Chapter 2

My flight with Professor Catherine was scheduled in six hours.

Thinking back to that eccentric, brilliant mentor who had begged me to stay in academia, my lips curved into a faint smile. For the first time in months, I felt genuine hope for the future.

My personal furniture and belongings were already packed and redirected to a private storage unit.

The only thing left was to retrieve my $60,000 wedding deposit from the event planning venue.

I drove over to the agency's building. Just as I stepped near the elevator bank, familiar voices echoed from the emergency stairwell beside me.

"Ethan... when you take me to Miami for treatment, can we bring Elena along?"

Before Ethan could answer, Chloe continued in a breathy, guilt-ridden tone:

"Because of my condition, you let me alter your wedding plans, and now you're ditching Elena to accompany me. I feel so bad about it... I want to make it up to her in Miami."

My heart pounded against my ribs. I crept forward and gently cracked the heavy door open.

Through the gap, I saw Ethan holding Chloe securely against his chest, his large hand gently rubbing her lower stomach, his eyes softer than I had ever seen.

"Don't be silly. This trip isn't just for your therapy. Have you forgotten our baby needs prenatal care, too? I booked an appointment with the top OB-GYN specialist in Miami to design a customized pregnancy plan for you."

Chloe... was pregnant.

My fingers dug into the leather strap of my purse so hard that my knuckles turned white. Tears stung my eyes.

I had a baby once, too.

During that deadly mudslide, the backroads were completely flooded. Ethan and I had rented an old utility ATV to search for Chloe.

When we finally found her, she was barely conscious and needed urgent medical care, but our ATV got stuck in a ditch of thick mud.

Ethan told me to push from behind.

With all my strength, I pushed the vehicle free, but I lost my footing and tumbled face-first onto a sharp boulder. Agonizing pain ripped through my abdomen as blood mixed with muddy rainwater, soaking into the dirt.

"Ethan! Ethan!" I screamed for him, but all I saw through the torrential downpour was his taillights speeding away into the distance with Chloe.

When I woke up in the hospital, the doctor looked at me with pity.

"Severe abdominal trauma combined with extreme hypothermia caused a complete uterine rupture. We couldn't save the baby... and your chances of conceiving again are practically nonexistent."

I fell into a deep depression, refusing to eat or speak. Ethan had dropped to his knees by my bed, sobbing for three days straight. That was when he tearfully promised he wouldn't touch me or sleep in the same bed, claiming he didn't want to trigger my grief.

Now I knew the truth.

Every sweet word was a sickening lie.

A wave of uncontrollable rage surged straight to my head.

I kicked the stairwell door wide open, stormed inside, and slammed my palm across Ethan's face with everything I had.

SLAP!

He stumbled back, his eyes wide in utter disbelief.