Dead in the Water - AdiYa FF

Chapter 36

**TRIGGER WARNING** - This chapter discusses about violence. Reader Discretion Advised.

Zoya walked out of the doctor's room, her mind totally disturbed. She came early morning to the hospital to enquire about DNA test and if she could legally prove that Aadhya was her and Aditya's child. At the same time, she wondered if there was any way she could trap Waseem in this. She had no proof against him - for that heinous crime he did.

As she walked towards the exit, a woman in scrubs approached her cautiously.

"Zoya?" The voice was hesitant, and when Zoya turned, her eyes met those of Nurse Nita.

Zoya's brows furrowed. "Do I know you?"

Nita nodded, a heavy guilt in her eyes. "Yes...we met some days back here. But, we do have met a long time back too." She gestured toward a private corner. "Can we talk?"

Zoya, already tense from all her issues, reluctantly followed Nita. They stood in a quiet hallway, away from prying eyes. Zoya crossed her arms, impatient. "What is this about? Listen...I am busy with something now."

Nita swallowed hard, her voice trembling as she spoke. "I was the nurse who assisted during your pregnancy... in Lucknow. You may not remember me, but I remember you."

Zoya's expression hardened as she heard that, and her patience was wearing thin. She somehow didn't feel good about this conversation and she didn't know if she was ready too. She said firmly, "Get to the point."

Nita looked down at the floor, visibly struggling with the words she was about to say. "Three years ago, I made a terrible mistake. A mistake that no woman, no human should do." She took a pause, "You delivered a very healthy baby girl. But I... I gave that baby to your father, Waseem, for money. He told me it was for your safety, and that you conceived that baby illegitimately. He said...that you wouldn't be able to face the society with that baby. And....I didn't ask questions—I needed the money at that time. I had just lost my husband then, and that money clouded my senses. And then I did what no one should do ever...lie to a mother that her baby was born dead."

Zoya stood frozen, her chest heaving as Nita's words sank in. The betrayal, the sheer audacity of what had been done to her, washed over her like a tidal wave. For a moment, she couldn't breathe—her lungs constricted with rage and sorrow. Her mind screamed, but her body remained still, her eyes locked on Nita's trembling figure.

The world around her blurred, her focus narrowing to just those words: Your baby was still born.. The lie that had ripped her soul apart, that had kept her in the dark for three long, agonizing years. Slowly, Zoya's hands curled into fists, her nails digging into her palms. She wanted to scream, to break something, to unleash the storm that was brewing inside her. But instead, her voice came out eerily calm, almost too calm, as if the fury had sunken so deep it no longer needed to be loud.

"You sold my baby," Zoya said, her voice steady, each word like ice, "and then you had the nerve to tell me she was dead? You let me live with that grief—made me think I lost my daughter while you walked away with blood money?"

Nita's eyes widened, the guilt and terror plain on her face, but Zoya was far beyond caring about her remorse.

"Do you have any idea what that did to me?" Zoya continued, her voice rising, trembling with barely restrained rage. "I was broken. I thought I failed as a mother, that my baby died because of me...maybe my carelessness! And all this time, it was because you... you needed money?"

Zoya took a step forward, her eyes blazing with fury as she closed the distance between them. Nita flinched, but Zoya didn't stop. She leaned in, her voice low, deadly. "You took the one thing that kept me sane, the one thing I had left after my painful divorce from my husband, and you sold her to that wicked man. For three years, I lived in hell, pining for my dead daughter who was actually alive. My baby girl was deprived of her mother's embrace and love and you—" her voice cracked, raw emotion finally bubbling to the surface, "you helped the man who destroyed me."