A Wife's Ultimate Sacrifice

ws came from her doctor that her "condition" was permanent. The bullet wound h

weeping in Alex's arms. It was a

bbed, her body shaking. "A woman

ith a tenderness he hadn't shown Erica in months. "Y

t him, her eyes wide and desperate. "I wanted a family with

y, a silent, invisible wi

er voice thick with manipulation. "Promise me you'

e raw with emotion. He was compl

ica for a split second, a glint of

to Erica. He looked exhaus

to talk,"

in a flat, rehearsed monotone. Diamond wanted a

use a surrogate," Alex said,

l spread through

doesn't want another woman carrying the child. She wa

a couldn't breathe. "

tumbling out now. "An eye for an eye. A womb for a wo

ng away from him. "No. Yo

voice cracking. "Erica, this is the only way to pay th

eedom?" She was screaming now, her voice raw with disbelief and horror. "That's not a deb

led back, his composure finally

vows we made? 'In sickness and in

aid, his voice dropping to a chill

It was then that she knew he would go th

balled into fists, beating against

. He didn't fight back. He didn't even flinch. When she wa

oice hollow. "I swear it. Then we can go a

hey dragged her from the apartment, her screams echoing in the empty hallwa

ry than a hospital. It wasn't a real clinic. Diamond owned it. The "doctor" was a man wi

was dressed in a crisp white coa

sharp and predatory. "Don't you look

as always so taken with you. Your body. The way you could cre

," Erica spat, he

g field. He can't have what he wants with me, so he won't have it with you,

a raw, animal terror rising in her thr

ere, darling. He couldn't be

her voice light and casual. "I want her to feel everything. I want he

he inside out. She screamed until her throat was raw, her vision blurring, the world dissolving

arrating the procedure to the empty room. "See? We're just removing the prob

arkness took her completely was Diamond lean

voice filled with triumphant

e pain was a dull, throbbing constant. Alex was si

uilt so profound it seemed to have carved lines

ak, but no words came out.

ispered, her voice a dry, ras

a path down his che