Chapter 3

The next second, Liam Hayes pushed open the door, his face etched with sorrow. "Scarlett, you're awake."

"I brought you pizza from that place we used to love. Let me feed you."

My face was pale. I didn't eat the pizza he held to my mouth. Instead, I asked, "Where's the baby?"

Liam lowered his gaze. "This, this was an accident. I gave Chloe pre-op training, but she might have been too nervous..."

"Anyway, we can still have more children later."

At his words, all the strength drained from me.

I lay down and pulled the covers over myself. "Just go." Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I cried uncontrollably.

It felt like my insides had been hollowed out, leaving only a weak shell of a body.

Liam was the one who said he loved children, that he wanted us to have our own baby.

Back then, we had just gotten engaged, and I was reveling in the joy of our child's impending arrival.

But then Chloe Miller appeared, and the man who once loved me with all his heart suddenly had her presence woven into every part of his life.

During my second delivery, I suffered an amniotic fluid embolism. Liam frantically had the entire hospital working through the night to save me.

They both stayed by my bedside, not moving an inch, overjoyed when I finally woke up.

My face was pale. I weakly whispered that I wanted to see the baby.

Liam's expression instantly turned cold. He just flatly said the baby couldn't be saved.

"Couldn't be saved? I don't believe it! It was a girl, her nose and eyes were just like yours! How could she not be saved?!"

I practically knelt before Liam Hayes.

Tears streamed down my face, but he remained unmoved.

I cried hysterically, clutching the tiny clothes I'd already prepared for her.

For several days, I locked myself in my room, refusing to eat or drink.

Later, I found out that Chloe had injected an excessive amount of anesthetic directly into the fetus.

She watched the fetus die on the spot, never once calling for any professional medical staff to intervene.

Only when there was no movement left did she feign panic and call out to Liam Hayes for help.

I gazed at their ultrasound photos; every fetal movement had filled me with joy.

I had hoped this child would fill the void left by the previous losses, but reality dealt me another crushing blow.

Pain racked my entire body, and my heart was twisted with agony. I was so weak I could barely stand.

I immediately checked out of the hospital and hailed a cab to leave.

In March, the city was still seeing flurries of snow. The cold wind cut across my face like a knife.

I wandered aimlessly through the city in my hospital gown.

I passed the downtown high-rise; that was where Liam Hayes had proposed to me eight years ago.

He had once rented out the entire top floor for a lavish proposal that everyone in the city talked about.

Giant screens projected my name, displaying our six years together, from our school days to our wedding day.

Every single moment, meticulously documented in over eight thousand photos. Our memories alone would fill more than 20 gigabytes.

Later, we chose a stunning cliffside castle in Bali for our wedding.

I accepted his ring and said "I do." He cried with excitement, holding me tightly.

Everyone in the entire college knew Liam was madly in love with me; our romance was a campus legend.

He not only tattooed my name over his heart, but he'd also picked out names for our children long ago.

Before, I thought they loved me.

But after Chloe Miller appeared, everything changed.