"One child is enough for me. Just have the IUD taken out."
"Be good. I promise, you'll still be the lady of this family. No one will ever rank above you."
I looked at him for a long time, then did as he wanted and changed the procedure from a replacement to a removal.
"Don't bother."
"Giles, I hope you never regret what you've decided today."
What he didn't know was that the IUD I'd worn for five years was the last shred of dignity I'd preserved for him, covering up his congenital infertility.
……
I woke seven days later.
Something low in my abdomen screamed with a pain I'd never felt before—raw, gutted, *empty*.
I reached for it instinctively, but ice-cold handcuffs bit into my wrists and jerked me short.
Outside the door, Giles's calm voice carried through. He was on the phone.
"It's done. The uterus is out."
"Mm. For the adoption of Lucinda's child, it had to be done."
"Her? What's she going to do when she wakes up? She's an orphan. She can't exactly turn the world upside down."
Everything went white. Just a high-pitched buzz and nothing behind it.
My uterus… gone?
How could he.