Winning Back My Genius Wife And Triplets

Twelve hours had passed.

Alicia hadn't eaten. She hadn't slept. She just stared at the white ceiling tiles, her body a hollow shell.

Nurse Sarah came in with a tray of nutrient-rich broth. Her kind face was etched with worry. "Mrs. Barnett, you have to eat. If not for yourself, then for the babies. You need to regain your strength. They need your milk."

"My milk..." Alicia whispered the words. Tears welled up again. Would she even have the chance to feed them? Barron was taking them away.

Her phone vibrated on the bedside table.

Barron's name flashed on the screen. Her heart hammered against her ribs. With a shaking hand, she answered, her voice a dry rasp.

"Barron?"

A sweet, cloying female voice answered. "Cousin, it's me, Destiny. Barron can't talk right now. He's with me."

The voice was a silken cord, tightening around Alicia's throat, choking the air from her lungs.

"You must be exhausted after giving birth, cousin," Destiny said, her tone dripping with fake sympathy. "It's such a shame I'm too fragile to visit you and the babies."

Alicia's hand clenched the phone, her nails digging into her palm. "What do you want, Destiny?"

A light, airy laugh. "I don't want anything. I'm just calling to tell you to stop bothering Barron. Your marriage was just a business deal. The deal is over. You should make a graceful exit."

A deal? The word exploded in Alicia's mind.

Then, she heard his voice in the background, low and impatient. "What are you telling her all that for?"

The phone was passed over. His voice, when it came, was as cold as a winter morning. "Alicia. Mark should have given you the papers. Sign them. It's better for everyone."

Hearing him, the fragile wall she had built around her heart crumbled. "Barron, tell me what's happening," she cried, the words tumbling out in a sob. "You said you'd love me forever."

A long silence stretched from the other end of the line. So long she thought he had hung up.

Then came the cruelest words she had ever heard.

"That was a contingency," he said flatly. "Our marriage had a one-year term from the beginning."

He continued, his voice relentless. "You were required to play the part of Mrs. Rivera and give birth to a child. Your task is now complete."

"So I was just a vessel? A tool for you to have children?" Her voice was shaking so hard she could barely form the words.

He didn't answer. His silence was the only confirmation she needed.

She tried to speak again, but was cut off by Destiny's delicate cough in the background, followed by a soft cry. "Barron, my medicine..."

Barron's tone shifted instantly, becoming tender and urgent. "I'm coming right now." Then, back to Alicia, his voice was ice again. "Don't call again. Contact my lawyer if you have questions."

The line went dead. The monotonous dial tone mocked her.

Alicia dropped the phone. She felt her body go limp, her vision tunneling to black. The last thing she heard was Nurse Sarah screaming her name as the emergency call button blared.

When she woke again, it was dark outside. The room was quiet, lit only by the soft glow of the monitors on the bassinets.

She pushed herself up, needing the restroom. Her legs were unsteady as she used the wall for support. The door to her room was slightly ajar, and as she passed, she heard two nurses speaking in hushed tones at the station down the hall.

"It's the lady in the VIP room, Mrs. Barnett," one said. "She hemorrhaged badly during the delivery yesterday. When her husband was signing the consent form outside the OR, he actually told the doctor, 'If you can't save the mother, save the children.'"

The other nurse gasped. "I heard from my colleague in obstetrics that it was critical. The doctor asked him if he consented to a hysterectomy to save her life, and he hesitated for a full five minutes, like he was calculating the pros and cons."

"My God, that's horrifying! He treats his wife like a baby machine!"

The fragmented conversation was the final blade, twisting in her already shredded heart. While she was fighting for her life, her husband was weighing her value.

All the love, all the hope, turned to ash.

She didn't go back to bed. She leaned against the cold wall until the nurses' footsteps faded. There were no more tears. They had all been spent.

Calmly, she walked back into her room, picked up the bowl of soup the nurse had left, and began to eat, one spoonful at a time.

When Sarah came in later, she was relieved to see the empty bowl.

Alicia wiped her mouth. "Sarah, could you please get my laptop for me?" she asked, her voice steady. "There's something I need to look up."

Her eyes were terrifyingly calm.