Chapter 6

**Stella’s POV**

The smell of blood filled the study.

I didn't call the estate's doctor.

As a former combat medic, treating wounds was second nature.

I limped to the medicine cabinet and grabbed iodine, tweezers, and a suture kit.

No anesthesia. I bit down on a clean towel and used the tweezers to pluck the glass shards from my palms, one by one.

Every time I pulled a piece out, my body convulsed with pain.

Sweat soaked my shirt, but I didn't make a sound.

In the end, I stitched my own hand with five sutures.

By the time I tied the last knot, the sun was rising.

At 7 AM, frantic, messy footsteps hurried down the hall.

The study door was pushed open. Ethan walked in, smelling like hospital disinfectant and Chloe’s sweet perfume.

His eyes were bloodshot, his jaw covered in stubble. He looked exhausted and manic.

But when his eyes landed on the dried blood on the carpet and my heavily bandaged, bleeding hand, he froze as if struck by lightning.

"Stella..." his voice cracked. He practically crawled to my side, throwing himself at my knees.

His hands shook as he tried to touch my hand, but he didn't dare. His tears fell hot against my skin.

"How did this happen? Where is the doctor?! Where are the useless doctors of this estate?!" he roared like a mad beast toward the hallway.

"I didn't call them," I said quietly, my voice dry from lack of sleep. "I stitched it myself."

Ethan whipped his head around, staring at me in disbelief.

Looking at my pale face, the bloody tweezers, and the suture needle, he suddenly slapped himself hard across the face.

*SLAP!*

The sound echoed in the study. His cheek swelled instantly.

"I’m sorry, Stella! I’m so sorry! I was out of my mind last night. I thought you really wanted to hurt the baby... The doctor said Chloe almost miscarried, so I stayed at the hospital all night. I didn’t know you were hurt this badly..."

He rambled, burying his face in my lap, crying like a lost child.

Looking at his guilty tears, I only felt cold.

He cried for my blood, yet he had stepped right over me when I was lying in glass.

"Ethan, you don't need to explain," I said, my voice completely flat. "Did the baby survive?"

At the word "baby," Ethan’s body stiffened.

He looked up, a twisted, maniacal calculation flashing in his eyes.

He grabbed my shoulders, whispering with a sickly excitement, "Stella, I’ve made up my mind. I thought about it all night at the hospital."

"That baby is my blood. I can’t discard him. But you will always be my only wife."

He stared into my eyes, as if presenting a grand gift. "Once Chloe gives birth, we will take the baby. We’ll put him under your name. We’ll raise him ourselves!"

I froze, my blood running cold.

"We’ll discard the mother and keep the child. I’ll pay her off and send her out of the country so she can never come back. Stella, didn’t you always regret that we couldn’t have a child? I’m giving you a real family, okay?"

Ethan got more excited as he spoke, reaching up to cup my face for a kiss.

I jerked my head away, a wave of intense nausea hitting me. I began to gag.

This was his "love."

To satisfy his desire for an heir, he treated Chloe like a breeding machine to be discarded. To satisfy his self-sacrificing devotion to me, he wanted to force his mistress's child onto me, making me raise the proof of his betrayal for the rest of my life!

He treated both of us like toys he could manipulate.

"Do you find it disgusting?" Ethan’s face darkened when he saw me gagging. The tenderness in his eyes was replaced by a cold glare.

He grabbed my chin roughly, forcing me to look at him. "Stella, don't be ungrateful! For your sake, I’m denying my own child’s mother her status! What more do you want?!"

"I can have any woman I want! I treat you like a queen, so don't push me to use force!"

Looking at his twisted face, I stopped fighting.

"Okay," I said, staring into his eyes.

Ethan froze, his grip on my chin loosening.

"What did you say?"

"I said okay," I whispered, forcing a hollow smile. "We keep the baby and discard the mother. We’ll do it your way."

The darkness in Ethan’s eyes vanished, replaced by wild joy.

He pulled me into a suffocating hug, nearly crushing my ribs.

"Stella, I knew you loved me! I knew you’d understand!"

He mumbled in my ear like a madman who had finally gotten his favorite toy.

I rested my chin on his shoulder, watching the clock on the wall.

Twenty hours left.