Her Babies, His Deadly Secret

“On the day I was to marry Mark Chen, a text message changed everything. It was from my cousin, Chloe, a picture of her and Mark on a plane, smiling, with a single sentence: "Sorry, Sarah. We couldn' t wait." Humiliation washed over me, but then David Chen, Mark's uncle, stepped forward, offering a startling proposal: "Marry me, Sarah. Right now." He vowed to erase my shame, claiming he' d loved me for years. Numb, desperate to escape the pitying stares, I whispered, "Okay." The first three years of our marriage were quiet, peaceful on the surface. David was the perfect husband: kind, attentive, patient. But a shadow hung over our home, woven from seven miscarriages. Each time, hope was extinguished in blood and pain, each loss carving deeper grief into my soul. David was always there, holding me, telling me we' d get through it, grieving with me. Or so I thought. Then, during my eighth pregnancy, the familiar cramps started. I found David's study door slightly ajar and heard voices inside. It was David and his private physician. "The dosage was correct," David said, his voice flat and cold. "It' s taking a bit longer than usual, but the process has started." My blood ran cold. Dosage? Process? "Chloe is my priority," David continued, "Mark is infertile. When Chloe gets pregnant, her child must be the sole heir. No other Chen child to complicate things." My world went silent. It wasn' t an accident. He had been poisoning me, killing my babies. Seven of them. And now, the eighth. I stared at him, the man who had held me while I wept, and saw a stranger, a monster. Every kind word he' d ever said now tasted like poison. I had been living in a beautiful prison he had built, mistaking his deception for love. Why? What could possibly drive him to such monstrous acts against me, his wife, and our unborn children? My rage solidified into a cold, clear purpose. I would leave him. I would uncover the full extent of his betrayal, exposing Chloe' s complicity and their dark secrets, and then I would be free.”