Chapter 43

Darkness enveloped me, a suffocating void that matched the despair in my heart. The room had vanished, Marcus had vanished, and all that remained was the echo of my own anguished cries. The pain was too raw, too overwhelming, as if the universe itself had conspired against us.

In that moment, I felt utterly lost, adrift in a sea of grief. My baby, my precious boy, our precious boy had been taken from us, his tiny life ended before it had a chance to truly begin. I clung to the memory of his innocent face, his little features exactly like that of his father, a reflection of the love Max and I had shared.

"Max!" I screamed his name, my voice a desperate plea for him to save our child. But he sat there, cradling our lifeless baby, his eyes filled with a grief so deep it seemed bottomless.

Tears streamed down his face, mixing with the blood from the wound in his chest. I could see the agony in his eyes, the torment of a father who had lost his child. It was a pain I could never truly co