The Spiteful Bride, Marry to Rival's Son-Chapter 142

SHE WAS GOING TO BE A MOTHER

Elena stood there frozen, watching her best friend collapse in pain, knowing that it was all her fault.

The image burned into her mind - Mia’s face twisted in agony, her white pants stained red with blood, Stefan’s panicked expression as he caught her falling body. Elena’s legs felt like lead, rooted to the spot by the crushing weight of her guilt.

Stefan gradually and slowly helped Mia to her feet, supporting her weight as she leaned heavily against him. His movements were careful and deliberate, like he was handling the most precious thing in the world. Which, Elena realized, he was.

"It’s okay, baby," Stefan whispered to Mia, his voice soft and reassuring even though Elena could see the terror in his eyes. "We’re going to get you help. Everything’s going to be fine."

They walked slowly toward the door, Mia taking small, careful steps while Stefan kept one arm around her waist and held her hand with his free one. She was so pale that her skin looked almost transparent, and Elena could see her trembling from across the room.

James was already outside, pulling Stefan’s car up to the entrance with practiced efficiency. The engine was still running when Stefan carefully lifted Mia into the backseat, treating her like she was made of glass that might shatter at any moment.

"Stay with me, Mia," Stefan said as he climbed in beside her. "Keep talking to me, okay? Tell me about anything. Tell me about the book you were reading this morning."

Elena watched through the window as the car pulled away, taking her best friend to the hospital. Taking away the most important person in her life, and it was all because of her stupid, angry mouth.

She slowly lowered herself to the ground right there in the living room, her sobs filling the empty air. The sound echoed off the walls, making the house feel even more hollow and abandoned.

"What have I done?" she thought, burying her face in her hands. "What have I done to the people who love me most?"

"What are you doing down there? Aren’t you going to come to the hospital?"

Elena looked up, surprised to see Ethan standing in the doorway. She had been so lost in her grief that she hadn’t heard him come back inside.

His voice wasn’t cold exactly, but his expression said otherwise. He looked angry but was trying hard not to show it, like he was fighting an internal battle between his natural kindness and his hurt feelings.

"I... I thought... you left," she said, hiccupping through her tears.

Ethan ran a hand through his hair and looked at her with a mixture of frustration and something that might have been pity.

"Who would take you to the hospital then, if I left?" he said, already walking toward the door. "Come on. We need to go."

Elena looked at him with shame burning in her chest. Here was this man she had just admitted to using, a man whose heart she had probably broken, and he was still thinking about her welfare. Still making sure she wouldn’t be left alone.

"How could someone as terrible as Samuel Meyer raise such wonderful children?" she wondered as she struggled to her feet. "Maybe there was a time when he was kind too, before power and wealth changed him into something darker."

The drive to the hospital was torture. Ethan didn’t say a single word to her, just kept his eyes on the road and his hands gripped tight on the steering wheel.

The silence felt heavy and suffocating, filled with all the things they weren’t saying to each other.

Elena wanted to apologize, wanted to explain herself, wanted to beg for his forgiveness. But every time she opened her mouth, the words died in her throat. What could she possibly say that would make any of this better?

When they arrived at the hospital, they found Stefan pacing back and forth in front of a room like a caged animal.

His golf shirt was wrinkled now, his hair a mess from running his hands through it over and over. He looked like he had aged ten years in the past hour.

When he heard their footsteps approaching, he raised his head and saw Ethan first. Relief flashed across his face for just a moment - at least he wasn’t dealing with this alone anymore.

But then his gaze moved to Elena, and his expression changed immediately. It went from relief to something cold and hard, like a door slamming shut. Ethan was already walking up to him, and Elena watched as they huddled together, whispering in low voices that she couldn’t hear.

She caught the way Stefan glared at her over Ethan’s shoulder, his eyes full of blame and anger. At first she thought he might actually tell her to leave, to get out of his sight and never come back.

But instead, he looked right through her like she wasn’t even there. Like she was invisible. Somehow, that felt even worse than his anger would have.

Another sob tried to escape from her throat, but she pressed her lips together and held it back. She had no right to break down here, not when Mia was the one lying in a hospital bed because of her actions.

Stefan had always been like an older brother to her, the kind she had never had growing up. He had treated her with such kindness over the years, welcoming her into his home without question, never once asking her to leave even when she overstayed her welcome.

She knew it was mostly because of Mia, because Stefan would do anything to make his wife happy. But she also knew he had developed a soft spot for her over time.

He treated her the same way he treated Sienna - like family, like someone worth protecting.

And now she had thrown all of that away in one moment of stupid, selfish anger.

Elena closed her eyes and prayed silently, more desperately than she had ever prayed in her life.

"Please let Mia be okay," she begged whatever higher power might be listening. "Please don’t let my stupidity cost her everything. She doesn’t deserve this. She’s never done anything but love and support everyone around her."

Time seemed to crawl by at an impossible pace. Elena had no idea if they had been waiting for minutes or hours. She sat in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs, staring at her hands and trying not to think about all the ways this could go wrong.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, a doctor emerged from Mia’s room. He was an older man with kind eyes and graying hair, wearing scrubs that had probably seen too many long shifts.

Stefan and Ethan immediately rushed toward him, and Elena found herself standing up too, even though she stayed back at a distance. She might not be welcome in their family circle anymore, but she needed to hear that Mia was going to be okay.

Mose stood by the side, watching everything. Though he’d forgotten everything but Mia had been so kind since he got back and he didn’t want anything happening to her.

"How is my wife?" Stefan asked the moment the doctor appeared, his voice tight with worry.

The doctor smiled, which immediately made everyone’s shoulders relax just a little.

"She’s fine," he said. "Both of them are."

Stefan raised an eyebrow, clearly not understanding what the doctor meant. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"What... both of whom?" he asked, stuttering slightly. "I only brought my wife."

The doctor’s smile grew wider, and Elena could see him preparing to deliver what was clearly good news.

"Your wife is pregnant, Mr. Sterling," he said gently. "She had what we call a miscarriage scare - some bleeding that can happen in early pregnancy - but both she and the baby are perfectly fine. She just needs to take it easy for the next few weeks."

Stefan stared at the doctor like he had just spoken in a foreign language. Elena watched as the words slowly sank in, as Stefan’s expression changed from confusion to shock to something that looked like wonder.

"Pregnant?" he whispered. "Mia’s pregnant?"

"About eight weeks along, from what we can tell," the doctor confirmed. "Congratulations."

Stefan looked like he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Elena could see him struggling to process this information, trying to reconcile his fear for Mia’s health with the incredible news that they were going to have a baby.

"Can I... can I see her?" Stefan asked, his voice cracking slightly. "I mean... can I see them?" It wasn’t just Mia anymore, a mini Mia was inside her.

The doctor nodded. "Of course. But just one visitor at a time for now. She needs rest."

As Stefan disappeared into Mia’s room, Elena sank back into her chair, overwhelmed by a mixture of emotions she couldn’t even begin to untangle.

Mia was okay. She was going to be a mother. They were going to have a baby.

And Elena had almost ruined it all with her selfish, thoughtless words.

She buried her face in her hands and wondered if there was any way to come back from something like this.