Chapter 6 - THE BABY I NEVER KNEW ABOUT
There are some sentences that divide your life into before and after.
You were pregnant before Julian divorced you.
That was one of them.
I sat frozen in Gabriel's library.
Rachel's voice came through the phone.
"Khloe, I need you to understand that we haven't verified this record yet."
I could barely speak.
"How far along?"
"Approximately six weeks."
I closed my eyes.
Suddenly, memories surfaced.
The exhaustion.
The nausea.
The dizziness I'd blamed on stress.
Then the pain.
The bleeding.
The night Julian told me I was being dramatic and refused to take me to the emergency room.
I'd gone alone.
The doctor told me I was experiencing a hormonal complication.
At least, that was what I remembered.
"Rachel," I whispered, "did I lose a baby?"
Her voice softened.
"We need the original records."
I covered my mouth.
For years, Julian had made me believe I couldn't conceive.
And now there was a possibility that I had been pregnant without ever knowing it.
Gabriel moved closer.
"Khloe."
I shook my head.
"I need a minute."
He stopped immediately.
For several moments, I simply breathed.
Then I looked at Rachel.
"Find out what happened."
She nodded.
"I will."
By evening, the hospital had located archived records confirming a pregnancy loss during that visit.
The documentation showed that the pregnancy had been identified shortly before the bleeding began.
But the patient discharge summary in my file had been changed.
Someone had removed the pregnancy information from the version I'd received.
I stared at the report.
I had mourned a future Julian claimed I could never have.
Without knowing I'd already lost a child.
I began crying.
Gabriel sat beside me.
He didn't tell me to be strong.
He didn't tell me everything happened for a reason.
He simply stayed.
After a long time, I whispered, "I wish I'd known."
"I know."
"I would have loved that baby."
Gabriel's eyes filled.
"I know you would have."
The next morning, Rachel uncovered an internal email sent after my hospital visit.
The sender was Dalia Fontaine.
The recipient was Julian Duval.
The subject read:
Khloe's medical situation.
I opened the attachment with shaking hands.
There was a short message.
The pregnancy ended. She doesn't know. The revised discharge paperwork has been delivered.
Beneath it was Julian's response.
Only six words.
Good. Keep her focused on infertility.
I stared at the screen until my vision blurred.
But there was another attachment.
An invoice from a private medical consultant.
The payment had been authorized by someone whose name I'd known my entire life.
My mother-in-law.
Vivienne Duval.
May you like
And beneath her signature was the chilling instruction:
The Lancaster family must never discover Khloe's medical history.
