Chapter 4

Giles froze for a second, then rubbed the space between his brows and let out a tired breath.

“Wren, stop making a scene.”

“I know you're angry. But you're not really going to walk away from me. We've been together seven years, and you're carrying my child.”

Seven years of love.

In the end it had only become his proof that I would never leave.

My heart felt like a needle had gone through it, and yet it didn't hurt the way it used to.

From out in the stairwell came Beryl's soft call.

“Giles, are you in there?”

“My parents are asking why you're still not back.”

Giles's brow drew together.

A few seconds passed, and he took his hand back.

“I'll text you the door code downstairs. Trade places with Beryl for a few days.”

With that, he turned and left.

A few steps out, he looked back once more. “Get some rest. I'll come down and check on you tonight.”

I looked at the code on my phone, and something drew me, against all reason, to stand outside their wedding suite.

The instant the door opened, everything in it spoke of two people.

Two pairs of slippers set side by side at the entrance.

A photo frame on the TV cabinet, the two of them smiling at each other.

On the coffee table, a black cup and a white one.

Even on the bathroom counter, two toothbrushes stood side by side, one pink, one blue.

Seeing Giles's other home with my own eyes, the last bit of foolish reluctance in me crumbled to dust.

Back home, I lay in bed for a full day.

The next day the cramping in my belly was so bad I couldn't even stand steady.

On the way to the hospital, my mother saw the bitterness on my face and told me gently not to be afraid.

I had just started to speak when the car was slammed from behind.

The screech of impact hit at the same moment my belly struck the seat in front, hard, and blood ran down my legs.

I clamped both hands over my stomach, my face white with pain.

The driver's door of the black car behind us was shoved open.

Beryl ran over, her face ashen.

“Wren, I'm sorry.”

“I happened to see you and I wanted to apologize for what my parents did yesterday, so I drove behind you.”

She grabbed my hand, tears spilling over in her panic.

“I was afraid you wouldn't forgive me, I looked away for a second, and I hit you. I'm sorry……”

The world swam in front of me. With the last of my strength I threw off her hand.

When I woke again, I was in the hospital.

My mother sat by the bed, looking ten years older overnight.

She said, “Wrennie, we couldn't save the baby.”

I stared at the ceiling for a long time, then took out my phone and called the police.

Ten o'clock that night.

Giles called and told me to come back for a while.

He said, “Wren, come back and sign the accident release.”

The pain in my chest split me open.

I asked him, “Why should I?”

His voice was weary. “It was just an ordinary rear-end collision, Wren. You didn't lose anything. Why take it this far?”

I didn't lose anything.

I repeated the words softly to myself.

Then I told him, one word at a time, “Giles, I won't sign.”

From the other end came the sound of Beryl weeping.

“Giles, I know it's all my fault. I'll pay for it.”

“But if Wren really goes to the police and I get a reckless driving record, I won't pass the Bar Association's annual review. If I lose my career, my whole life is ruined.”

Giles went quiet. A few seconds later, he sent a video.

In it, he lifted a box out of the safe.

He picked up the photo inside, a lighter in his other hand.

The flame licked upward. A little closer and the photo would catch.

The sound tore out of me.

“Giles, that's the last portrait of my father!”

“So the choice is yours.”

Giles's voice was steady. Frighteningly steady.

“Wren, sign, and I'll put the box back. Nothing between us has to change.”

Beryl cried out my name over the phone.

“Wren, you've always been so generous. Just forgive me this once. My career really can't take a stain like this.”

One of them using my father's things to force me, the other using my years of tolerance to hold me hostage.

As if I had done something the heavens couldn't forgive.

Yet not once did either of them ask me what I had lost in that crash.

Giles glanced at the time.

“I'll give you one minute to think.”

I was shaking so hard I could barely hold the phone.

“Giles, you promised me. You promised you'd keep my father's things safe.”

“I know. But I can't let Beryl carry a stain.”

The man who once said he would protect me forever.

In the end he was the one who had backed me into a corner with no way out.

In the new video, the first old, faded photo had already been swallowed by the flame.

Not a trace of hesitation in his voice.

“Wrennie, don't make me do this.”

He was fighting for someone else's fairness.

Not caring in the least whether it would destroy me.

In the few seconds of my silence, another video came through.

The photo of my father holding my hand when I was little turned, bit by bit, into black ash.

I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood.

“Giles, stop.”

“I'll sign.”

Giles sent over the electronic accident release he already had ready.

“Sign it.”

Tears fell onto the phone, one after another.

With a trembling hand, I signed my name.

Giles finally let out a breath.

“Wrennie, I know you've been through a lot. Once this is behind us, I'll take you away somewhere to clear your head——”

I cut him off. “Giles, let's break up.”

Giles's voice stopped short.

“What?”

My voice was very calm.

“I said, Giles, the baby is gone. This time, I really don't want you.”