Chapter 2 - The Cutting of the Cords(Approx. 1,800 words)
The elastic medical belt felt cool and soft against my shaking fingers as I took it from Chloe's hands.
Julian stood frozen between the dining table and the hallway, his face contorted in a mixture of disbelief and humiliated fury. Around the long mahogany table, six other family members—uncles, cousins, and in-laws who had cheerfully put five-dollar and ten-dollar bills into Julian’s betting pool ten minutes ago—suddenly found the floral pattern on their dinner plates extremely interesting.
"Give that back to her, Chloe," Evelyn demanded, taking a sharp step toward us. "You are a guest in this house, and you have no right to meddle in our family affairs!"
"She isn't meddling, Evelyn," Grandma said, her voice like quiet thunder. "She is handing a patient her stolen medical supplies."
Grandma reached into her cardigan pocket and pulled out a small pair of silver sewing shears she always carried in her purse. Without waiting for Julian or Evelyn to object, she slid the blunt tip of the blades carefully under the top loop of the decorative gold cords wrapped around my ribs.
SNIP.
The thick, woven cord snapped with a heavy recoil.
Instantly, the suffocating pressure against my chest released. Air rushed back into my lungs so fast that I gasped aloud, stumbling back half a step. The second and third knots gave way under Grandma’s swift blades. The heavy ropes coiled onto the floor at my feet like dead snakes.
My maternity blouse was ruined—two distinct bands of dark crimson blood had soaked through the thin linen where the coarse cords had rubbed my inflamed stretch marks raw.
"Look at what you did!" Evelyn shrieked, pointing an accusing finger not at her son, but at me. "You’re bleeding on my hardwood floor! You did this on purpose to embarrass us in front of everyone!"
"She is bleeding because you tied furniture cords around a woman carrying twins!" Chloe yelled back, stepping squarely in front of Evelyn.
Chloe’s transformation from the coy, laughing mistress to an enraged defender was surreal, but the cold reality of what she had been participating in had clearly shattered her composure. She looked at Julian with utter contempt. "You told me she was crazy, Julian. You told me she was faking her high-risk complications so she could stay in bed all day while you did all the work!"
"She IS faking half of it!" Julian shouted, taking a aggressive step toward Chloe. "She's been complaining since week twelve! Do you have any idea how much money I've spent on her specialist visits?! Money that was supposed to go toward our business expansion!"
"Our business expansion?" I spoke up, my voice remarkably steady despite the physical pain throbbing across my torso. I unbuttoned my stained outer blouse, wrapping the medical support belt tightly around my hips where it belonged. The instant stabilization brought an overwhelming wave of relief to my aching pelvis.
"What business expansion, Julian?" I asked, looking him in the eye. "You haven't worked a forty-hour week in six months. The specialist visits were paid entirely out of my personal health insurance from my consulting firm."
Julian’s jaw tightened. "You think you're so smart, don't you? You think because you brought a fat trust fund into this marriage that you own me?"
"No," I replied, pulling my phone from my pocket. "I know I don't own you. But I do know who owns the lease on this house."
The room went dead silent.
Evelyn’s face paled slightly. "What are you talking about? Julian signed the lease on this estate!"
"Julian signed the application," Grandma corrected her daughter softly, setting her sewing shears back into her purse. "Clara paid the two-year advance rental deposit from her inheritance account. I was the witness who co-signed the bank transfer, Evelyn. Did your son forget to mention that detail to you when he invited you all here for Christmas?"
Evelyn turned to Julian, her mouth agape. "Julian? Is that true?"
Julian didn't answer his mother. His eyes were fixed on my phone. "Who are you calling, Clara? Don't you dare call the police over some stupid family argument. You'll ruin my reputation at the firm!"
"I'm not calling the police, Julian," I said, tapping the screen. "I'm calling Dr. Harrison’s emergency triage line. And then I’m calling a rideshare to take me to Saint Jude’s Maternity Ward."
"You're not going anywhere," Julian snarled, stepping forward to grab my arm. "We have twenty guests coming at seven for the holiday toast! You are going upstairs, changing your shirt, and coming back down here to act like a normal wife!"
Before Julian’s fingers could close around my wrist, Chloe stepped directly into his path, shoving his chest with both hands.
"Don't you dare touch her!" Chloe screamed. "Are you out of your mind?!"
Julian stumbled back, shocked by Chloe's sudden physical intervention. "Chloe! Whose side are you on?!"
"I'm on the side of not going to prison for accomplice to domestic abuse!" Chloe shouted, tears of rage spilling down her makeup. She spun around, grabbed her designer coat off the entryway coat rack, and snatched her purse off the console table.
She walked over to me, looking down at my hands clutching the support belt. "I'm sorry," Chloe whispered, her voice dropping into a raw, genuine apology. "I didn't know... he told me you two were already separated and that you were just staying here until the lease ended. He’s a monster."
Chloe turned, slammed the front door behind her, and walked out into the freezing December rain.
Julian stood in the center of the grand foyer, surrounded by his silent, staring family.
Grandma walked over to me, wrapping a thick, warm wool shawl over my shoulders, carefully covering the bloodstains on my blouse. "Come, child," she said gently, taking my hand. "My driver is waiting outside. We are going to the hospital right now."
"Grandma, stay out of this!" Julian roared, taking a step toward us. "She is MY wife! This is MY baby she's carrying!"
Grandma stopped. She turned around slowly, her small, eighty-two-year-old frame radiating an authority that instantly made the entire room hold its breath.
"They are twins, Julian," Grandma said, her voice slicing through the air like a razor blade. "And if you take one more step toward this girl, I will call the managing board of Vance Capital before we reach the main gate, and I will personally ensure your inheritance trust is dissolved by midnight."
May you like
Julian froze as if he had been struck by lightning.
I didn't look back at him again. Supported by his grandmother's steady arm, I stepped out the front door into the cool winter night, leaving Julian and his mother standing alone in the middle of their ruined Christmas showcase.
Related Stories
