Chapter 3
As a doctor, I knew that if that knife was pulled out, I would surely die.
However, I only spoke with indifference. “Go ahead, Maxwell. Pull it out. Once you do, we’re even.”
I had been a poor student sponsored by the Conner family. Now, I had repaid their kindness over the years with my life and my child’s life.
“What did you say?” Maxwell’s hand trembled around the knife handle, as if he hadn’t heard me clearly.
The police seized the opportunity to subdue him. Molly wasted no time and rushed to wheel me away.
I couldn’t hold on any longer and passed out.
When I woke up, I was in a regular ward. However, I was hooked up to all kinds of machines typically found in the ICU. The nurse told me the ICU was full, and Molly was helping to coordinate.
My life had been saved.
But when I reached down and touched my now-flat abdomen, there was no longer any sign of my baby. He had stayed in my belly for a brief four months. After he took the stab for me, he returned to heaven.
“Ms. Shepard, it’s okay… Some women go their whole lives without children. That stab went too deep, and the delay in treatment only made things worse. Your body just can’t take any more trauma. Try not to dwell on it.”
The nurse was trying to comfort me. I didn’t say anything, but the tears wouldn’t stop.
I would never be able to have children again.
Seeing how heartbroken I looked, the nurse hurried off to get a sedative.
Right after she left, the door was kicked open with a loud bang. Maxwell stormed in, his words laced with sarcasm.
“Natalie, Karina was right. You’re just faking it. If you were really hurt, why are you in a regular ward? What, you spend all your money hiring extras and couldn’t afford a proper ward?”
I couldn’t be bothered to look at him.
“What do you want?” I said coldly.
Maxwell paused, frowning.
“What kind of attitude is that? Do you even realize who you’re talking to? You hurt Karina, causing her to miss three surgeries! And because you’re pretending to be sick, the patients at the hospital are causing a commotion.
“They’re accusing Karina of being a homewrecker who incited me to harm you. You’re coming with me right now to apologize to her and clear her name!”
He grabbed my arm, yanking hard. Pain shot through me, and it felt like my stitches had been torn open.
I broke into a cold sweat. “Maxwell, let go of me! I just had surgery!”
He sneered. “Cut the act. If it were really that serious, you’d be in the ICU.”
Maxwell gave me a rough tug, and I fell straight off the bed.
The machines attached to me clattered loudly onto the floor.
I finally couldn’t take it anymore. “Maxwell, I will not apologize to her, and I will not clarify anything! I may owe the Conners,
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but I owe nothing to Karina. And as of today, my debt is paid. From now on, you have no right to order me around.
Maxwell’s face turned terrifyingly dark. He flung me away onto the ground.
The pain hit me so hard I nearly passed out.
“How dare you say you owe her nothing? If you hadn’t made up those lies when Grandma died, Karina wouldn’t have been accused of murder! She wouldn’t have suffered a depressive episode and lost her chance to study abroad.
“You’re the one who killed Grandma! It was you who threatened Grandma and forced me to marry you.”
I laughed bitterly.
So that was why he married me, but never once treated me kindly.
Back then, his grandma, Lydia Smith, warned him that if he married Karina, she would strip him of all his shares. He chose power and married me. But at the same time, he was maintaining an ambiguous relationship with Karina.
I sneered. “Maxwell, are you really that stupid? If Karina was so innocent, why would someone as kind as Mrs. Conner Senior reject her so harshly?”
Lydia might have been wealthy, but she was never snobbish. She treated me just the same, although I was just a poor student.
For a moment, Maxwell froze.
Just then, Karina’s mother, Jessie Baker, stormed in.
“Maxwell, hurry! Take Ms. Shepard to the press conference. If we delay any longer, Karina’s going to break down from all this cyberbullying!”
