A week later, when she was not able to tolerate it anymore, she went to Matt after they had dinner. They were in their bedroom. "Matt, I need to tell you something." She confessed.

"Is that the thing that is troubling you?"

She looked stunned. Matt continued, "I can say this by seeing your facial expressions over the past few weeks. There is something that is eating you from inside."

"Yes, there is."

"So, what are you waiting for? Share it with me." He tried to make her comfortable.

Despite Matt's effort to make it easy for her, she couldn't help it. "Matt. It's not that easy. I'm afraid that this secret can take you away from me. You may even lose your mind."

"Nina, please. We promised to share everything with each other." Then he paused. "Actually, I haven't told you one thing."

Nina stood there, shocked. "First, I'll say." Matt said. "I'm not the only son of my father. I had an older brother too." Nina was listening unblinkingly. "I was no match for him in anything, but one day something terrible happened." Then he narrated the entire history that his father told him when he was eighteen. Matt told Nina everything—what Bran did, how he was taken to prison, sentenced to life imprisonment—Sir Eric had disowned him, and then Matt was his only son. "I'm so sorry, Nina. I couldn't tell you all this earlier." And he started weeping. Nina hugged him tightly, trying to console him. She also began sobbing with him. "Don't worry. Everything is fine." She consoled him.

"What do you have to say?" Matt inquired while wiping off his tears.

Nina stopped crying and sighed. "I can't, Matt."

"Look at me." Their eyes met. "Do you trust me?" Matt asked.

"Yes, I do." She whispered.

"Please tell me what it is."

She paused, gathered courage, and let that secret out.

"Years ago, I eloped with a man I loved." She stopped, wiped her tears, and continued, "We used to meet in the park. I had fallen in love with him at first sight. My family didn't like him at all, and I was never going to leave him. He helped me run away one night. We dreamt of building our own world in some place, and we built it. We were married in church. Just two of us were present there. We vowed to protect each other. Then one day, my father found me. He had hired a lot of people to find us and even gave them a fortune to bring me back. Those monsters dragged me out of our home. They also beat him like a dog. Then they pushed me into a car and drove me away. I saw him lying there, immobile. He was alive but bruised terribly. A few hours later, I was home. Nobody has hurt me anymore. Father didn't speak to me for a long time, but as days passed, life returned to normal. Neither I nor he tried to find each other again. That story was dead and buried deep. He must be dead somewhere, because he could never live without me. Now I found you." She looked at Matt and was unable to say anything anymore. Matt jumped and hugged her. He put her head close to his heart. "I understand the circumstances you have gone through. From now on, there will be no turning back. From now on, it is only going to be you and me. From now on, no one of us will be pondering our pasts anymore. From now on, we are going to start our new, loving, and peaceful life." They both laughed, and Matt kissed her forehead. That new moon night with no light brought a new light of hope into their lives. That night, they had a peaceful sleep.

*  *  *

The next day, Matt was roaming the busy street market, looking for someone. A lady came behind him and said, "Looking for me?"

"Why did you call me here?" There was anger embedded in his voice.

Victoria replied, "To tell something secretive about your loving wife."

"I know her history with that man. She told me everything." Victoria's wicked smile faded away when she heard that. "And you still want to be with her." She lost herself and got mad at him. "She keeps secrets from you. She lied to you!"

"What do you want?" Matt seemed even more aggravated than before.

"You." Her anger became smoke. She enunciated calmly and lustfully, "I want you to be mine. I started loving you when I saw you first in my house." She stretched out her hand and tried to touch him.

"You call it love?" Matt asked with a taunt.

"She'll piss you off!" Her words were flooded with envy.

"I guess you are making me do that right now." Matt said this and rushed to leave in anger.

"You have to be mine someday, dear." There was villainy serenity again in her voice. "There is no way to escape." 

*  *  *

Brandon was lying on the floor, staring at nothing. Suddenly, horrified shrieks started coming from one end of the corridor. The constables started rushing to and fro. Bran came to the bars of his cell. He noticed that all the cops had a horrified look. "Emergency! Get it fast!" They were shouting.

