Sierra tried to adjust them, tried to soothe them, but her hands were shaking too badly.
The boy, Micah, turned his tiny face toward her chest, searching for comfort.
The girl, Asha, whimpered softly, her little fists clenched tight.
“Your children are crying,” Sierra said, looking directly at Donovan. “Don’t you feel anything?”
He glanced down at the twins for the first time since entering the room.
His expression did not change.
“They’ll be fine,” he said dismissively. “Children are resilient. They won’t even remember this.”
“But I will,” Sierra whispered.
“Good,” Donovan said. “Maybe it will teach you something about reality.”
The nurse looked away, visibly disturbed.
Celeste stepped closer.
“Sierra,” she said, “I know this is hard, but dragging it out will only make things worse for everyone. Including them.”
She nodded toward the babies.
Something cold settled in Sierra’s chest.
Not fear.
Not even anger.
Clarity.
“How long?” Sierra asked quietly.
Donovan frowned.
“How long what?”
“How long have you been planning this?” she asked, looking from him to Celeste. “The timing is too precise. Too calculated. You didn’t wake up this morning and decide to destroy your family. So how long?”
Celeste’s smile faltered for a fraction of a second.
Donovan’s jaw tightened.
“That’s not relevant.”
“It is to me.”
Sierra’s voice was stronger now, cutting through the medication, cutting through the pain.
“You came here with papers already filed. You brought her. You came prepared. So I’m asking again. How long?”
Donovan exhaled sharply.
“Six months,” he said finally. “Maybe longer. I stopped keeping track of when I stopped caring.”
Six months.
Sierra’s mind ran backward.
Six months ago was June.
The month she had told him she was pregnant.
She had made dinner that night, his favorite jerk chicken and rice. After dessert, she showed him the positive pregnancy test. She had been terrified he would not be happy.
But he had smiled.
He had pulled her into his arms.
He had kissed her forehead and said, “We’re going to be parents.”
That night, he had already been planning to leave her.
“You knew,” Sierra said, the realization covering her like ice water. “When I told you I was pregnant, you already knew you were going to do this.”
Donovan shrugged.
“I thought maybe it would change things. Maybe I’d feel something.”
He paused.
“I didn’t.”
Celeste touched his arm, silently warning him to stop talking.
He ignored her.
“You want the truth, Sierra? I married you because you were safe. Smart, yes. Accomplished, sure. But safe. You didn’t come from money, so you wouldn’t challenge me. You didn’t have connections, so you wouldn’t compete with me. You were grateful just to be noticed. And for a while, that worked.”
He stepped closer.
Sierra pulled the twins tighter against her.
