And yet he didn’t see the wounds on my hand, the tremors racking my body as I went paler each passing second.
He only saw Victoria.
"You can always buy another trinket. "he snapped. "Why destroy your dignity over something useless? "
Useless.
My throat closed.
The pendant that survived the night my father poured kerosene on my mother’s belongings and burned her from our lives.
Useless.
The only proof my mother ever existed.
The only reassurance I had that she still watched over me.
The only thing I thought would protect my daughter in my womb.
Something inside me fractured so fatally that I forgot to breathe.
"If you understand your mistake, go home and wait for me, this pendant…I will compensate you after our wedding tomorrow. "
He turned away, guiding Victoria out as the door slammed shut behind them.
Silence settled, heavy as ash.
I remained kneeling on the floor, fingers trembling over the bloodied shards.
Then a warm wetness trickled down my thigh.
Slow, heavy and dark red.
Spreading like a quiet massacre beneath me.
At first I stared at it blankly as if it belonged to someone else, as if it couldn’t possibly be my baby.
My daughter.
But the crimson blood keep blooming beneath me.