Till Death Do Us Part... Or I Do - Chapter 7: Chapter 7

"Elise's mother is dead?" The words barely escaped my lips, my voice cracking under the weight of disbelief.
Then, trembling, I muttered, "How... how is that even possible? I only meant to scare her. I never stopped her mother's medication—" Before anyone could respond, the door slammed open, shattering the tension in the room.
A woman rushed in, freezing everyone in place.
She was a wreck—face streaked with tears, voice ragged and broken.
"Louis, you're finally awake, but our baby is gone!" she sobbed. "It was Elise—she paid off the driver to kill me and our child! You have to make her pay!"
My stomach lurched.
The sight of her was... horrifying.
I recoiled instinctively, every nerve in my body screaming at me to get away. I couldn't handle this—not now.
"Who the hell are you?" I snapped, voice sharp with confusion and disgust.
It was Nicole—but not the woman I remembered.
Her body was ruined, skin melted and scarred like wax left too close to fire. Her voice grated against my ears, raw and rasping.
She must have seen the revulsion in my eyes, but she didn't back down.
"Louis, it's me... your Nicole," she choked out. "Elise did this to me. I have nothing left but you now..."
Her words hit like a slap.
She was monstrous.
I swallowed back bile, forcing my voice steady. "Don't worry. I'll get you the best doctors. We'll fix this."
Nicole nodded, her shattered expression begging for my pity. "Louis... I believe in you."
Before I could respond, my grandfather cut in.
"Miss Sutton, you keep insisting you were carrying Louis's child. So tell me—why was the baby you lost blonde with blue eyes? Since when do Andersons have those genes?"
Nicole flushed, stammering, "M-my great-grandmother was blonde! Genes skip generations, right?"
My grandfather wasn't buying it. With a flick of his hand, the butler stepped forward, handing me a folder.
"Sir Louis, while you were in a coma, we ran a paternity test. The child wasn't yours."
Nicole went pale.
Panic flashed in her eyes.
She bolted for the door—only for the bodyguards to block her escape.
The butler wasn't finished. He handed me a second folder, thicker and far more damning.
"Sir Louis, this is a full investigation into Miss Sutton's past fifteen years."
I flipped through the pages, each revelation hitting like a hammer. Then my eyes locked onto an article—Nicole winning a dance competition ten years ago.
I frowned. "This date... it's the day I fell off the cliff. Nicole, you swore you saved me. So why were you overseas at a competition?"
My grandfather's eyes widened. "Louis, Elise was the one who saved you. I saw her carry you back from the cliff myself. I only agreed to your marriage because of that."
The pieces were clicking—until Tessa Green, Elise's mother's nurse, was dragged in, shaking like a leaf.
"It wasn't me!" she blurted. "Nicole told me it was your order! She had a recording of you saying to stop Mrs. Jefferson's meds—she said she was your wife! I'd never dare do this on my own!"
My gaze snapped to Nicole.
The room felt like it was collapsing.
Nicole couldn't look at me. She dropped to her knees, hands flailing. "No! That wasn't me! Don't look at me—"
Too late.
The bodyguards had already found the audio on her phone—my voice, edited and weaponized to frame Elise and kill her mother.
I stared at her, all warmth gone from my eyes.
"Nicole," I said, voice ice, "how many more lies have you fed me? Was anything you ever said real?"