Chapter 2

In the operating room, after the doctor's cold declaration of death, I completely lost consciousness.

The image of my baby's blue-purple face haunted my mind.

In my dream, a two-year-old boy looked at me with deep hurt.

"This is my second time. Why do you and Daddy not want me again? I hate you both, I don't want you anymore!"

I screamed desperately, running towards him, wanting to tell him I did want him.

But my feet felt as if they were tightly bound, unable to move.

Watching his figure gradually disappear, I cried uncontrollably.

"Don't leave me, don't leave Mommy!"

I jolted awake, a tearing pain erupting from my fresh incision.

My cold hand was tightly clasped.

Opening my eyes, I saw Julian's bloodshot gaze.

"Don't cry. We'll have other children."

He'd said the same thing last time, when our first baby died on the operating table.

But then he turned around and tricked me onto the operating table with a fake medical report, claiming the baby had a nuchal cord.

The truth, blurted out while they administered anesthesia, felt like a dagger ripping my heart to pieces, again and again.

I slapped him across the face.

"Why did you do this to me! What did I ever do to deserve this? That was your own child!"

His expression froze. Just as he was about to speak, the door burst open.

Sera, sobbing uncontrollably, her face streaked with tears, knelt before me.

"I'm so sorry, Audrey. Even though you weren't cooperating, it's still my fault we couldn't save this baby!"

The cutting pain on the operating table was still vivid in my memory.

It was her. After the oxytocin started working, she gave me a muscle relaxant injection.

The baby couldn't be delivered naturally, and its heartbeat slowly weakened.

Then she swapped my epidural for a sedative during the emergency C-section.

After two hours of agony, they finally took out the baby that was already stillborn.

My eyes bloodshot, I grabbed the blanket from the nightstand and threw it at her.

"You deliberately delayed! You intentionally wanted to kill him!"

She clutched a shard of glass to her wrist, her eyes growing resentful.

"Yes, I deserve to die! I'll go die right now, I'll go pay for my nephew's life!"

Julian instantly rushed over, snatching the glass shard from her hand.

"It's not your fault! This baby was unlucky, it was his grandfather who did too many bad things. It has nothing to do with you!"

Before, hearing that, I would have been consumed by guilt and self-blame.

But now, I just found it laughable. How could they so shamelessly twist the truth?

Julian glared at me fiercely.

"You clearly weren't cooperating with the delivery! Are you trying to push my sister to her death?"

He dragged me into the Hayes family living room, forcing me to kneel on the shattered glass from earlier.

"Harming our baby, framing my sister, assaulting me right here, and showing no remorse. You'll kneel here and reflect properly!"