seeing him, whimpered.

"It's yours, Dedric! It's yours!" she cried, her voice hoarse, raw with desperation. "I swear it! It's our heir!"

Dedric scoffed, a harsh, ugly sound. "My family's bloodline is pure, Belen. Generations of unblemished purity. This... thing... it is not ours."

His gaze flickered to the silent bundle, a look of pure revulsion on his face. The nurse instinctively clutched the baby tighter.

"It's your fault!" Dedric roared, pointing a trembling finger at Belen. "Your greed! Your deceit! You have ruined our name!"

"No! Dedric, please!" Belen wailed, trying to sit up, but falling back weakly. "He's the first heir! He has to be!"

"Silence!" Dedric snarled, his voice thick with menace. "Or I will make you regret the day you ever conceived this... mistake."

My father stepped forward, his face pale. "Dedric, please, calm down. There must be a mistake. Belen wouldn't... she wouldn't do anything to jeopardize our alliance." He looked at Belen, a desperate plea in his eyes.

Belen, seeing her father's familiar weakness, tried one last desperate tactic. She stretched out a trembling hand to Dedric, a tear rolling down her cheek. "Dedric, my love, you know how much I wanted this. I wanted to give you the first heir, to secure your future. Please, don't abandon me."

Dedric, however, merely stared at her with cold, dead eyes. He walked over to the nurse and, with a grimace, took the blanket-wrapped baby from her arms.

The baby, disturbed by the sudden movement, let out a small, soft whimper.

That sound.

It was faint, almost imperceptible amidst the chaos, but it pierced through me, sharp and agonizing. It was the sound of a newborn cry. And suddenly, I was back there. In my past life. Alone. After the brutal delivery of my first child, a son. Dedric absent, celebrating his political victory. The pain of my body, the overwhelming love for my baby, and the crushing loneliness.

And then, later, the cries of my second child, a daughter, so brief, so fragile. The cries that were silenced too soon.

The room spun. My vision blurred. I felt a wave of nausea, cold sweat breaking out on my skin. My chest tightened, a crushing weight pressing down on me. I gripped Ingram's arm, my knuckles white.

"Evelyn? Are you alright?" Ingram's voice was filled with alarm. He thought I was simply sick, overwhelmed by the scene. He didn't know the ghosts stirring within me.

"I'm fine," I choked out, forcing the words past the lump in my throat. I couldn't break down here. Not now. I had endured worse. And I had a promise to keep to myself. To them.

Belen, completely oblivious to my internal struggle, continued to beg. "Dedric, look at him! He has your eyes! Please, don't do this!"