Bleeding Out At My Own Wedding

I had just come off a grueling fourteen-hour night shift when Harrisons new girl dropped to her knees right in front of my locker, sobbing as if her heart had been ripped out.

Please, Natalie. Please, she begged, her voice echoing in the sterile hospital corridor. Let me keep this baby. Harrison says he'll only listen to you.

She grabbed at the hem of my scrubs. "I'll be so good, I swear. I won't ever try to take your place. I'm only nineteen. I'm terrified of getting an abortion. You're a doctor, you're supposed to save livesplease, just accept me."

Right as she hit the peak of her hysterical pleading, Harrison rounded the corner. He looked breathless, frantic.

He looked at me, his eyes heavy with performative guilt. "Cheating was my mistake. I own that. So whether this baby stays or goes... I'm leaving the decision entirely in your hands."

In my past life, this exact scene had shattered me. I had been too much of an idealist back then, clinging to the naive belief of a soulmate, of one true love. The betrayal of the man I had slept beside and loved fiercely for five years destroyed me.

Back then, I chose a clean break. I walked away, refusing to ever see him again.

And that decision taught me the brutal, unforgiving nature of reality.

She, the mistress, used her child to claw her way up. She lived a life bathed in luxury and unimaginable wealth. Meanwhile, I worked myself to the bone. I practically lived in the operating room, but even after collapsing from sheer exhaustion, I still hadn't scraped together enough to pay off my mother's crushing medical debts.

It forced me to agree with the cynical old saying: In the end, love is just a losing game.

So, in this life, I looked at Harrison and said, "Get rid of the baby. And our wedding will proceed as planned."

........

I watched the tension physically drain from his shoulders. He exhaled a sharp breath, shocked by my sheer magnanimity, and even more shocked that I still wanted to marry him.

"I'm so glad you could see reason," he murmured.

I offered him a faint, practiced smile.

It wasn't that I had seen reason. I had seen the absolute core of how the world worked. You can survive perfectly fine without love. You cannot survive without money.

Harrison took a tentative step toward me, testing the waters. His arm slipped naturally around my waist, pulling me gently against his chest. But beneath the warmth in his eyes, there was a calculating scrutiny.

"Will you be the one to do her D&C?" he asked softly. "I wouldn't trust any other doctor with it."

I didn't hesitate for a fraction of a second. The corners of my mouth tipped upward. "Of course. Leave her to me."

A flicker of genuine surprise crossed his face. For a second, he looked at me like he didn't know me at all. "She's young. She's scared of the pain," he added. "Be gentle."

I gave him a look designed to reassure. "We use anesthesia. She won't feel a thing."

Mia panicked. She began to weep with an earth-shattering despair, her fingers digging into the fabric of my pants. "No! Please, I'm begging you! I'm only nineteen, I can't do this!"

"I'll sign a contract!" she cried out. "I'll stay in the shadows forever, I swear! Just please, Natalie, this is my first baby. Please give him a chance to live!"

I looked down at the girl trembling on the linoleum floor.

I had to hand it to her. In my past life, this girl had been infinitely smarter than me. She leveraged her pregnancy, gave birth to a son, and inherited the entire Prescott family empire. She lived out her days glowing in the spotlight.

Harrison and I had a child once, too. But because I suffered from a severe emotional purity complex, because the thought of his betrayal made my skin crawl, I marched into a clinic and aborted my baby without looking back.

Two different choices. Her child became a billionaire heir. Mine ended up as medical waste.

Love really does make a woman stupid.

I forced my voice to tremble, looking up at Harrison with wide, victimized eyes. "I've compromised so much already, and shes still pushing me. Is she trying to stress me out so badly that I lose my own baby?"

I deliberately placed a protective hand over my perfectly flat stomach.

Harrison froze. For a second, his brain short-circuited. Then, pure, unadulterated joy exploded across his face. He grabbed me by the waist and spun me around right there in the hallway.

"I'm going to be a dad? I'm going to be a dad!"

Since our very first year together, he had talked endlessly about wanting a family with me. In my previous life, fueled by pride and stubbornness, I had kept the pregnancy a secret. I firmly believed that if I cut out the toxic waste from my life, I would carve out a beautiful future for myself.

It turned out to be the most fatal miscalculation of my life.

I immediately marched back into the clinic and booked Mia for a termination the very next morning.

She cried like the world was ending.

