---- Chapter 2 Alexandra Smith POV: "What do you mean, you had to perform the procedure without my consent?" The words ripped from my throat, raw and jagged. "You had no right!" The doctor, a man with tired eyes and a practiced bedside manner, flinched. "Ms. Smith, you were hemorrhaging. We had to act immediately to save your life. The fetus was no longer viable." "The fetus?" | spat the clinical term back at him. "That was my child. My baby. And you let him die." "There was nothing we could do to save the baby," a nurse chimed in gently. "The choice was to save you." My head was pounding, a frantic drumbeat against the inside of my skull. It was all wrong. They were all lying. Edward was lying. The world was lying. Just as | was about to scream again, the door to my private room burst open. Edward rushed in, his face a mask of anguish. "Alex!" he cried, rushing to my side. "My love, I'm so, so sorry." He pulled me into an embrace, his arms wrapping around my ---- shaking shoulders. For a split second, | almost leaned into the familiar comfort. But then | smelled it. Faint, but unmistakable. The cloying floral scent of Carla's perfume clinging to the fabric of his suit jacket. The last vestiges of my hope turned to ash. | pushed him away, my hands flat against his chest. "Why didn't you answer your phone?" | asked, my voice dangerously quiet. "I called you, Edward. Right after it happened." He had the gall to look confused. "Darling, | told you, my phone was on silent. A crucial board meeting. You know how my mother is." He ran a hand through his perfectly styled hair. "| came as soon as | heard." "Don't lie to me," | hissed. "I saw you. In the hotel bar. With her." His eyes widened, a flicker of panic before the mask slipped back into place. "Alex, what are you talking about? You must be confused. The medication..." He reached for my hand, his voice dripping with false sympathy. "Losing the baby... it's a terrible trauma. It can make you see things, imagine things." He was trying to gaslight me. To make me believe | was crazy. The sheer audacity of it was breathtaking. Before | could retort, his smartwatch, the one he' d conveniently forgotten at home, chimed from his pocket. He' d obviously retrieved it. The same husky voice from the memo ---- filled the sterile room, this time as a calendar alert. "Dinner with Eddie tonight. Don't be late." Edward froze, his face paling. He fumbled for the watch, trying to silence it, but it was too late. | lunged for it, my movements fueled by a surge of adrenaline. | ripped it from his grasp and held it up, the screen glowing with Carla' s name. "Explain this, Edward," | demanded, my voice shaking with rage. "Explain this 'arrangement'. He stared at the watch, then at me, his jaw working silently. "It's not what you think, Alex. Carla and |... we're just friends. She helps me with business advice." "Business advice?" | laughed, a harsh, broken sound. "Is that what you call kissing her in a bar? Is that what you call having a secret child with her?" The color drained completely from his face. He looked at me as if I'd grown a second head. "What... what are you talking about? A child?" He was a good actor. | had to give him that. He almost sounded convincing. "Don't play dumb with me," | snarled. "| saw your texts. With JH. About 'little Theo." He recoiled as if I' d physically struck him. He opened his ---- mouth to speak, but just then, the door swung open again. Carla Patterson stood there, a vision in a cream-colored cashmere coat, a single tear tracing a perfect path down her cheek. Her eyes, however, were cold and triumphant. "Oh, Edward," she said, her voice a theatrical sob. "| was so worried. Is she alright?" | stared at her, the woman who had stolen my husband, conspired to kill my child, and now had the nerve to feign concern. The rage inside me was a white-hot inferno. "Get out," | whispered. Carla ignored me, gliding over to Edward's side and placing a manicured hand on his arm. "Eddie, darling, I'm so sorry. | know how much you wanted this baby." She turned her icy gaze on me. "But perhaps it's for the best. You were never meant to be a mother, Alexandra. You're too cold. Too focused on your work. All you truly care about is your precious company." Every word was a carefully aimed dart, designed to inflict maximum pain. She was mocking my grief, belittling my life's work, and twisting it all into a character flaw. "You're nothing more than a walking incubator to him," she continued, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "A means to an end. Once he has what he wants, you'll be discarded. Just like your baby was." The cruelty of her words sucked the air from the room. My ---- body was weak, ravaged by the crash and the loss, but my mind was screaming. | wanted to launch myself at her, to claw that smug, vicious look off her face. But | couldn't move. | was trapped, a prisoner in my own broken body. She leaned closer, her perfume making me gag. "This is your karma, Alexandra," she purred. "Payback for everything you've done." She straightened up, a strange, triumphant smile playing on her lips before she turned and swept out of the room, leaving a trail of poison in her wake. Karma? What had | ever done to deserve this? | searched my memory, my entire life, for any act so heinous that it would warrant this kind of cosmic retribution. There was nothing. | had built my company from the ground up, ethically and honestly. | had treated people with respect. | had loved my husband with everything | had. Her words made no sense. It was just another layer of psychological torture. Another way to make me feel responsible for my own destruction. But it wouldn't work. Not anymore. Title: A Princess? No! I'm the Female General! In "A Princess? No! 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