Keith lifted his head and looked at me, his face blank.
"Jade, a child that nobody wants will never be happy, even if it's born."
"You of all people should know that."
My hand trembled. A wave of cold grief washed through me.
My father never loved my mother, but she insisted on having me, convinced a baby would save the marriage. It didn't. He walked out on us without looking back.
Growing up, my mother poured every drop of her resentment onto me. She blamed me for not being a boy. She blamed me for not being charming enough to win my father's affection.
When Ferdinand and I first got together, he'd held me close, his voice aching with tenderness.
"Jade, from now on, I'm the family who loves you most."
What I didn't know was that he'd taken every wound I'd ever shared with him and handed it to his parents like ammunition.
Now they were the ones ripping open the scars, one by one.
Their voices rose and fell around me, distant and distorted.
"I know the head of OB-GYN at a private hospital. She'll handle it personally. You'll recover in no time."
I wrapped both arms around my stomach and held on.