Once Love, Now Only Hatred

When Sebastian and I ended things, it was ugly. He ground the lit end of his cigarette into the hollow of my chest, right over my heart. “You lied to me,” he hissed. “How dare you?” Because of that one sentence, I lost my respectable job and my face was scarred. Everyone said I’d been his canary in a gilded cage for five years, and that this was the ending I deserved. The day I left Aurelia City, he was celebrating his engagement to a girl from a suitable family. I was clutching my own burgeoning belly, scurrying away like a sewer rat, vanishing from his world completely. We met again four years later. He pointed at the little girl in my arms, his eyes certain. “She’s my child, isn’t she?”

1 The next time I saw Sebastian Blackwood, it was late at night, in a hospital. My daughter, Daisy, was nestled in my lap. She was used to the needles and IV drips by now, sitting perfectly still the entire time. She was quiet when she saw him, too, just tugging on my sleeve to wake me from my doze. I opened my eyes and found myself staring directly into his cold, almond-shaped ones. The past came rushing back in a suffocating wave, and for a second, my heart forgot how to beat. I scrambled to my feet, ready to bolt, only then remembering the IV line still attached to my daughter. My hand had just touched the bag when Sebastian’s gripped my wrist, hard. “It’s been a while, Ava.” His gaze dropped to the small girl beside me. “Is this your daughter?” The words were spoken softly, but my legs began to tremble uncontrollably. Daisy tilted her head and asked who he was. A cold smirk played on his lips. He enunciated each word with chilling precision. “An old acquaintance of your mother’s.” More than an acquaintance. Five years. Eighteen hundred and twenty-five days and nights of tangled limbs and feverish passion. But those numbers, so heavy with meaning for me, were nothing more than trash to be discarded for a man like Sebastian Blackwood. I lowered my head, my face pale. The silence was broken by one of Sebastian’s friends approaching. He hadn’t gotten a clear look at me yet and gestured toward Daisy with a grin. “Seb, look at you! Get a little stomach bug on a business trip and your wife and daughter rush all the way here to see you. You’re a lucky man!” Not long after I’d left Aurelia City, I saw the news online that Victoria was pregnant. I never imagined she’d also have a daughter. As the man got closer, his eyes finally focused on my face. “Holy shit,” he breathed. “You’re Ava, right? You’re still alive?” The shock and sarcasm in his voice were like a knife twisting in a barely healed wound. I instinctively covered Daisy’s ears, trying to shield her from the ugliness to come. “After you faked a pregnancy and gave Mr. Blackwood’s grandfather a fatal heart attack, how do you have the nerve to show your face around Seb again?” “What, did you run out of money? I guess that makes sense. For a woman like you who makes a living on her back, the only way to get cash is from a man, right?” He peered at my daughter. “Is this scrawny thing yours? Don’t tell me you’re going to try and say she’s Seb’s!” I was numb to most insults by now, but that last one made my head snap up. “No,” I said, my voice sharp. “She has no connection to Mr. Blackwood whatsoever!” The formal, distant address made both men pause. After a moment, Sebastian pushed his friend aside and stepped closer, his presence as oppressive as ever. “How old is the child?” “She’s three!” The answer tumbled out of me. He took another step, cornering me. “Let me see your ID.” I backed away, managing a weak smile. “I must have left it at home.” He opened his mouth to argue, but I cut him off. “It’s late, Mr. Blackwood. You should get home before your wife starts to worry.” At the mention of Victoria, he actually seemed to hesitate. A bitter laugh bubbled in my chest. Four years ago, I had groveled at his feet, begging him to tell me why he wouldn’t believe me, why he had to marry her. He’d wrapped his hand around my throat, his eyes filled with a cold, disgusted loathing. “She’s not like you,” he’d snarled. “She’s pure. She doesn’t lie.” “And I love her.” I was with him for five years, and he never once said he loved me. I’d convinced myself that a man as proud and unattainable as Sebastian Blackwood was simply incapable of love. Until he said he loved Victoria. That he wanted to give her a family. I thought that kind of love would be fleeting. How naive I was. Seizing his moment of distraction, I grabbed the IV bag, scooped up my daughter, and ran without looking back. I thought I heard him say something behind me, but the words were lost to the wind. I didn’t hear them, and I didn’t care.