To keep her from going completely off the rails, Harrison turned to me and murmured, "Be good, okay? Don't overthink this. I just need to go calm her down."

As he spoke, he reached out and affectionately patted the top of my head. Like one might soothe a golden retriever.

My expression remained entirely neutral. I felt nothing.

Harrison left that afternoon and didn't come home all night.

The next morning, just as I was putting on my coat for work, Harrisons mother, Victoria, appeared at my front door with Mia in tow.

Mia had her arm looped tightly through Victoria's. They stood close, leaning into one another, giving off the distinct impression of a mother and daughteror a deeply bonded mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

Harrison trailed a few steps behind them.

The grim set of his jaw gave it all away. I already knew, with absolute certainty, that today's surgery was off the table.

Right on cue, Victoria stepped forward, taking on the imperious tone of the family matriarch.

"Natalie, I'm not going to beat around the bush." She shot a protective look at the girl beside her, silently communicating to Mia that she was her absolute shield.

Then she looked back at me. "Mia is three months along. Its a boy. The eldest grandson of the Prescott family."

"This child is of paramount importance to our legacy."

"Both you and Mia are Harrison's women now. If she can be gracious enough to make room for you, you should have the decency to show her the same grace."

Victoria paused, letting the silence stretch before delivering her final blow. "As an older woman, let me give you a piece of advice. In a marriage, a smart woman learns to keep one eye shut. Stop being so petty."

Immediately, Mia dropped to her knees in front of me again, tears spilling perfectly down her cheeks.

"You're a healer, Natalie. Please don't make me kill my baby. I swear, when he's born, my son can serve yours. We'll do anything you want."

She wept with absolutely zero dignity, like a Victorian maid begging for scraps.

Harrison and Victoria immediately flanked her, hauling her back to her feet.

"Mia, do not kneel to her. Don't you be afraid. I am backing you. She won't dare lay a finger on you," Victoria snapped, shooting me a glacial glare.

Harrison looked at me, his voice tight. "Shes practically begging you. Don't make this harder than it needs to be."

Make it harder for her?

I almost laughed out loud.

Wasn't it you, Harrison, who told me the decision was entirely mine?

I forced a gentle, glowing smile onto my face and stepped toward Mia. "You poor thing. You must be terrified." I reached out and warmly enveloped her hands in mine.

Mia was so stunned she forgot how to speak.

"Harrison left the choice to me," I lied smoothly. "So I assumed he was the one who didn't want the baby, and he was just using me to do his dirty work."

"I see now that I was completely mistaken. Bringing a life into this world is a beautiful thing. No one has the right to strip you of your right to be a mother."

Mia stared at me, dumbfounded by my warmth.

But Harrison was even more shocked.

After his mother and Mia finally left, he lingered behind, staring at me as if I were a puzzle he couldn't solve.

"You've changed, Natalie."

"How so?" I asked casually, adjusting my watch.

"The old you was territorial. You kept me on such a tight leash. If I even looked at another woman, you'd give me the silent treatment for days."

So he knew.

He knew exactly how fiercely I had loved him. He knew my love was so all-consuming it made me jealous and insecure.

And yet, knowing all of that, he still got Mia pregnant. And he still brought her straight to my doorstep to break my heart.

Reborn into this life, looking at him now, my heart was a flatline. Total, absolute stillness.

Because the love was dead, I had infinite emotional bandwidth to be the "bigger person."

I sighed, putting on a face of helpless devotion. "What else am I supposed to do? I love you too much. And now Im carrying your child, too."

I paused, tilting my head. "If I had thrown a massive tantrum and forced you to cut her off entirely... would you have actually done it?"

He didn't answer the question. Instead, he pulled me into a tight embrace.

"You are the most important person in my life. You know that. As for Mia... even if I wanted to cut ties right this second, my mother would never allow it."

"You know how hard it was to get my mom to finally agree to our wedding. Let's just keep the peace and play along with her for now, okay?"

It was an open secret that Victoria Prescott despised me.

She had always wanted Harrison to marry the daughter of a prominent CEO from their country cluba girl hed grown up with. A perfect, blue-blooded match.

But five years ago, Victoria suffered an ectopic pregnancy. I was the attending surgeon who saved her life.

That was how I met Harrison. It was love at first sight for him, followed by a relentless, sweeping courtship.

