Chapter 8
The pain crashed over Charlotte like a tidal wave, pulling her from the fog of confusion.
She opened her eyes groggily to find herself in the hospital, nurses rushing around performing emergency procedures.
“Patient is two months pregnant with severe abdominal bleeding from impact. She needs immediate blood transfusion! But all hospital blood reserves have been transferred to the hospital shareholder’s request. Doctor, what should we do?”
The doctor made a quick decision, ordering someone to contact the shareholder and explain the situation.
“Mr. Hayes, we understand you’ve requisitioned the hospital’s blood supply, but we have a pregnant car accident victim who urgently needs blood. Could you possibly send half back to save her baby’s life?”
Hearing the medical staff’s conversation through her haze, Charlotte instinctively covered her still cramping abdomen.
She was pregnant?
The thought echoed through her mind before she could fully process it. Then she heard Blake’s voice coming through the speaker.
No.”
But this patient is critical, and there’s no time to get blood from elsewhere…”
Don’t forget whose hospital this is and who signs your paychecks Madeline’s situation is critical too and cannot tolerate any risks. I must ensure she’s afe!”
ifter coldly delivering these words, Blake hung up the phone.
The doctor tried calling back, but the line was already disconnected.
harlotte, who had heard everything, felt ice spreading through her entire body.
he looked down at her still flat stomach as cold sweat dripped down her fare, looking from a distance like tears.
ut Charlotte was too weak to cry. She could only close her eyes in despair, allowing herself to be swallowed by darkness.
When Charlotte finally awoke from her stupor, she saw a marse standing by her bed.
Mrs. Hayes, I’m so sorry…” the nurse hesitated. “We couldn’t save the baby
harlotte instinctively touched her flat stomach.
his child-its own father had personally abandoned it.
You’re still young. You’ll have another baby soon,” the nurse consoled her.
he shook her head.
here wouldn’t be another.
lever again.
That person…” she asked softly, “your hospital shareholder’s friend. Did she survive?”
An uncomfortable look flashed across the nurse’s face. “Yes, she did. I’m truly sorry, but she’s someone Mr. Hayes cares deeply about, so…”
“I understand,” she smiled faintly. “Someone very important.”
More important than his wife. More important than his child.
Chapter *
After the nurse left, Charlotte took out the yellowed points chart from her bag and wrote on the final line:
For Madeline, abandoned our baby, minus five points.
At this point, all one hundred points had been deducted.
As her pen tore through the paper, she heard something inside her heart snap with a distinct crack.
When she returned to the villa, night had fallen.
harlotte walked straight to the study and retrieved the divorce papers she’d prepared long ago from the bottom drawer.
ler signature was steady, much calmer than she’d imagined it would be.
inally, she placed the divorce agreement and the fully depleted points chart on his desk.
While packing her bags, she paused in the entryway, looking back at the place she’d called home for three years-
half-empty glass of water he’d left the night before still sat on the dining table, his favorite black sweater was thrown across the sofa, and even the ir still carried the scent of his preferred cedar cologne.
he closed the door gently behind her, never looking back
