Blood appeared to darken under the bright hospital lights.
Isabella Hart watched the thin trail of what was left of her as it slowly made its way down her leg and felt her heart drop into a void beyond fear.
The white tile floor under the exam table reflected the red mark too perfectly, as if the room itself was against her.
Her hands were a quiver as she placed them over her stomach. "Please…' she whispered to no one in particular. "Not again."
In the small Emergency Room, the only sounds were those of the hospital's – stretchers rolling by on the floors, muffled nurses'voices, and the at times steady beeping of machines down the hall.
On the other side of the room, her husband stood close to the window. Daniel Hart looked picture-perfect as always. His tailored suit fit him flawlessly. Tall. Very Good looking. Daniel did not look at her. He was scrolling through his phone, reading emails. Isabella swallowed hard.
"I'm still bleeding, " she said quietly. Daniel didn't respond right away. His thumb was still on the screen before he finally spoke.
"I see that." He had no panic in his voice. No worry at all. Just irritation. "You should have been more careful tonight." The words hung in the air.
Isabella sat there blinking. She tried to make sense of what happened. Careful. As if she had broken a glass instead of possibly losing a child.
"I didn't do anything," she said weakly.
Daniel sighed, sharply impatient. "You say that every time. " He finally looked up from where he stood. His gaze ran over her face, then down to the pale mark of blood on her thigh, before back to her eyes.
"You embarrassed me tonight," he added.
In an instant, the scene played out in her mind. The gala. The investors. The champagne. The laughter. Then the cramp twisted violently through her abdomen as she stood by his side at the table.
The tray from which it had come out of her unsteady hands. Crystal breaking across the floor. The room went silent.
Daniel's jaw tightens in front of his most important business associates.
"I told you I wasn't well," Isabella says softly.
"And I told you to pull yourself together." His tone is even, but what he's saying has a quiet, sharp edge which she knows very well by now.
She looks away. "You knew about the baby."
"And yet you knew how key that dinner was." He replied.
There it goes again. Importance always in terms of money, reputation, and power. Never in love. Never in heart.
It was just hours ago when they were in another hospital room – the light dimmed, and they were full of hope. The technician had moved the probe over her stomach before pointing at the screen.
"There it is, " she said. A little flash in the dark. A heartbeat. Fast. Strong. Alive. Isabella had broken down. Daniel nodded. Now here they are again. In a hospital room. Waiting. Bleeding out. Praying.
Daniel put his phone away and crossed his arms. "You've lost two already, you have to take a look at yourself at some point," he said out of the blue.
His words really got to her. They hurt more than the ache in her stomach.
She said in a voice, "I almost died last year."
Daniel shrugged. "Yes. And we did it again. The word felt out of place in his mouth.
She looked down at her hands. Faint yellow bruise marks on her wrist. They were healing, but a few nights ago, they were darker. That night he got physical during an argument. Hard enough to leave marks. Hard enough to make her cry.
Daniel called it discipline. Isabella stopped trying to reframe it. Saying the truth out loud might break the illusion that their marriage is normal.
Three years ago, she thought so. Three years ago, Daniel Hart looked like a miracle. She met him when she had nothing.
At that time, Isabella was still just Isabella Moore – a struggling lounge singer in a dimly lit bar in London's financial district.
The bar was the sort that people only came to when they were at their wits' end. The lights were always low. Drinks were cheap. Music loud enough to mask men's private talks.
Isabella performed there 5 nights a week. Not because she loved it. But because it paid the rent.
Life had never been kind to her. At 16, her mother died. The relatives who took her in saw more of a duty than a pleasure in caring for her. She went out on her own at 19 to try and survive.
This was the time when she made a mistake that would follow her for many years. She fell in love. Or so she thought.
The man who told her the world was at her feet was married. When the truth came out, it wasn't him the world condemned. It was her. The young woman. The "other woman". The scandal spread fast. The talk followed her everywhere.
When she met Daniel, her reputation was really bad.
Daniel smiled at her one night at the bar. He said to her, "You do not belong here." Those words from Daniel changed everything about her life.
He came back the next night. And the following night.
Soon he began a routine of evening visits at the same table, watched her perform as if the world around was not there. He doted on her in public and bought out tables in fancy restaurants for them alone. Kept her away from the drama of social circles.
Then six months in, he popped the question. People thought of it as very romantic. A powerful man comes to the rescue of a broken girl from a bad background.
Isabella thought she had fully bought into that story. What she didn't know then was that Daniel wasn't seeing her as a partner. He was viewing her as property.
The hospital doors burst open, and Isabella was brought back to the present. Her heart went into overtime.
A Doctor walked in with a file. Daniel at once stood straight. "Well?" he asked. The doctor's face was a mask. "We have had some heavy bleeding," he said.
Isabella's breath caught. "But we are very closely monitoring the baby." Monitoring. Not out of danger. Not stable. Just... monitoring. Her hands went to her stomach. She said, "Is the baby's heart there?" Her voice was really quiet; you could hardly hear her.
The doctor paused. That pause stopped her heart. "We need to do another scan right away."
A nurse entered behind her with a wheelchair.
Isabella tried to stand. As soon as her feet touched the floor, a sharp pain shot through her abdomen. She gasped.
The nurse quickly got her back into the chair. "Easy," the nurse said gently. Daniel stood by silently.
As the wheelchair rolled out down the hall towards the ultrasound room, Isabella looked down again. A drop of blood made its way down her leg. Her vision blurred. "Please hold on," she thought.
In the back, Daniel was talking to the doctor. But the hall amplified their voices. "If she loses this one also," he said coldly, "I am not sure this marriage will survive. " That froze Isabella's heart.
The nurse kept at the wheel. The floor just dropped out from under her. They got to the ultrasound room. Then, this really bad pain hit her stomach. So sudden, so intense, she let out a scream. The nurse gasped.
The doctor rushed forward. "In – now! " The doors flew open. They were prepping the machines.
And as they rushed her in, Isabella realized that tonight may not only decide the fate of her baby. It may also decide the fate of her whole life.