Because I had literally saved her life, Victoria couldn't openly forbid the relationship. But she never gave me the time of day, either.

Three years ago, when Harrison first proposed to me, she threw a fit and fled to their estate in the south of France for two years just to avoid attending an engagement party.

This time, Harrison had drawn a hard line in the sand. He told her that whether she showed up or not, he was putting a ring on my finger.

Only then did Victoria finally cave and fly back to the States.

"I understand," I murmured into Harrison's chest, playing the perfect, accommodating fianc. "I used to be so narrow-minded. But people grow up, right?"

He swallowed every word of my counterfeit devotion.

Look at this. This is how men operate. You can pour your raw, bleeding heart out for them and they will throw it away. But play a calculated game, feed their ego, and you'll hold them in the palm of your hand.

Harrison stroked my hair, visibly moved. "I'll be fair to you, Natalie. I promise, I won't let you be marginalized."

A cold sneer bubbled up in my throat, but I kept my face utterly serene.

Taking advantage of the sentimental mood, I suggested we head to the courthouse and sign the marriage papers legally before the big ceremony. I pitched it as a "peace of mind" thing for me.

He agreed without a second thought.

But our victory was brief. We signed the papers that morning. By the afternoon, Mia was moving her suitcases into our house.

Harrison looked sheepish as he explained. "My mom... she doesn't feel right having a young, pregnant girl living out on her own, so"

"I completely understand," I interrupted with a warm smile.

He patted my head again, clearly thrilled by my sudden domestic compliance.

I took it a step further. I gave Mia the guest bedroom with the best natural light.

And then, I gave her Harrison.

He spent every single night in her bedroom. He showered her with blatant, unapologetic affection in our shared living space.

It didn't take long for the household staff to read the room. Within days, the maids were treating Mia with far more deference than they treated me.

Spoiled by his attention, Mias arrogance skyrocketed. One evening, as I walked past her bedroom door, she made sure I was looking before she draped herself over Harrison.

"Baby," she purred, her voice dripping with artificial sweetness. "You sleep with me every single night. Its starting to feel a little unfair to Natalie. Don't you think you should go sleep in her bed for once?"

Her tone was seductive, but her eyes, locked onto mine, were viciously triumphant.

Harrison, completely strung along by her teasing, flipped her onto her back and pinned her against the mattress. "You little manipulator. You don't mean a word of that."

"Well," she teased, trailing a hand down his chest. "Who do you actually prefer sleeping with? Me, or her?"

"I think my actions speak for themselves," he mumbled, already burying his face in her neck.

She stared at me over his shoulder, wearing the crown of the victorious conqueror, desperate to see me shatter.

But my heart remained a stagnant pool of water.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. A text from my younger brother:

Thanks so much, Nat. I start at Prescott Enterprises on Monday.

Another buzz. My sister:

Got the management position! Thank you for the hookup, you're a lifesaver.

And finally, a text from my mother:

Natalie, honey, why on earth did you wire me two million dollars? Thats so much money. I don't want your money, keep it for your own future.

I smiled down at the screen.

A piece of paper from the courthouse didn't just buy me a luxury lifestyle. It became a rising tide that lifted my entire family.

And that was worth infinitely more than the fleeting warmth of a cheating man.

My total serenity sometimes rubbed Harrison the wrong way. His ego couldn't handle the lack of friction.

He would corner me in the kitchen, staring intently into my eyes. "I haven't slept in our bed for days, and you haven't even texted me about it. Are you giving me the silent treatment, or do you actually not care?"

I fed him the script with zero emotion. "It's the pregnancy hormones. I just really crave quiet right now."

"As long as I know you still love me."

He accepted the excuse, pulling me into a hug. "I just needed to hear it. I get paranoid that you're drifting."

He even had the audacity to joke about our twisted reality. "Honestly, if the three of us can just find a rhythm, its better than anything else."

I offered a hollow laugh.

Even on the night before our lavish wedding ceremony, he was summoned to Mia's bedroom.

But less than two hours later, sounds of distress echoed down the hallway.

Harrison rushed into my room. "Natalie, youre an OB-GYN. Youre the expert here. Please, come look at Mia. Something's wrong."

When I walked in, Victoria was already perched on the edge of Mias bed, clasping the girls hands. "You're going to be fine, darling. Just breathe."

Seeing me, Mia put on her best wounded fawn act. "Natalie... thank you for coming."

