After the Last Tear: Rising from the Ashes of a Broken Marriage novel Chapter 20

Tears poured down her face.

When she reached for his arm, Alistair stepped back.

"Please, I'll give up everything else—just let me keep my baby," she sobbed. "I swear to God I'll—"

"Can someone get her prepped already?" Alistair cut her off, snapping at the deer-in-headlights nurses.

Her screams faded down the hallway as they finally pulled her away. Alistair just stood there, staring after them, his mind a million miles away.

The pre-op went by the book. They wheeled her into surgery with her still begging for mercy.But those tears couldn't touch him anymore.

Half an hour later, they rolled Vivian out of the OR.

Alistair didn't spare her a glance until she grabbed his suit jacket with whatever strength she had left as they passed him talking to the doctor.

Feeling the tug, he looked down into eyes swimming with a cocktail of broken love, raw grief, and pure hatred. He frowned but might as well have been looking at a stranger.

"Just... one thing," she rasped, barely audible but determined as hell. "Did any part of you ever actually care about me? And if not... why did you fight so hard for this baby?"

After several failed attempts to make her let go, he finally answered, his face completely blank"You look like someone from my past. I wanted a kid who reminded me of her. That's it. But now I've got bigger priorities."

With those words, her fingers went limp.She stared up at the ceiling tiles, tears streaming sideways into her hair as they wheeled her away.

How fucking pathetic. Her "special connection" with Alistair had just been because she looked like some dead girl.

No wonder Elaine had tried to warn her that Alistair was emotionally bankrupt.No wonder he'd done a complete 180 about dumping her when she got pregnant.No wonder he jumped through hoops whenever she mentioned the baby.

No wonder he'd obsessed over whether the kid would look like mom or dad, and force-fed her all those supplements.

After a long pause, she shook her head. "There are no winners in this mess, Vivian. I tried to tell you—he doesn't have real feelings. Not for you, not for me, not for anyone."

Elaine had seen through Alistair's act ages ago and had given up hoping for change.

The door swung open, cutting their conversation short. Alistair walked in, his eyes instantly locking onto Elaine.

His face lit up. His breathing quickened as he rushed to her side, automatically reaching for her hand but freezing when she flinched away.

He recovered, dropping his hand but not backing up an inch. The naked emotion in his eyes was so intense it made Vivian's chest physically hurt.

Her pain didn't even register with him. He nervously licked his lips, his voice uncharacteristically unsure.

"You said if I got rid of the baby, we'd stay married," he said, sounding almost desperate. "I did it. So we're good now, right? We can go back to how things were?"