Chapter 92
“Doctor!”
Eddy lunged forward, scooping Blanche into his arms and racing out of the hospital room. His voice thundered through the hallway as he shouted at the nurses‘ station, “Help my wife! Please, you have to save her!”
A wave of panic swept through the medical staff as they rushed Eddy and Blanche into the operating theater.
Inside, voices overlapped, tense and urgent.
“She’s hemorrhaging badly–we need to operate, now.”
“Get anesthesia ready.”
“Mr. Simmons, you’ll have to wait outside!”
Blanche felt her consciousness fading, a knife–like agony twisting in her lower abdomen. Memories of losing Lara flooded back–a pain that seemed to hollow her out from the inside. Tears streamed from her reddened eyes.
She clung to Eddy’s hand. She’d never begged him for anything before, but this
time…
“Please, save our daughter. Don’t make me go through that loss again, Eddy.”
With those words, darkness swallowed her vision as anesthesia washed over her. Her hand slipped from Eddy’s grasp and her eyes fluttered shut.
But she could still hear.
“Mr. Simmons, trust us–we’ll do everything we can for your wife and your child,” Dr. Smith reassured him, his voice gentle. “But you need to leave now. We can’t delay.”
Eddy’s icy gaze lingered on Blanche. His hands curled into fists at his sides, his voice cold and unyielding. “No. Terminate the pregnancy. Do whatever it takes to save my wife.”
“But… that’s not what your wife wants-” Dr. Smith hesitated. The patient’s wishes
should come first.
“I’m her husband. Her legal guardian. I have the right to decide what’s best for her,” Eddy insisted, staring at Blanche’s unconscious form. Whether he was trying to convince himself or Dr. Smith, no one could say.
When had Eddy Simmons ever cared about anyone else’s opinion?
1/3
20:32
Chapter
Blanche heard his words. The heartbreak was too much; she slipped into true
unconsciousness.
“Do what I say,” Eddy snapped, voice sharp as ice. “I expect my wife to leave this operating room unharmed. If not, none of you will work in Novandria again.”
Dr. Smith and the others could only relent.
The doors to the operating room swung closed behind him.
Eddy left two bodyguards posted outside, then strode away toward the surgical ward.
When he entered the next room, he found Rhoda coaxing Jeannette to drink her
medicine.
Jeannette had made it through the worst. Seeing Eddy visit, her face brightened, but then she remembered the baby she’d lost. Her smile wavered, her eyes grew misty as she caught Eddy’s hand, looking every bit the helpless, wronged victim. “I’m sorry, Eddy.”
“I couldn’t save the baby.”
“Don’t blame Blanche. She didn’t mean for this to happen.”
Rhoda had just returned from the police station after turning Pollock in, and was looking after Lara when the hospital called to say Jeannette had woken up. She rushed over, arriving just as Eddy did.
She hadn’t had a chance to explain everything to Jeannette yet–she’d hoped Jeannette might be able to convince Eddy to spare Pollock.
But the moment Jeannette spoke, Rhoda hurried to cover her mouth, only for Jeannette to push her away.
Jeannette shot Rhoda a glare and turned her attention back to Eddy, clinging to his arm. “I don’t even know how Blanche found out I was pregnant. I told her the baby was Kelvin’s, not yours.”
“She didn’t believe me. She accused me of seducing you, then pushed me down the
stairs.”
Jeannette watched Eddy’s face grow colder with each word, a secret, satisfied smile flickering at the corners of her mouth.
Eddy had always been distant with her, but she knew all too well how much he cared about the child she’d carried.
213
20:32
She hated how things had turned out the plan had backfired. Instead of com Blanche, she’d lost her own child.
But Blanche had taken something precious from her; even if Eddy didn’t divorce Blanche right away, he’d never forgive her. He’d never touch her again.
All Jeannette needed was another chance to get rid of Blanche’s child. If Blanche could never bear a Simmons heir, and Jeannette had one–maybe two–then everything that belonged to Eddy and the Simmons family would be hers.
Most importantly, she could keep Blanche beneath her heel, always.
“Jean, that’s enough,” Rhoda whispered, terrified by the storm gathering on Eddy’s face as she tugged at Jeannette’s sleeve.
Jeannette ignored her, shaking her mother off.
What was wrong with her mother? She’d cursed Sheila and Blanche for years, and now, when this golden opportunity–paid for with her own lost child–was finally here, she was turning soft. Getting old and losing her edge, clearly.
“Eddy,” Jeannette fluttered her lashes at him, her tone syrupy sweet. “Don’t be angry with Blanche. I can give you another baby, I promise.”
3/3
