Lily's Last Breath, A Marriage's End

Lily's Last Breath, A Marriage's End

Gavin

5.0
Comment(s)
View
11
Chapters

The phone was slick with sweat as I screamed my address to the 911 operator, my three-year-old daughter, Lily, gasping for air on the living room carpet, her face a terrifying shade of blue. "She has a heart condition," I choked out. "She needs an ambulance. Now." From the bedroom, I heard my wife, Sarah, on the phone, her voice a low, intimate murmur, oblivious to Lily' s agony. She was talking to another man, David, expressing concern for his sick son, Leo. Rage scorching my veins, I confronted her. "Lily can' t breathe! Get off the damn phone!" She flinched, looking at me with annoyance. "I' m talking to David. His son is sick. It' s important." "Our daughter is dying!" I yelled, but she just rolled her eyes dismissively. "You' re overreacting, Ethan. She probably just has a cold. You always panic." My world fractured. When the ambulance finally arrived, it was too late. Dr. Evans, his eyes weary, delivered the crushing news: "We lost her." Lily was gone. Hours later, I called Sarah, trembling, trying to tell her. "Lily... she' s gone." But her words sliced me like knives. "What are you talking about? Gone where? I' m at the hospital with David; Leo' s getting his kidney transplant tomorrow." Disbelief, then a chilling horror, washed over me as she dismissed Lily' s death as another one of my "dramas," hanging up to celebrate Leo' s transplant. When her parents, John and Mary, arrived, they scrolled through Sarah' s social media: a smiling photo of her and David, celebrating Leo' s perfect match-posted after I called her. "A perfect match, right now?" John' s voice was low, dangerous. A horrible suspicion began to dawn: was this more than just indifference? Could it be something far more sinister?

Introduction

The phone was slick with sweat as I screamed my address to the 911 operator, my three-year-old daughter, Lily, gasping for air on the living room carpet, her face a terrifying shade of blue.

"She has a heart condition," I choked out. "She needs an ambulance. Now."

From the bedroom, I heard my wife, Sarah, on the phone, her voice a low, intimate murmur, oblivious to Lily' s agony. She was talking to another man, David, expressing concern for his sick son, Leo.

Rage scorching my veins, I confronted her. "Lily can' t breathe! Get off the damn phone!" She flinched, looking at me with annoyance. "I' m talking to David. His son is sick. It' s important."

"Our daughter is dying!" I yelled, but she just rolled her eyes dismissively. "You' re overreacting, Ethan. She probably just has a cold. You always panic."

My world fractured. When the ambulance finally arrived, it was too late. Dr. Evans, his eyes weary, delivered the crushing news: "We lost her." Lily was gone.

Hours later, I called Sarah, trembling, trying to tell her. "Lily... she' s gone." But her words sliced me like knives. "What are you talking about? Gone where? I' m at the hospital with David; Leo' s getting his kidney transplant tomorrow."

Disbelief, then a chilling horror, washed over me as she dismissed Lily' s death as another one of my "dramas," hanging up to celebrate Leo' s transplant. When her parents, John and Mary, arrived, they scrolled through Sarah' s social media: a smiling photo of her and David, celebrating Leo' s perfect match-posted after I called her.

"A perfect match, right now?" John' s voice was low, dangerous. A horrible suspicion began to dawn: was this more than just indifference? Could it be something far more sinister?

Continue Reading

Other books by Gavin

More
When Love Turns to Ash

When Love Turns to Ash

Short stories

4.6

My world revolved around Jax Harding, my older brother's captivating rockstar friend. From sixteen, I adored him; at eighteen, I clung to his casual promise: "When you're 22, maybe I'll settle down." That offhand comment became my life's beacon, guiding every choice, meticulously planning my twenty-second birthday as our destiny. But on that pivotal day in a Lower East Side bar, clutching my gift, my dream exploded. I overheard Jax' s cold voice: "Can't believe Savvy's showing up. She' s still hung up on that stupid thing I said." Then the crushing plot: "We' re gonna tell Savvy I' m engaged to Chloe, maybe even hint she' s pregnant. That should scare her off." My gift, my future, slipped from my numb fingers. I fled into the cold New York rain, devastated by betrayal. Later, Jax introduced Chloe as his "fiancée" while his bandmates mocked my "adorable crush"-he did nothing. As an art installation fell, he saved Chloe, abandoning me to severe injury. In the hospital, he came for "damage control," then shockingly shoved me into a fountain, leaving me to bleed, calling me a "jealous psycho." How could the man I loved, who once saved me, become this cruel and publicly humiliate me? Why was my devotion seen as an annoyance to be brutally extinguished with lies and assault? Was I just a problem, my loyalty met with hatred? I would not be his victim. Injured and betrayed, I made an unshakeable vow: I was done. I blocked his number and everyone connected to him, severing ties. This was not an escape; this was my rebirth. Florence awaited, a new life on my terms, unburdened by broken promises.

You'll also like

I Slapped My Fiancé-Then Married His Billionaire Nemesis

I Slapped My Fiancé-Then Married His Billionaire Nemesis

Jessica C. Dolan
5.0

Being second best is practically in my DNA. My sister got the love, the attention, the spotlight. And now, even her damn fiancé. Technically, Rhys Granger was my fiancé now-billionaire, devastatingly hot, and a walking Wall Street wet dream. My parents shoved me into the engagement after Catherine disappeared, and honestly? I didn't mind. I'd crushed on Rhys for years. This was my chance, right? My turn to be the chosen one? Wrong. One night, he slapped me. Over a mug. A stupid, chipped, ugly mug my sister gave him years ago. That's when it hit me-he didn't love me. He didn't even see me. I was just a warm-bodied placeholder for the woman he actually wanted. And apparently, I wasn't even worth as much as a glorified coffee cup. So I slapped him right back, dumped his ass, and prepared for disaster-my parents losing their minds, Rhys throwing a billionaire tantrum, his terrifying family plotting my untimely demise. Obviously, I needed alcohol. A lot of alcohol. Enter him. Tall, dangerous, unfairly hot. The kind of man who makes you want to sin just by existing. I'd met him only once before, and that night, he just happened to be at the same bar as my drunk, self-pitying self. So I did the only logical thing: I dragged him into a hotel room and ripped off his clothes. It was reckless. It was stupid. It was completely ill-advised. But it was also: Best. Sex. Of. My. Life. And, as it turned out, the best decision I'd ever made. Because my one-night stand isn't just some random guy. He's richer than Rhys, more powerful than my entire family, and definitely more dangerous than I should be playing with. And now, he's not letting me go.

Chapters
Read Now
Download Book