Chapter 2

I woke up three days later.

The first words I heard were:

"Mr. Turner, you really took a huge risk this time. Not only did you force the abortion of an eight-month fetus, but you also demanded her uterus be removed at the same time. Your wife almost bled out—we nearly lost her."

Ethan's indifferent voice responded:

"I promised Nina that I'd only ever have one child in this lifetime—hers and mine. The safest way to ensure that is to have Sophia's uterus removed so she can't conceive again."

His gaze swept over and met mine directly.

Ethan showed no sign of panic. He reached over to tuck the blanket around me, saying with a touch of helplessness:

"You heard? I had no choice. Nina said that only if the wife is disabled and unable to bear children can we legally adopt. Since you needed the abortion anyway, I figured I'd have your uterus removed at the same time. Save you from going through another surgery."

Seeing tears in my eyes, he gently wiped them away, saying with slight mockery:

"I didn't expect removing the uterus during pregnancy would cause hemorrhaging. Lucky for you, the elite gynecologist I hired for Nina was already at the hospital. You benefited from Nina's good fortune and survived."

My whole body trembled as I mustered all my strength to slap his face.

My heart felt like it was tearing apart:

"Ethan, you're not human."

But my hand only grazed his cheek weakly, leaving not even a red mark.

A petite figure suddenly screamed and rushed over, slapping me hard across the face.

I fell back onto the bed, the oxygen tube slipping off as I gasped for air.

Looking up, I saw a young woman with tears in her eyes, standing in front of Ethan, shouting at me:

"How dare you hit him! Do you know he's been standing guard outside the ICU for three whole days because of you? If I hadn't brought him nutrition meals every day, he would've collapsed."

"The man I care so deeply about—why should he be your tool for venting your emotions?"

I didn't miss the flash of emotion and tenderness in Ethan's eyes.

I had seen that look before.

It was the same look he gave me when I got alcohol poisoning from drinking on his behalf and miscarried our first child.

It was the same look when debt collectors threatened to chop off his hand, and I knelt crying and begging them, pawning my mother's only keepsake to buy his freedom.

I had done so much for him.

But in the end, it couldn't compare to a single tear from his new love.

My heart felt like it was being stabbed with a dull knife, over and over.

I propped myself up, looking at their affectionate display, and laughed bitterly:

"Should I be grateful to him then? Grateful that for you, he aborted my full-term baby, secretly removed my uterus, nearly killed me, yet still deigned to stay by my bedside until I woke up?"

Nina's tears fell like broken pearls.

She stared at me stubbornly:

"It's all my fault, okay?! I'm the one who hurt you! I'll atone for it, okay?!"

Like a madwoman, she shoved Ethan aside, grabbed the fruit knife from my bedside table, and thrust it toward her own belly:

"I'll cut out my baby and my uterus right now to make it up to you, okay?!"

Ethan grabbed her tightly, gripping the knife handle as blood dripped down continuously.

He looked up at me coldly, frozen in shock:

"Sophia, are you satisfied now?"

He carefully lifted the unconscious Nina in his arms and left without looking back, leaving only one sentence:

"Seems I've been too good to you, making you think you can do whatever you want. Since that's the case, you'd better learn what suffering really means."

I watched his retreating figure, laughing through my tears.

The man who once promised to cherish me forever and never let me suffer had finally died in the passage of time.

Ethan's bodyguard coldly dragged me up and threw me out the door.

"Starting today, everything Mr. Turner gave you will be taken back. If you want to keep staying in this hospital room..."

I smiled bitterly and turned to leave.

"No need. I don't want anything from Ethan anymore."

My phone and wallet were all confiscated.

Because they were all things Ethan had given me.

Penniless, I stood on the street, desperately trying to flag down a car to take me home.

But every time a kind person stopped, Ethan's bodyguard would dutifully say:

"If you're not afraid of offending Mr. Turner of Empire Group, go ahead and let her in your car."

They would shake their heads helplessly at me and quickly drive away.

The bodyguard looked at my barely-standing body and said coldly:

"Mr. Turner asked me to tell you, this is what happens when you defy him and refuse to obey. If you're willing to apologize to Miss White and agree to personally care for her during her pregnancy, he'll have me take you home."

I turned a deaf ear, simply started walking step by step toward home.