Chapter 7

Ashley POV

An excruciating, heart-wrenching pain.

I curled up on the cold marble floor, my vision blurred by blood and tears. All around were screams, alarms, and panicked footsteps; the entire art center was in chaos.

I clutched my lower abdomen tightly. The warm liquid was gushing out faster and faster, draining all warmth from my body.

"Save my baby." I weakly reached out to the crowd, but couldn't even form a complete sentence.

Not far away, Liam was anxiously checking Serena. Aside from being a little startled, Serena didn't have a single scratch on her body, yet she still huddled in Liam's arms, trembling pitifully and crying.

"Liam, I'm so scared, the light almost hit me..."

"It's okay, it's okay, I'm here." Liam held her tightly, his voice filled with the relief of a narrow escape.

He didn't notice that less than ten feet away, his wife was lying in a pool of blood, close to death.

It wasn't until the ambulance arrived, and paramedics carried me away on a stretcher, semi-conscious, that Liam, amidst the confusion, caught a glimpse of a dazzling crimson.

But he only frowned, then averted his gaze, because Serena was calling him, complaining of dizziness in his arms.

Inside the emergency room, the situation was chaotic.

"Patient has severe abdominal trauma and massive hemorrhage! Blood pressure is dropping rapidly!"

"Ultrasound shows an eight-week intrauterine pregnancy, placental abruption. The baby can't be saved, we need to perform a D&C immediately and transfuse blood!"

"Patient is RH-negative O-type blood! How much reserve blood does the blood bank have?"

The chief surgeon commanded the rescue, dripping with sweat, but a nurse rushed in, pale-faced. "It's bad. The only two bags of RH-negative O-type blood in the blood bank were forcibly claimed by Mr. Vance of Vance Group ten minutes ago."

The doctor was horrified. "Why did he take them? Does he have a critical patient on his side?"

"No." The nurse was almost in tears. "The woman Mr. Vance brought in was just startled. Mr. Vance insisted her face was pale and she might have internal bleeding, so he forcibly kept the blood bags in her room as a precaution, saying no one was allowed to touch them without his permission."

Lying on the operating table, my consciousness was hazy, yet I heard every word of that conversation clearly.

RH-negative O-type blood.

Serena was also this blood type.

Years ago, because Serena had this rare blood type, Liam had established several private blood banks worldwide, just to ensure she would always have blood available if she ever got injured.

And now, for a woman who was merely startled, he withheld the blood that could save my life and my baby's.

"Call Liam immediately! Tell him there are two lives at stake here!" the doctor roared.

The nurse tremblingly dialed Liam's number and put him on speakerphone.

The phone rang three times before it was answered.

Liam's cold and impatient voice came through. "I told you, those blood bags must remain in Serena's room. She has severe PTSD. If she has a stress reaction leading to shock, that blood will be life-saving."

"Mr. Vance, we have a pregnant woman here with severe bleeding. Without this blood, both she and her baby will die," the nurse pleaded, her voice choked with tears.

There was a moment of silence on the other end.

Just as the doctor thought Liam might relent, he let out a laugh so cold it was chilling.

"What do other people's lives have to do with me? I only care about Serena. If so much as a single hair on her head is harmed, I will make sure this entire hospital pays. Stop bothering me with these petty games."

The call was ruthlessly disconnected.

The emergency room was dead silent, save for the piercing alarm of the heart monitor.

I lay on the cold operating table, a tear, mixed with blood, sliding from the corner of my eye.

I no longer had the strength to hate. I only felt profound sorrow.

That was his child.

He didn't even know he was about to be a father, yet he personally sentenced his own child to death.

The wavy line on the heart monitor instantly flatlined. A sharp, prolonged beep pierced the emergency room air.