Chapter 4

"I was too impulsive just now. Once the baby in Rachel's belly is born safely, I'll send her abroad."

"Rest and get your strength back. After you're discharged, we'll go on our honeymoon."

Then I got a mobile banking notification that five million dollars had been deposited into my account.

Five million dollars.

Back then I broke with my family and poured my entire fortune into his startup—fifty million, down to the last cent.

I ran his company for ten years, worked myself into three miscarriages, my uterus worn thin as paper.

And now my life, my dignity, ten years of my youth—all bundled together at a price of five million dollars.

Before I could even catch my breath, the ward door was kicked open.

Rodney rushed in, grabbed a fistful of my hair, and dragged me down off the bed.

The IV needle was still in the back of my hand. When he yanked me, the needle tore straight out of the vein, and blood ran down over my hand.

"Rachel killed herself. Are you satisfied now?!"

He hauled me off the bed to the floor like a madman. My knees slammed into the tiles, and it hurt so much I couldn't make a sound.

"Rachel's baby is gone! The doctor says her uterus is badly damaged—she needs a hysterectomy just to survive!"

I lay on the ground and looked up at him.

"Believe it or not, it wasn't me."

Smack! A stack of papers struck me hard across the face and scattered across the floor.

I glanced at them. They were the indecent photos taken of Rachel when she was being abused and violated by her stepfather.

"You were the only one who took away these negatives! Who else but you would leak them online to drive her to her death?!"

He crouched down and gripped my chin so hard that my teeth bit through the flesh inside my cheek.

"You were jealous she was carrying my child, so you stooped to something this filthy?"

I knew these photos were someone's deliberate setup.

But Rodney's eyes told me he didn't care whether they were real or fake.

All he wanted was a reason that let him torment me with a clear conscience.

I was shoved into the back seat of the car.

The car drove for a long time. The road outside the window got narrower and narrower, empty wasteland on both sides.

The car stopped in front of a building with no sign.

Inside, the lights were a ghastly white.

Several masked people lifted me onto the operating table and cinched belts tight around my wrists and ankles, buckling them shut.

Rodney stood in the corner, his face blank.

"Since you're the one who destroyed Rachel's uterus, then you can give her yours."

I started to struggle. The belts dug into my flesh, and my wrists chafed raw and bloody.

"Rodney, for the sake of the ten years we spent together."

I looked at him, my voice shaking so hard it barely held together.

"I'm begging you, let me go."

"A blood debt is paid in blood. Only when you remember this lesson will you learn to behave."

He turned, pushed open the door of the operating room, and walked out.

The door slammed shut.

The surgical lamp switched on.

Someone stuck a needle into my arm, and a cold crept up through my veins.

The metal face of the scalpel pressed against my lower belly, so cold my whole body convulsed.

The blade cut into my flesh, and a searing pain tore through my lower belly.

No anesthesia. The pain knocked me out cold right there on the operating table.

In that moment, ten years of love were cut away clean.

All that was left was hatred.

Half-conscious, I heard a huge crash.

I saw a familiar figure.

Dozens of people came in behind him.

"How dare you do this to her—I'll kill every one of you!"

He came to the operating table, undid the belts, and lifted me into his arms.

I was trembling all over, my fingers clutching his collar.

"Tell him I'm dead. That I died here."

My voice was almost too faint to hear.

Ray didn't ask a thing.

He carried me to another car, and it vanished into the night.

Behind us, flames rose up.

Three days later.

Rodney sat in the VIP ward of Downtown Central Hospital, holding Rachel's hand.

Rachel leaned against the headboard, her face pale, having just come out of a D&C.

His phone rang.

He answered with a frown, assuming it was the shady clinic calling to make him come clean up their mess.

It was the voice of the police.

There had been an explosion and fire out in the suburbs, and a charred female body was found at the scene.

Among the belongings was a necklace, and the DNA comparison had come back.

The deceased was Mavis Gibson.

Would the family please come to claim the body as soon as possible.