Bran managed to stop one cop from inquiring about the situation. "An old prisoner, Raymond. He committed suicide by slicing his vein." The cop ran away after saying that. Bran fell to the ground. He felt like he was out of energy. He felt like blood circulation had stopped in his body. He felt like he was creeping into darkness. All the incidents of those past weeks that happened to him and Raymond were circulating in his mind. He looked into the air. Through the bars, it was Raymond's cop staring at him. They kept staring at each other in silence, but their minds were pondering the same thing. 'Now how was Bran going to break the bars?'

*  *  *

The Barrels were going through that period when they had to look after Nina for all the little things. She had almost reached the verge of the ninth month of her pregnancy. A maid was also hired for her. Matt was excessively obsessed with his upcoming child. Lady Lynda had also started knitting sweaters for her grandchild, as she did for Matt and Brandon.

Next week, Nina cried out in pain while having lunch. Matt supported her. Lynda joined him. Sir Eric rushed to the telephone to call for an ambulance. Within minutes, an ambulance arrived. Matt, Nina, and Lynda quickly boarded it. Sir Eric came in his car with a chauffeur. When he reached the hospital, he rushed to look for his wife and son. He found Matt at the billing counter. "How is she?" Eric asked. Matt stayed mum for a few moments and spoke, "Doctors say that the condition is serious. She has some sort of infection in her uterus. It is not possible to save both of them."

Sir Eric found Lady Lynda sitting just outside the operating room. Her eyes were closed, and her head was bowed, probably praying. He sat beside her. Matt kept standing next to him, thinking about all the marvelous moments of their lives and the talks he used to have with his baby while his head gently kept on her tummy. He saw doctors and nurses with masks going in and out of the room.

He never noticed when seven hours passed in a blink. A doctor came to him and asked him to meet him in his cabin. They were sitting across the desk, and the doctor started, "She is out of danger and will be conscious within twelve hours." She sighed and continued, "But we lost the offspring." Matt was stunned. He kept staring at her mouth, and his eyes went moist in no time. The doctor tried to console him anyhow, but he wept like a little boy whose most adorable thing was taken away from him. Matt was deeply crestfallen. "You have to keep yourself together." The doctor advised. "There is something else you need to know." Matt didn't say anything. "As I told you earlier, she had a deadly infection in her uterus. We treated it anyhow. She is safe. The worst was that the infection nearly reached her ovaries, so we had no choice other than to conduct a tubectomy. This infection might have a deleterious effect on her reproductive organs if it had reached there. That was the only way to keep her alive." She paused and continued, "Your wife is saved, but I'm afraid you can never have an offspring with her." Matt didn't react at all. He was too suppressed to do anything. He got up slowly and reached the door with heavy steps when the doctor said, "There is only one way left, and that is to adopt." It looked like Matt did not pay any attention to that, and he left without a word.

He was distraught, engulfed in a profound sense of loss and helplessness. After his child passed away during birth, he was in shock, and the pain he was experiencing was almost unbearable. His emotions were a complicated jumble of anger, grief, and remorse. He was even more desperate after seeing his wife struggle with her own emotional and physical suffering in the hospital. He experienced a deep sense of emptiness, like part of his future had been ripped away. Despite his anguish, he made an effort to be strong for his wife, but the weight of the situation was almost too much for him to bear. His sunken eyes and hunched posture betrayed the great weight bearing down on his soul.

A few moments later, the doctor got up and rushed out, examined the surroundings, and went along the corridor. After reaching the ground floor, she cautiously dashed for the back gate of the hospital. No sooner did she open the gate and go out than she saw a black Mercedes car waiting there. The window descended, and a smoke cloud came out of the car. The car was booming with 'Baby' by Justin Bieber. She went there, looked inside the car, and said, "The deal is done. I conducted a tubectomy and killed the baby, as you said." The figure took another puff of cigarette, went for the bag lying on the seat, fumbled in it, brought out three thick decks of dollar bills, and handed them to her. The doctor looked at the money and noticed Victoria giving back a sinful smile, holding a cigarette in her right hand.