"Don't thank her, she's family," Victoria said briskly.

Harrison urged me forward. "Check her. What's happening?"

I walked over, my face an emotionless mask, and placed my hands on Mia's abdomen. "Describe the pain."

She bit her lip, looking artificially embarrassed.

Victoria picked up the cue, giving her a reassuring nod. "Don't be shy, dear. Tell the doctor."

Mia twisted her fingers into the silk sheets. "Harrison was just... a little too rough. It hurts down there, and my stomach feels tight. I'm so scared for the baby."

Harrison looked stricken. "It's my fault."

I finished the exam. I found absolutely nothing wrong. "The baby is fine. But I'd strongly advise against intercourse in this condition."

Mia immediately clutched her stomach. "But I really don't feel well! What if something happens to him in the middle of the night?"

She looked up at me through her eyelashes. "Could you... maybe just sit here and keep an eye on me for a little while?"

"That's a good idea," Victoria chimed in. "Natalie, you sit by the bed. Keep watch until we're sure the danger has passed."

I glanced at Harrison. He didn't object. In fact, he looked at me with soft gratitude. "Thank you for doing this."

They had entirely forgotten that I was pregnant, too.

"Sure," I said, my voice utterly flat.

In the dead of night, the house went silent. I sat in a stiff chair beside their bed, watching Mia sleep securely in Harrison's arms.

Before she drifted off, she shot me one last smirka look of pure, concentrated venom and victory.

I just sat there, breathing evenly.

Sometime past 3:00 AM, Harrison stirred. He looked over and saw me sitting straight up, my face completely devoid of jealousy, anger, or sorrow.

He couldn't take the silence anymore. He whispered into the dark. "Seeing me sleep with another woman... it really doesn't bother you at all?"

I smiled faintly. "I'm not bothered. Now go back to sleep. You'll wake Mia."

His face darkened. My lack of jealousy was starting to wound his pride. But he swallowed his words. His eyes communicated loud and clear: I don't know who you are anymore.

I kept my eyes open until dawn, yawning through the exhaustion, my body heavy with fatigue.

When the sun finally rose, I dragged myself to the bridal suite to get into my Vera Wang gown.

Today was my wedding day.

Harrison was glowing. He brushed a thumb over the dark circles under my eyes. "Once the reception is over, I'm going to hold you, and we're going to sleep for a week."

I gave him a shallow, compliant nod.

The venue was spectacular. Hundreds of A-list guests, champagne flowing, the room buzzing with wealth and privilege.

But right as the music swelled and I prepared to make my grand entrance to the altar, a vicious, stabbing pain ripped through my abdomen.

As a doctor, I knew the physical sensations of my own body better than anyone. I knew exactly what was happening. I was miscarrying.

Panic seized Harrison's face. He rushed forward to catch me. "Don't panic. I'm taking you to the hospital right now."

But before he could move, Victoria and Mia blocked his path.

"The wedding has already started!" Victoria hissed. "You can't have the bride and groom vanish into thin air!"

"Her health is the priority!" Harrison snapped, his brow furrowed.

"I will have my driver take her to the ER," Victoria countered sharply. "We cannot cancel this event. We have investors in that room. Put Mia in a white dress and walk her down the aisle. The Prescott family will not become the laughingstock of the city!"

Harrison froze. I watched the gears turning in his head as he weighed his love for me against his family's PR disaster.

Slowly, he motioned for his security detail to carry me out. He leaned down and pressed a hurried kiss to my sweaty forehead. "I'm so sorry, Nat. I'll make this up to you. I promise."

Mia leaned in close, pretending to check on me.

With her face inches from mine, she whispered so only I could hear: "You lose, Natalie. The title of Mrs. Prescott is mine. I will be his only legitimate wife."

Then she straightened up, acting frantic, yelling at the staff to hurry up and get me to the car.

She turned and took Harrison's arm. The fake bride and the real groom.

As Harrison walked her toward the grand double doors, preparing to step onto the stage under the blinding lights, I pushed the medics away.

Bleeding, my white gown stained with a horrific, blossoming red, I grabbed a microphone from the soundboard. I held my legal marriage certificate high in the air and pushed my voice to the absolute limit.

"I apologize to all the guests!" I gasped into the mic, my voice booming through the ballroom. "But my husband and I have to cancel this wedding... because I am currently miscarrying his child!"