2 I didn’t stop running until I was clear of the hospital, my heart hammering against my ribs. Daisy reached up and touched my pale cheek. “Mommy, why did you lie to that man?” she asked, her voice small. I kissed her soft, round face. “To protect you, sweetie.” So he can’t take you away from me. But Sebastian had a wife and daughter of his own now. Why would he want to take mine? Still, the fear was real. From then on, I only took Daisy to a small, private clinic for her treatments. It was two in the morning by the time we got home. Sleep was impossible. I opened my phone and scrolled through Victoria’s social media. Her feed was a curated gallery of her lavish life, filled with pictures of her perfect, princess-like daughter. The comments were a sycophantic chorus, praising her grace and beauty. It was hard to believe that this was the same woman who had personally taken a blade to my face. Even now, on the hottest days, I never dared to push back my heavy bangs, terrified of exposing the ugly scar on my forehead. I’d only taken a half-day off for Daisy’s appointment. That afternoon, I was riding my electric scooter to take her to preschool. On my way home, a luxury car was parked brazenly in the middle of the narrow road, blocking my path. The window rolled down, and a beautifully preserved woman leaned out. “Ava!” I froze, my eyes locking with Melinda’s. My mother. She looked younger than she had years ago. If we stood side by side, people would probably mistake us for sisters. I abandoned my scooter and hurried away, but she threw her car door open, her expensive leather heels clicking on the pavement as she chased after me. “Ava! Please, just turn around and look at me!” Her voice was choked with something that sounded like a sob, probably from running. I couldn’t understand why she was chasing me. She was the one who had thrown me away for a life of wealth and comfort. She was the one who had stood in front of everyone and denied I was her daughter. And she was the one who, in a desperate bid to win over her stepdaughter, Victoria, had fabricated my fake pregnancy report. I could still feel her long, red nails digging into my cheeks, leaving angry marks. “You’re lucky I let you live this long, so what right do you have to judge me? If I had known you’d grow up to stand in the way of my fortune, I would have smothered you in your crib!” The memory was cut short as her driver, on her signal, swerved the car, blocking my path and startling me so badly I fell. Melinda rushed to help me up. “Ava, I just wanted to see you.” I wrenched my arm away from her, a cynical laugh escaping my lips. “See what? To check if I’m dead? Or to make sure I’m not still trying to steal Victoria’s husband?” “You can relax, Mrs. Thorne,” I spat out her married name. “I’ve learned my lesson. I won’t disturb Sebastian and Victoria’s happy life. I’ll stay far, far away from them, and from your precious high-society world!” My words seemed to wound her. Her eyes grew red. “Ava, that’s not what I meant.” Her gaze fell on my custom phone case—a photo of me and Daisy. Her tone shifted instantly. “That child you were carrying back then…” My bravado evaporated. “What child?” I said, my voice shaking. “Didn’t you get rid of that child with your own hands?” I frantically tried to hide my phone behind my back. The cold pavement beneath me brought back the chilling memory of the operating table in that private clinic four years ago. I remembered Melinda’s venomous gaze on my stomach. “This thing has to go! Don’t think I don’t know what you’re planning. I will not allow you to give birth to this bastard and threaten Victoria’s marriage!” To teach me a lesson, she’d told them not to use any anesthesia. The room had been filled with my agonized screams. In the end, it was the doctor, taking pity on me, who helped me escape. Now, Daisy was my entire world. I couldn’t bear the thought of almost losing her again. I had to convince my mother. “That baby is dead! It’s gone! Ask the doctor if you don’t believe me! You saw the blood and tissue yourself, didn’t you?” My voice grew frantic. “I swear, I don’t love Sebastian anymore! I won’t try to seduce him again!” To make her believe me, I lifted the hem of my shirt, desperate, exposing the long, faded scar across my lower abdomen. “Look! The scar is still here! The baby is long gone! You can touch it if you don’t believe me, it’s real!” I grabbed her hand and forced it against the scarred skin. The next second, she pulled me into a hug. “Ava, please, don’t do this…” I froze for a moment before struggling wildly, pushing her so hard she stumbled and fell. I scrambled around the car and ran. I didn’t get far before I tripped and fell hard, scraping my knees on the asphalt. Ignoring the stinging pain, I pushed myself up and kept running. Back in my tiny apartment, I immediately started packing. My important documents, the cash I had saved—it all went into a bag. Seeing Sebastian last night and Melinda today couldn’t be a coincidence. I called the company where I’d worked for two years and quit. I called my landlord to terminate my lease. After buying a bus ticket, I realized it was almost time to pick up Daisy. I got back on my scooter and headed to the preschool to get her and handle her withdrawal. I would take her away from this city and never come back. But when I arrived at the school gate, Daisy’s teacher looked at me with surprise. “Daisy? Her father already picked her up. I’m so sorry, Mrs. Miller, but the man looked so much like her…”

