Chapter 4

He roared at me, then turned and scooped Angela up.

The girl had both hands pressed hard against her belly, the pain written all over her face.

"It hurts! It hurts so much!"

I saw the blood soaking red through the hem of her dress, and I closed my eyes.

There were so many times I had wanted to die, times when I passed out with blood pooling beside me.

Over the years, that turned into a fear of blood.

I never thought that after all this time, the fear still hadn't faded.

The doctor gave her an emergency injection and said to Barret,

"Her condition is very bad right now. We may not be able to save the baby."

"We need to take her in to try and keep the pregnancy."

As soon as she heard it, Angela clung tight to the hem of my clothes.

Her palm was scraped red.

"Irma Henson, I didn't do anything. Why would you try to kill my baby?"

"What do I have to do before you'll forgive me?"

"My father is already dead. Will you only be satisfied when I disappear from this world too?"

Her voice was loud, and the people at the door heard every word.

I watched with my own eyes as Angela was wheeled into the ER.

The moment the door closed, Barret spun around and seized my wrist.

"Now she's even lost the baby. Are you happy?"

"I'm telling you, if anything happens to her, I'm not done with you!"

Weak, I braced myself against the wall beside me and flung the man's hand off.

His head knocked into my bottle of medicine, and it scattered across the floor.

A needle drove deep into my palm, and blood dripped out, drop after drop.

I pushed the door to go find a doctor, and he blocked me in the doorway at once.

"Irma Henson, Angela is in the ER right now! Every doctor is with her. Can't you even bear this little bit of pain?"

"Take one more step forward," he said, pulling out the jade ring my father had left him,

"and I'll smash the only thing your father left in this world!"

I clamped my hand over the wound, breathing hard against the pain.

I never imagined that in Barret's eyes, my parents' lives could be worth so little.

Whatever last trace of desire he'd had for me vanished completely from his eyes.

I lifted my gaze and met his.

"Barret, once she comes out, can I go?"

He looked me over, as if I meant nothing to him at all.

"Go? Go where? You want to put on that suicidal-depression act again?"

"Irma Henson, could you stop being so stupid? Taking care of you every time you spiral, I'm exhausted."

He turned the ring on his finger.

It wasn't our wedding band.

It was a matching couple's ring with Angela.

I gave a bitter little smile and said nothing more.

I just sat there and waited for Angela to come out of the ER.

I don't know how long it was before the light over the ER finally went dark.

Barret rushed out without a word.

All I could hear was Angela crying like her heart was being torn out.

"Barret, our baby... it's gone..."

"They said I'll never be able to have children again, never again..."

I stepped out the door, and Barret bent down and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek.

His voice was so gentle it could have dripped:

"Don't worry. I can take care of you for the rest of your life."

Watching the two of them so close, a wave of nausea rose in my stomach.

My husband, together with the daughter of the man who killed my parents.

How was I supposed to face my mother and father.

Barret acted as if he didn't see me at all, and pushed Angela into the ward.

And I walked the other way.

After I got home, I packed my things and left the house.

Maybe I would never come back to this place again in my life.

I put together a hundred-slide deck and posted it online, all of it laying out what Barret and Angela had done.

The next second, the internet blew up.