Chapter 3

I looked at him in disbelief, my voice hoarse with rage:

"Xavier! Are you insane! This is illegal!"

His face darkened. He leaned down, grabbed my throat, his eyes sinister:

"What are you? Just because your voice sounds a bit like my wife's you think you can scold me?"

Suffocation set in. Tears burst forth like a broken dam, falling in streams onto Xavier's hand. Through my blurred vision I stared at him intently.

Xavier froze for a moment, then suddenly released his grip, staring at my eyes with hesitation:

"Natalie?"

I clutched my throat, gasping for air.

I pulled the ring off my ring finger and threw it at him, saying angrily:

"Xavier, I want a divorce!"

The ring bounced off his chest and fell to the floor. Xavier stared at the ring, frozen in place. He suddenly looked up, staring at me in disbelief.

Just then, Mia opened the door and came in, slapping me hard across the face.

"Thief!"

The slap froze the air.

Mia picked up the ring from the floor, threw herself into Xavier's arms, pointed at me and cried:

"Xavier, she's a thief! I kindly helped her into the car to take her to the hospital, but she stole my ring!"

Xavier's eyes flickered with hesitation. He looked down at Mia's hand.

The ring fit perfectly on her finger, the huge pink diamond gleaming brilliantly—it even looked better on her than on me.

Xavier's expression turned cold instantly. He stepped forward and viciously broke my fingers, his low voice filled with displeasure:

"This is a ring I had custom-made for my wife. Someone like you doesn't deserve to covet something you could never have!"

The pain in my fingers shot straight to my heart. Cold sweat ran down my temples.

Looking at Mia's smug face, tears filled my eyes and wouldn't stop.

I couldn't understand. When Xavier proposed with this ring, he clearly said he designed it himself.

Using the most beautiful pink diamond in the world. One of a kind.

But why did Mia have one too! Why couldn't he recognize me!

Just then, sharp pain shot through my belly. A warm flow gushed from between my legs.

I took a deep breath and weakly grabbed his hand with my broken fingers, screaming in despair:

"The baby's coming! Xavier, the baby's coming! Call a doctor!"

"Call a doctor!"

Xavier looked down. The sight of blood and amniotic fluid mixed together caught him off guard.

His face went pale. He instinctively ran out of the room to call a doctor.

I held my belly, enduring the pain.

Mia sneered and raised her hand to show off the ring, saying smugly:

"You must be wondering why Xavier didn't recognize you even when he saw this ring, right?"

I gritted my teeth and stared at her.

She shoved me from the bed to the floor and kicked my belly hard.

Cold intent flashed in her eyes as she said viciously:

"Because everything you have, I have a copy too!"

"The ring, the man, the status, the baby, the house—everything you have, I have too! Monday, Wednesday, Friday he's at the villa with you. The rest of the days he's at the apartment with me!"

"Did you really think you were the only one? Don't be naive."

She condescendingly patted my face and continued:

"You got hit by me, and he still protected me."

"As long as your baby doesn't survive, the baby in my belly will be the only heir. Just die already!"

Her words shattered the world I thought was happy. Sharp pain stabbed through my heart. Tears silently streamed down my face.

My nails dug deep into my palms. I clenched my fists. The pain in my belly grew more and more intense.

The sound of doctors running came from outside.

I was pushed back into the operating room.

The baby came out of my body with a cry.

I breathed a sigh of relief, tears of joy streaming down.

But before I could even look at her, Xavier had someone take the baby away, while I was pushed to another room.

The doctor stood still, making no move. He suggested:

"Mr. Hale, this patient just gave birth and was in a car accident. She doesn't have the strength to give blood to someone else."

"If you force her to donate blood, her life could be in danger. I know you're anxious because your wife suddenly fainted, but we can expedite getting blood from the blood bank..."

"Enough!"

Xavier cut off the doctor, saying impatiently:

"Mia's life is worth more than hers. I'll give her plenty of money—enough to buy her life!"

"The most important thing right now is giving Mia a transfusion!"