Chapter 4

Even though I'd already gone through the bloody lesson of my past life.

Being betrayed by him again still made my heart ache involuntarily for a moment.

The nurses who came in to change my bandages didn't notice my expression and started chatting among themselves.

"That man downstairs is so handsome. It's the first time I've seen a couple so well-matched! I heard they're childhood sweethearts, a campus romance. I'm so jealous."

"Your news is old. Latest update—Mr. Thomas spent a fortune to rent out an entire cafeteria window just so he can personally cook for his beloved wife every day!"

"Just now when I went to apply her medicine, Mr. Thomas wouldn't even let me touch her. He insisted on doing it himself. True love is so sweet!"

I stared numbly at the needle marks on the back of my hand. My arm, with a layer of skin peeled off, was both painful and itchy.

When they left, I felt relieved and gasped for oxygen, but somehow couldn't draw it into my chest.

That evening, the doctor came to see me and said my abdomen had suffered severe trauma. It would be very difficult for me to have children in the future.

Hearing this, my first reaction was actually relief.

At least without a child, he wouldn't have to suffer with me.

An innocent life deserved a better future.

After everyone left the room, I took out my phone to check the latest developments online.

The cyberbullying had escalated beyond control, forcing the rescue unit's leadership to issue a statement.

However, his explanation was that the fire was entirely staged by me, that I deliberately hurt someone out of jealousy.

Not only did I waste the unit's rescue resources, but I also got their captain criticized.

In the video, the leader kept saying he hoped netizens would let this matter go.

But every word was directing the source of the conflict toward me.

To increase the video's credibility, Thomas registered an account under his real name and posted our marriage certificate.

His action completely sealed my fate in the wave of online abuse.

The criticism that had been aimed at the rescue team suddenly turned toward me.

My homepage was overwhelmed and banned by the platform.

My attempts to explain were drowned in the netizens' curses.

Over the next few days, I could feel the hospital staff looking at me with hostility.

If not for their professional ethics barely holding up, I probably would have been kicked out already.

Every day I received packages from different places, all without exception containing threats.

Faced with all this, I never offered a single word of explanation.

Only on the day the doctor said I could be discharged did I send Thomas a message.

"Let's go to City Hall tomorrow and finalize things."

He seized this opening to call me back.

"What, finally can't hide anymore? Finally have the nerve to show your face? I warned you. I gave you a chance. You're the one who refused to take down the online controversy. Don't blame me for being merciless now!"

"If Mickey hadn't pleaded for you, I would have reported you to the police long ago!"

"Fine, let's divorce. When the child has no father, don't come crying to me! If he becomes an orphan, it's your own doing!"

Before I could speak, he'd already hung up.

I quietly opened our home security camera app and downloaded the footage of Mickey committing arson that day.

Early the next morning, after checking out of the hospital, I headed straight to City Hall with my documents.

But when the time came, it was Mickey who showed up.

"I told you long ago, you can't beat me. Your husband is nothing but my lapdog."

Looking at my abdomen, she feigned surprise.

"Oh my, where's the baby? What a shame. In the past life, killed by his own father. In this life, killed by his own father again. Having you as a mother, what a short-lived ghost..."

She was reborn too?