The Pearl That Ended UsChapter 1
For the insignificant pearl I had accidentally swallowed, my husband, Sylus, made an unthinkable request: he asked his older brother, Xavier, to cut me open and retrieve it.
That small, inconsequential thing meant more to him than I ever did.
On the cold operating table, I hovered between life and death. My body trembled as I fought to hold on, my soul almost slipping away.
In the midst of this agony, Sylus called, his voice cold and indifferent.
"How is it? Have you found it yet?" His words pierced the sterile air, devoid of any concern for me.
"Charlotte cried herself to sleep," he added, as if that was the only thing that truly mattered.
Xavier, standing over me with blood on his hands, smirked with pride. "Found it. I will bring it to you right away."
No apology. No tenderness. Just business.
He hurriedly stitched the incision on my stomach, neglecting any care or disinfection.
His eyes glanced at my pale face, a mixture of disgust and impatience flashing in them, as though I was nothing more than a task to be completed.
Xavier did not care for the pain I was in, the shivering of my weakened body, or the silent tears that rolled down my cheeks.
In that moment, I started to realize if I had never been more than a shadow in Sylus’s life, a mere substitute for Charlotte, the one he truly loved.
I was never her. I could never be her.
On that icy table, I made my decision. I would leave them to be the happy couple they deserved to be. A pale imitation could never replace the real thing, after all.
But as I left him, Sylus came after me, his eyes burning with a possessiveness that made my heart stutter.
"Who told you that you could leave of your own accord, baby girl?"
***
The incision made by Xavier Fuentez, despite him being an internal organ specialist, made me grit my teeth in unbearable pain.
Even though he had administered anesthesia, it had not worked completely, and the procedure he performed alone, without a nurse or anesthetist, was anything but standard.
The cold, sterile air filled with the sound of surgical instruments clinking as he tore through each layer of my flesh, one after another.
“How dare you, Xavier!” I snapped, tied helplessly to the freezing metal table, forced to endure whatever he decided to do. My voice trembled, not just from pain, but from fear.