Chapter 2: The Secret Lila Was Hiding
The answer came that evening.
Lila survived.
Barely.
Doctors managed to stabilize her after emergency treatment.
When she finally opened her eyes, Adrian was sitting beside her hospital bed.
The moment she saw him, tears rolled down her cheeks.
“I'm sorry,” she whispered.
“For what?”
“For not telling you.”
Adrian gently squeezed her hand.
“Telling me what?”
Lila looked away.
Then she spoke the truth she had carried alone for months.
Three years earlier, before she met Adrian, she had been diagnosed with a rare blood-clotting disorder.
Most days it barely affected her life.
But pregnancy made it dangerous.
Very dangerous.
Her doctors had warned her that she needed immediate treatment and monitoring if she ever became pregnant.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I was going to,” she whispered.
“After the wedding.”
Adrian stared at her.
“But what happened last night?”
Lila hesitated.
Then her eyes filled with fresh tears.
“Your aunt Margaret.”
Adrian froze.
Margaret had spent the entire wedding criticizing Lila.
Her dress.
Her family.
Her manners.
Everything.
“She found the pregnancy test in my purse,” Lila said.
“She said I trapped you.”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“What else?”
Lila swallowed.
“She told me I wasn't worthy of your family.”
Hours after the reception ended, Margaret cornered her in the kitchen.
The argument escalated.
Lila became dizzy.
Weak.
Then she began bleeding.
Terrified and ashamed, she returned upstairs.
She intended to wake Adrian.
But before she could, she collapsed.
Alone.
And remained unconscious until Eleanor found her the next morning.
The room fell silent.
Adrian slowly stood.
His face had gone pale.
Not from fear.
From anger.
Because for the first time, he understood something.
May you like
His mother had almost made a terrible mistake.
But his aunt had nearly destroyed his family.
