The Last Blow

Pain was the first thing Olivia Harper felt.

It struck without warning, tearing through her abdomen like a blade, sharp and merciless. Her knees buckled as her body collapsed onto the cold wooden floor. Blood soaked through her clothes, spreading beneath her in a dark, sticky pool. Each breath came broken, shallow, as though her lungs had forgotten how to obey.

It hurt.

It hurt so much she could barely think.

“Please…” Her lips trembled as she forced the words out. “Please… believe me.”

Her vision was blurred with tears, but she could still see him clearly.

Nathan Blake.

He stood a short distance away, tall and perfectly composed, as though the chaos unfolding before him had nothing to do with him. His expression was calm—too calm. There was no shock, no panic, no concern. Only distance. Only indifference.

“Olivia, the baby is mine,” she cried desperately, clutching her swelling stomach. “I never betrayed you. I swear I didn’t sleep with anyone else!”

She waited. She waited for him to speak. To stop this. To say even one word in her defense.

But Nathan remained silent. That silence was heavier than any accusation. It pressed down on her chest, crushing what little hope she had left.

A soft, mocking laugh cut through the air.

“Pitiful,” Madeline Carter said, stepping closer. Her heels clicked against the floor, precise and cruel. Beside her, Lily Carter smirked, her eyes gleaming with delight as she watched Olivia falter. “Why must you struggle like this?”

Around them, curious murmurs replaced sympathy. No one stepped forward to help. Victoria Carter, poised in the corner, merely watched with an unreadable expression, as though Olivia’s agony were a performance meant for their entertainment.

Moments earlier, several people had restrained Olivia. Hands forced pills past her lips, and only when the pain started did she realize what they were—abortion pills.

The realization came too late.

Her stomach convulsed violently, agony ripping through her body as she curled inward on instinct, arms wrapping around herself in a futile attempt to protect the life growing inside her.

“I… I did everything right…” she sobbed. “Why… why is this happening to me?”

The answer came swiftly.

A sharp kick slammed into her stomach. The impact stole the air from her lungs. Pain exploded through her body, white and blinding, drowning out her scream. Her vision darkened as the world spun violently, sounds fading into distant echoes.

Laughter rang above her. She felt herself slipping. Cold crept into her limbs as strength drained away. The floor beneath her felt unbearably hard, unbearably cold.

Then—everything went still.

Her body lay motionless. Yet somehow, Olivia Harper felt… light. She hovered above the scene, looking down at herself—bloodied, broken, abandoned. The sight should have terrified her, but instead, an overwhelming numbness settled over her soul.

Memories flooded her mind.

Nathan Blake’s repeated silence. His refusal to defend her. His unwavering attention to the Carters, no matter how cruel they were. Madeline’s sweet smiles hiding venom. Lily’s careful lies. Victoria’s subtle manipulation. The way they had slowly destroyed her life from the shadows.

And the child.

The child she never had the chance to protect.

Tears slid silently down Olivia’s face as darkness crept closer.

“God…” she whispered into the void. “If you give me another chance… I won’t beg for love again. I won’t fall for him again. I won’t die like this.”

The world dissolved completely.

But in the endless darkness, something flickered. A spark.

Olivia Harper’s final thought was not fear. It was a vow.

If she returned, she would take everything back.

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