Chapter 3

Ethan was gone for three days.

During those three days, my parents rushed over from back home.

Seeing my pale face and the empty bedside, my mother's eyes instantly welled up, and she turned away to wipe her tears. My father was so angry he smoked an entire pack of cigarettes in the hallway; if I hadn't stopped him, he would've gone straight to confront Ethan.

Ethan's Snapchat messages, however, never stopped.

One moment it was, "Vanessa's car broke down, I'm helping her fix it," the next it was, "Leo needs an IV at the hospital, Vanessa can't handle it alone."

Every excuse was righteous, and every one felt like a knife twisting in my heart.

My daughter hadn't been given a formal name yet, so looking at her sleeping face, I gave her the nickname Annie.

I only wished for her to live a life of peace and safety, unlike her mother, who had been so blind.

On the day of discharge, Ethan finally appeared.

He drove up, but Vanessa and Leo were in the passenger seat.

The car stopped downstairs from the inpatient ward. Ethan rolled down the window and waved to me. "Chloe, over here! Vanessa needs to bring Leo for a follow-up too, so I just gave them a ride home since it was on the way, saves her a taxi."

My mother was shaking with anger, pointing at Ethan and about to unleash a torrent of curses.

I stopped her, and with a blank expression, I held Annie and opened the back door.

"Mom, Dad, get in."

The atmosphere in the car was incredibly strange.

Vanessa turned around, a perpetually soft and harmless smile on her face, but her eyes held blatant provocation.

"Chloe, I'm so sorry to trouble Ethan again. Leo insisted on riding in Ethan's car, saying his godfather's car is the safest. Chloe, you're so generous, I'm sure you don't mind, right?"

I looked at her coldly. "I do mind."

Vanessa's smile froze.

Ethan frowned at me in the rearview mirror. "Chloe, what kind of talk is that? Don't be so harsh in front of your parents."

"Harsh?" I let out a soft laugh, pulling at my still-healing wound. "Ethan, I just got discharged, my wound hasn't fully healed, and you make me and our newborn sit in the back, while another woman and her child sit in the passenger seat. Who's being harsh?"

Ethan choked, speechless. Before he could say anything, Leo suddenly shrieked, "Godfather! This bad woman is bullying Mommy! I want her to get out!"

With that, he picked up his Transformers toy and violently threw it at me.

The hard, sharp edges of the toy grazed my forehead, a sharp pain, instantly swelling red.

Annie was startled and cried loudly.

"Leo!" Vanessa feigned a scolding, but her eyes were full of amusement.

Ethan wasn't angry; instead, he reached out to pat the brat's head. "Good boy, Leo, don't fuss. I'll take you to KFC."

My mother finally couldn't take it anymore and slapped the back of the driver's seat. "Ethan! Are you even a human being?! Your own daughter is crying her eyes out, your wife just got hit, and you're still planning to take this brat for KFC?"

"Mom—" Ethan stopped, then corrected himself. "Susan, why are you talking so nastily?" He slammed on the brakes, his face ashen. "Leo is just a kid. What does he understand?"

"If a child doesn't understand, do adults not understand either?" my father, Thomas, roared.

The car descended into chaos.

I took a deep breath and pushed open the car door.

"Mom, Dad, let's get out. We'll take a taxi."

Ethan panicked. "Chloe, what are you trying to do now? Your parents are here. Do you want people to laugh at us?"

I ignored him, got out of the car with Annie in my arms, hailed a taxi, and left without looking back.

Behind me, I vaguely heard Vanessa's insincere pleas and Ethan's frantic honking.

On the way home, watching the scenery flash by outside the window, I made a decision.

This marriage was rotten to the core.

Like a festering wound, it had to be cut out for me to survive.