Chapter 4

The results came back, and the doctor's face was grim.

The postpartum wound that had torn open again and again.

This time it had taken serious violence, ripping open across a wide area once more.

There was clear bleeding, and a real risk of infection.

The doctor looked at me and shook her head.

“After this, some of the damage to your function may become irreversible.”

I stared at her blankly.

“What does that mean?”

She paused.

“Possible long-term incontinence. Chronic pelvic floor pain.”

“Intimacy may hurt from now on, too.”

“You may not be able to conceive again. And even if you did, the risks of childbirth would rise sharply.”

I closed my eyes. I didn't cry.

Because there were no tears left.

The surgical consent form, I signed myself.

The evidence collection, I cooperated with myself.

The police statement, I gave myself.

A few hours later.

The door to the room finally opened.

Miles came.

Nora trailed behind him.

The moment she saw me, she started crying.

“Sis... how did it come to this?……”

She rushed over and reached for my hand.

I jerked it away.

“Don't touch me.”

Miles frowned.

“She's been worried about you all afternoon.”

“Can you not snap at everyone you see?”

He set a stack of printed chat logs down by the bed.

“The driver filed a report too.”

“He says the two of you were in contact before this.”

“He's got obvious scratch marks on him.”

I looked straight at him.

“So?”

Miles said nothing.

“Regretting it afterward, and being forced from the start.”

“In a case, those are two different things.”

I laughed harder.

The wound hurt so much my body was shaking.

But I kept laughing.

“Miles, back when you worked cases, didn't you always say that even if a woman walks into a hotel with a man herself, if she says no partway through, that still counts as a refusal?”

His body went visibly stiff.

I went on::

“So how come, when it's me, a few chat screenshots are enough to prove I had it coming?”

Nora rushed over at once.

“Miles! Sis is already suffering enough.”

“Even if Sis really did act on impulse and regret it later, we can't blame her for that anymore.”

I glared at Nora, and something occurred to me.

I turned to Miles.

“Bring Poppy here.”

“From now on, don't let Nora touch her.”

The room went silent in an instant.

Tears burst from Nora's eyes.

“Sis... now you even suspect me?……”

Miles lost his temper completely.

“Mabel! Nora's spent these last months helping you with the baby.”

“Mixing formula in the middle of the night, changing diapers, worrying more than you do, and you're the mother!”

“Now you get yourself into something like this and take it out on her?”

With that, he took Nora by the hand and headed for the door.

“We booked Poppy's hundred-day photo shoot for today. Since you're going to be like this, Mabel, the three of us will go.”

That afternoon, Nora's post came up in my feed.

In the photo, Poppy wore the little dress I'd picked out ahead of time.

Miles held her, Nora standing beside them.

Wearing the matching family dress I'd bought for the hundred-day shoot.

All three of them in the same color.

Her caption read::

【Here to mark Poppy's first hundred days with her.】

Below it, a relative had commented.

【A family of three, what a good-looking couple and child.】

I stared at the photo for a long time without moving.

Then I turned off the phone.

But the door to the room was pushed open.

“Ms. Henson, it's bad, your baby's been taken into the PICU!”

“What!”

The color drained from my face.

I fought my way up to stand.

The wound that had only just scabbed over tore open again, blood soaking red through my hospital pants.

But none of that mattered anymore.

I ran out of the room, moving as fast as my body would let me toward pediatrics.

Miles stood at the door, white as a sheet.

The doctor saw me and sighed.

“Ms. Henson, Poppy had an allergic reaction that blocked her airway. She was clearly oxygen-deprived. She's in the PICU now, and we're working to stabilize her.”

“Whether she'll be left with neurological effects, we can't say yet.”

I looked at Nora.

“Did you feed her something again?”

Nora crumpled straight to the floor.

“It's all my fault...……”

“Hit me, scream at me...……”

Miles moved on instinct to shield her.

“Mabel, calm down. Nora didn't know it would be this serious either.”

Miles's phone rang.

“Captain James, there's a new development in the driver's assault case.”

“Tech recovered some of the deleted messages on his phone.”

“One of the contacts...……”

“It's Nora.”