Chapter 2
609words
I should leave. I should turn around and pretend I never heard this. But my feet carry me forward instead, down the hallway toward our bedroom.Through the crack in the door, I see them—Lucas, and beneath him, with her legs wrapped around his waist, is Vanessa.
My stepsister. The woman who's competed with me for everything since our parents married when I was twelve. The same woman who "accidentally" spilled bleach on my prom dress, who "mistakenly" submitted my college application essay with her name on it.
I feel like I'm watching the scene from outside my body, like this is happening to someone else. But the pain slicing through me is too real, too raw to be anyone else's.
"Can you believe Sienna actually thinks I want kids with her?" Lucas laughs, his voice cutting through me like a knife. "As if I'd tie myself down like that."
Vanessa giggles. "She's always been so desperate for a family. It's pathetic."
"You're so much more fun than her," Lucas continues, "Sienna is beautiful, but all she talks about is that damn coffee shop. Moonbrew this, Moonbrew that. So boring."
"Good thing I've been slipping those morning after pills into her coffee every morning."
"Wait—You've been drugging her?" Vanessa sounds impressed. "She has no idea?"
"Not a clue. One pill in her morning brew." Lucas smirks, sounding so proud of himself.
The blood in my veins turns to ice, then boils with rage. Everything clicks into horrible place. The failed attempts at conception over the past year. The mysterious decline in my reproductive health. My own boyfriend—the man I trusted, loved, planned a future with—has been systematically destroying my chances at motherhood.
I think of all the mornings he insisted on making me coffee before work. His "little act of love," he called it. All this time, he was poisoning me, stealing my future one cup at a time.
"You bastard," I shout, pushing the door open with such force it slams against the wall.
They freeze mid-motion, twin expressions of shock on their faces. Lucas recovers first, scrambling to cover himself. Vanessa, however, makes no move to hide her nakedness, a smug smile slowly spreading across her face as if she's finally won the ultimate prize in our lifelong competition.
"Sienna! I—this isn't—"
I raise my hand, silencing him. My voice is deadly calm when I speak, though inside I'm shattering into a million pieces. "Don't treat me like a fool! I heard everything. You've been drugging me? Destroying my body? And for what? So you could screw my stepsister?!"
Lucas's face pales. "Look, it's not what you think—"
"It's exactly what I think!" My voice rises, cracking with emotion. "I just came from the doctor. I have advanced endometriosis. Do you know what that means? I might never have children now. And you—" My voice breaks completely, tears streaming down my face. "I loved you so much, and you made that happen!"
For a moment, guilt flashes across his face, but Vanessa laughs, actually laughs.
"Oh please, Sienna. Always the drama queen. You should be thanking Lucas. He saved you from being tied down with kids you can't afford."
Something inside me snaps. Two years of love and trust, shattered in an instant. The future I'd planned, gone. My dreams of motherhood, possibly destroyed forever by the man I want to marry.
"Lucas! We. Are. Done! Get out of my house in thirty minutes before I call the police!" I grab my purse and walk out, slamming the door behind me.
I can't be there. I need air. I need space. I need alcohol—a lot of it.