3 For the first time in four years, I unblocked Sebastian’s number. The call connected, and a soft chuckle came from the other end. “I was starting to think you’d really go your whole life without ever contacting me again.” I stood in the cold wind, my knuckles white as I gripped the phone. “Where is my daughter?” In response, I heard Daisy’s innocent laughter in the background. Sebastian’s voice was like a serpent’s whisper. “Tell me, Ava. Is she my child or not?” I didn’t hesitate. “No. Sebastian, give me back my daughter.” He scoffed. “You don’t have to admit it. I can get a test done. And you remember what happens when you lie to me.” The burn mark he’d left over my heart still ached on cold days, a phantom pain reminding me of the man I never should have loved. The thought made me dizzy. I squatted on the pavement, pressing my palms against my throbbing temples. Sebastian hung up. After a moment, I forced myself to stand and head for Aurelia City. Four years later, stepping back onto the grounds of the Blackwood estate, I was flooded with memories. I remembered when I first moved in, swinging on Sebastian’s arm and asking him what would happen if someone ever tried to kick me out. He’d smiled, a rare, gentle thing, and his voice had been absolute. “You’re my woman. Who would dare?” Later, he was the one who gave the order. He had his men strip me of everything he’d ever bought me and throw me out of the mansion. It was snowing heavily. I stumbled through the blizzard, my skin turning purple, the tears freezing on my cheeks. He stood on the second-floor balcony, watching me with cold indifference as I fought my way, step by painful step, out the main gate. Even now, pictures of me, naked and exposed in the snow, still circulated online. The comments were either vicious declarations that I got what I deserved, or assumptions that I was already dead, paying for my sins in the afterlife. I kept my head down as I walked the familiar path to the house, the old humiliation welling up inside me. I didn’t notice that the rose bushes I had once loved were still blooming, a riot of defiant color in the courtyard. Sebastian was waiting in the living room. Dressed in a sharp black suit, he looked like a wolf that had been patiently stalking its prey. I stopped far away from him, reining in my fury. “Where is she?” “She played herself out. She’s sleeping upstairs.” Hearing that, I made a dash for the stairs, but he was faster. He caught my arm and pulled me into his arms. The familiar, woody scent of his cologne filled my senses, making my skin crawl. “What’s the rush? We haven’t settled our accounts yet.” I assumed he was talking about the time I was accused of stealing Victoria’s design drafts. She had stolen them from me, but no one believed it. In the end, I was fired, and my entire portfolio of work was blacklisted and vilified. But years of hardship had worn away my pride. I pushed away from him and dropped to my knees with a thud. “Mr. Blackwood, I know I was wrong about what happened back then, and I’ve paid the price. If it’s still not enough, I’m willing to kneel and apologize to your wife. Just please, give me back my daughter.” My humility earned me no pity. His brow furrowed, his voice turning to ice. “Get up.” I didn’t move. “Mr. Blackwood, you can humiliate me however you want. I’ll do anything. Just give me my child back.” A humorless laugh escaped him. He crouched down to my level. “Your child? Yours and whose?” I froze, then answered quickly. “My ex-husband’s.” Afraid he wouldn’t believe me, I pulled a folded marriage certificate from my bag. “Sebastian, I’m not lying. I really was married. Daisy is my ex-husband’s daughter!” It was true, I had been married. It was a marriage of convenience, to get Daisy a legal surname on her birth certificate and to have a cover story, just in case. But Sebastian merely glanced at the photo on the certificate before snatching it, ripping it to shreds, and hauling me to my feet. “Ava, are you blind? Can’t you see how much she looks like me?” I couldn’t meet his eyes. I struggled, trying to get past him to the stairs. He wrapped an arm around my waist, lifted me off my feet, and threw me onto the sofa. Before I could move, he pinned me down, twisting my hands behind my back. His eyes were dark and menacing.