Chapter 7 The Pregnancy Lie
"Ahotel?" Joan stared at Reiner, the word tasting like ash in her mouth. "You are asking me to leave my own home? The home we bought together?"
"I am asking you to step away while we sort out this mess," Reiner said, his voice clipped and unnaturally distant.
He gestured toward Macey, who was still huddled on the floor with Annabelle, holding a blood-stained tissue to her neck.
"Look at what is happening here, Joan. You lost your temper.
You destroyed property and physically lashed out at your sister.
Emotions are running too high. I am trying to protect everyone right now. "
"Protect everyone?" Joan let out a harsh, dry laugh. Her chest burned with a deep, aching pain. "I didn't touch her, Reiner. She scratched herself! She threw that vase on the floor. They set this entire scene up the second they heard your key in the lock."
"Joan, stop," Reiner snapped, rubbing his temples. "Just stop. You sound unhinged."
"Because I am telling you the truth." Joan stepped toward him, but Reiner took a deliberate step back. The gesture cut deeper than any harsh word could. He was shrinking away from her, treating her like she was dangerous and unstable.
Annabelle helped Macey to her feet. Macey rested her head against her twin’s shoulder and performed the part of a terrified victim.
"Reiner," Annabelle said, her voice soft, calm, and deliberate. "We didn't want to bring this up. We were trying to protect Joan's privacy, but after what just happened... after seeing how far she'll go to hide things... I think you deserve to know the full truth."
Joan turned her sharp gaze to Annabelle. "What are you talking about?"
Annabelle didn't answer Joan. Instead, she reached into her leather handbag, pulled out a folded piece of paper, and handed it directly to Reiner.
"I found this among Joan's discharge paperwork in the office a few days ago," Annabelle said, looking at Reiner with eyes full of sorrow. "We kept quiet because we hoped she would tell you herself. But she isn't acting like herself anymore, Reiner. She hasn't been for months."
Reiner frowned, opening the folded paper. "What is this?"
"It's the original record from the clinic three months ago," Annabelle whispered. "It wasn't a tragic, accidental miscarriage, Reiner. Joan chose to terminate the pregnancy."
The room went airless.
Joan froze as nausea swept through her. "What did you just say?"
"She had been planning to leave you for Graham Voss for a long time," Macey chimed in, her voice trembling dramatically as she wiped a tear from her cheek.
"She didn't want a baby with you complicating her decision.
She let you believe it was an accident so you would comfort her instead of asking questions. "
"That is a disgusting, evil lie!" Joan screamed, her voice cracking with pure horror. She lunged toward Reiner, reaching for the paper in his hands. "Give me that. Reiner, give it to me."
Reiner held the paper back, his eyes locked onto the black text printed on the medical letterhead.
The document bore the official seal of the hospital.
It listed Joan's full name, her patient identification number, the date, and a stark, clinical summary stating that the pregnancy had been voluntarily ended.
It was a total fabrication. Annabelle had stolen Joan’s original discharge papers, scanned the hospital letterhead and identification details, changed the clinical wording and procedure codes in an image-editing program, then printed a forged copy on matching paper.
The hospital’s genuine records had never been altered, but under the warm light of the living room the counterfeit looked terrifyingly real.
Reiner’s hand shook. The color drained from his face, and the anger in his eyes gave way to devastated disbelief.
"Reiner, look at me." Joan pleaded as tears blurred her vision. She gripped his forearm. "You know how much I wanted that baby. You know how hard we tried. I wept in your arms for weeks. I could not get out of bed for a month. How can you even listen to them say this?"
"Joan..." Reiner’s voice was barely a whisper. He couldn't bring himself to meet her gaze. He kept looking down at the official-looking document. "The clinic... the medical code here... it says..."
"It’s fake." Joan cried. "Annabelle altered it. She stole my medical papers weeks ago. Call Dr. Warren right now and put her on speaker. She was my doctor. She performed the emergency surgery when I lost the baby. Call her."
Annabelle stepped forward, putting a comforting hand on Reiner’s shoulder. "Reiner, it’s late. Dr. Warren’s office is closed. And besides, Joan has spent days covering her tracks. Who knows what story she has already prepared?"
"I didn't alter anything!" Joan yelled at her sister. She turned back to Reiner, pulling on his arm. "Reiner, please. You are my husband. We built our life together. Twelve years, Reiner. Do you really believe I would kill our child and lie to you about it?"
Reiner lifted his head. The warmth Joan had known for more than a decade was gone from his face.
In that terrible silence, Joan saw the horrifying truth.
The twins had laid their trap carefully from the moment they entered the penthouse.
They had spent days whispering in his ear, making Joan seem distant, cold, paranoid, and secretive.
They had created false message threads with Graham.
They had staged the suspicious wire transfer.
They had made Joan’s real, agonizing grief look like emotional instability.
And now, holding a piece of paper that gave him an easy explanation for why his wife had pulled away from him after the tragedy, Reiner was choosing to believe it.
It was easier for his bruised pride to believe Joan was a lying betrayer than to accept that he had failed to support his grieving wife.
Joan released his arm. Her stomach turned, and the betrayal struck with enough force to steal her breath.
"You believe them," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "After twelve years... you actually think this is real."
Reiner swallowed hard, his jaw tightening. "I don't know what to believe anymore, Joan. You've been meeting Graham in secret. Company money moved under your name. Your medication went missing. You attacked your sister in our living room. And now this document..."
"I will call Dr. Warren's emergency line right now," Joan said, reaching for her purse on the counter, her hands trembling so badly she could barely open the zipper. "I will get her on the phone. I will prove it."
"I will seek independent confirmation from the hospital records tomorrow morning," Reiner said, folding the document and slipping it into his jacket pocket. "I am not going to drag your doctor into a domestic dispute at ten o'clock at night."
"A domestic dispute?" Joan repeated, tears streaming down her face. "They are accusing me of terminating our child, Reiner! That is not a dispute, that is a monstrous lie."
"If it’s a lie, an independent review will prove it," Reiner said, but his expression offered no hope. The lie had already taken root where his trust in her should have been.
Macey let out a soft, painful whimper, leaning further into Annabelle. "Reiner... my neck hurts so bad... I think I need ice..."
"Annabelle, take her into the guest bathroom and clean that up," Reiner said.
"Of course," Annabelle said. As she led Macey away, she glanced over her shoulder at Joan. There was no pity in her eyes, only the predatory satisfaction of someone who believed the trap had closed.
Once the twins were out of the room, the silence in the penthouse became suffocating.
Joan stood beside the shattered vase and looked at the man with whom she had built an empire, the man she had loved since she was twenty-eight. The grief in her chest felt too large for her body.
"How could you?" she whispered. "How could you let them do this to us?"
Reiner didn't answer right away. He walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the glowing Manhattan skyline. He kept his back turned to her, his hands jammed deep into his trouser pockets.
When he finally spoke, his voice belonged to a stranger.
"I just need to know one thing, Joan," Reiner said, refusing to turn around and look her in the eye.
Joan wiped a tear from her cheek, her chest heaving. "What?"
Reiner stared out at the city lights, asking the question that proved their marriage was truly over.
"Was there ever a baby that we lost together..." Reiner asked, his voice cracking slightly, "...or was it only a decision you made without me?"