A Mother's Strength, A Wife's Fall

in a dramatic gesture. "I feel... dizzy," she whispered

me as if I had physically struck her. "Sarah, stop.

ng. He guided Lily to one of the dining chairs, his movements full of a tenderness I

king at me with open hostility. "S

d wife, being treated like a villain in my own home. My husband and son were fussing over the other woman, the one

fold. The sheer injustice of it was a physical weig

rselves. David, in his rush to secure a massive tech contract, had made a critical error in the structural calculations f

klash was brutal. I lost my license for two years. During the height of the media storm and the internal investigation, the stress triggered a medical disaster-an ectopic pregnancy I didn't even know I had. It rupt

ingers. "I'm so sorry, Sarah," he had choked out. "I owe you my life, my career. I

eality. We adopted Alex a year later, and I thought our fa

over Lily, his promises t

ce to drop off lunch. She was bright, ambitious, and her eyes follo

that one, David," I'd said lightly, trying not to soun

s, that's what I like about her. You're just seeing things." He kissed my fore

e to get the one thing I could never give him-a biological child-and he had taken it. My sacrifice hadn't been enough. I wasn't enough. M

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