Chapter 5
490words
As paramedics lifted me onto a stretcher, Samuel stood cradling Rachel's "injured" wrist, his handsome face utterly devoid of emotion.
Miraculously, the baby survived.
The doctor informed me that this trauma had further shortened my already limited lifespan. I might not survive until delivery.
Samuel didn't appear at the hospital until the following afternoon, his face showing the fatigue and irritation of a hangover.
"Is the baby okay?" He stood ten feet from my bed, his tone as distant as a stranger's.
"No thanks to you, still alive." I leaned against the headboard, my face paper-white.
"Winnie Thompson, don't take that tone with me." His brows furrowed deeply. "About yesterday, Rachel has explained everything. You struck her first—she was merely defending herself."
I laughed bitterly at the absurdity, the movement pulling at my abdominal wounds and making me wince.
"So when she repeatedly slammed her handbag into my pregnant belly—was that self-defense too?"
"She didn't mean to!" Samuel's voice rose sharply. "She was just trying to push you away! Stop being unreasonable! I warned you not to provoke her!"
So in his mind, I was being unreasonable—I was the troublemaker despite being the wronged party.
I stared at him, my heart turning to ice.
Rachel Lawrence chose that moment to enter with a fruit basket, affectionately hooking her arm through Samuel's. "Samuel, don't argue with your wife—she's pregnant after all. Winnie, I'm sorry for being impulsive yesterday. I shouldn't have pushed you..."
Her tone shifted as her gaze fell to my belly: "But Winnie, this child comes at such an inconvenient time. Samuel is taking over the European division, and we'll be relocating abroad. We certainly can't bring along a child of... questionable origin, can we?"
Samuel's expression darkened further.
He regarded me with a coldness and resolve I'd never witnessed before.
"Rachel is right."
He approached my bed deliberately, towering over me like an executioner pronouncing sentence.
"Winnie Thompson, this child should never have existed."
"Once you're feeling better, get rid of it."
My world shattered in that moment.
I thought he simply didn't love me anymore, that he was merely infatuated with Rachel. I never imagined he would explicitly demand the death of his own child.
I stared at him, my body trembling uncontrollably, unable to form words.
He grew impatient with my silent stare and turned to leave with Rachel.
As he turned, I summoned my last reserves of strength to grab his shirt hem.
He turned back, disgust etched on his face.
"Splat——"
Without warning, blood gushed from my mouth, splashing across his expensive white shirt like crimson blossoms.
The world spun as I collapsed back onto the bed. Before consciousness faded, I glimpsed the momentary shock frozen on his face.
"Samuel Sanders..." I smiled weakly, my voice barely a whisper, "You will regret this..."
"You'll pay for every word you've spoken today..."
