03
I struggled to lift my head, trembling as I tried to grab the hem of Dominic’s shirt.
But Vivian stepped forward in feigned shock, blocking me from Dominic.
“I can’t believe it! She even learned to mimic Aria’s voice to seduce you!”
“How terrifying!”
The suspicion in Dominic’s eyes was replaced by deep disgust. He grabbed a handful of cotton from the hospital bed.
And stuffed it forcefully into my mouth.
I widened my eyes in shock, struggling with all my might.
So much fine fluff entering my airways would be unbearable for a normal person, let alone someone with severe asthma like me!
But what awaited me was another slap. Dominic’s eyes were cold, but his expression turned joyful when his phone rang.
“Aria’s gone? She must be in the delivery room!”
“Quick! Buy a full set of the most high–end baby products in New York! And book the $300,000 postpartum care center in advance! This is wonderful, I’m going to be a father!”
Dominic trembled with excitement, completely oblivious that the person lying before him was his Aria.
As the knife cut through my belly layer by layer, my breathing grew weaker and weaker.
To keep me alive, the doctor gritted his teeth and injected me with adrenaline shot after shot.
By the end, I had lost all reason. Even my soul seemed to have left my body.
The baby’s clear cry snapped me back to consciousness.
I heard Vivian click her tongue. “It’s a girl.”
The baby was full–term and crying loudly when taken out, but was smothered to death.
Carelessly tossed onto the cold table like a useless piece of trash.
Vivian’s voice was coquettish: “Tell everyone outside it’s a boy! I have to win this bet!”
Looking at the baby’s tightly closed eyes, as if just sleeping, I coughed up a mouthful of blood in heartache.
In the darkness, all I could see was Dominic’s delighted face, over and over.
We had married young and been together for eight years.
It wasn’t until this year that we finally conceived a child.
Dominic treasured this baby like gold, constantly listening to its heartbeat against my belly.
“Honey, we finally have a baby. Boy or girl, it will be my sole heir!”
“If it’s a son, I’ll teach him horseback riding and archery.”
“If it’s a daughter who looks like you, I’ll make sure she becomes the happiest little princess in New York!”
Now I knew that “sole heir” and “happiest” were all lies he told me!
Dominic was still thinking about what gifts to buy the baby, not sparing a glance for his daughter who had died silently.
His mind was solely on instructing his assistant on the phone:
“Go to that Buddhist temple in the suburbs and get a safety amulet each for my wife and child!”
His gaze fell on the broken beads on his wrist, an inexplicable unease rising in his heart:
“Get another string of prayer beads too. I want my child to be absolutely safe!”
I stared hard at Dominic’s face, my heart full of bitter irony.
Too bad the prayer beads didn’t protect your child this time. The safety amulet certainly won’t protect me either.
The monitor by the hospital bed started blaring alarms. But Dominic walked out with his arm around Vivian.
Without looking back.
The doctor helplessly passed by my side, then suddenly returned after a long moment.
As if he had struggled greatly with his conscience.
“I’m a doctor. I can’t stand by and let someone die. Maybe this will bring some good karma for my wife’s unborn child.”
He dragged me out of the dissection room and called an ambulance.
As they carried my stretcher past Dominic, my hand fell limply in the jostling.
The silver band engraved with forget–me–nots glinted dazzlingly in the sunlight.
Dominic’s pupils suddenly constricted.
“Wait!”
