Chapter 2

Sophia's POV

Over the next few days, Ethan was almost never home at night.

But he would call via video every day at the same time, carefully reminding me to eat and take my medicine, acting like the most considerate husband in the world.

"Sophia, I have an important client tonight and need to work late. Get some rest early."

On the screen, Ethan loosened his tie. Behind him was the hallway of the Monarch Private Club.

I watched the unnatural guilt in his eyes and nodded obediently. "Okay. Don't drink too much. Your stomach is delicate and needs careful care."

After hanging up, I glanced at the heavy rain outside.

Ethan had severe stomach problems. Every time he drank too much, he would have stomach spasms.

In the past, whenever he went drinking with clients, I would deliver medicine to him even in a snowstorm.

I grabbed the medicine and left.

This would perhaps be the last time I delivered anything to him.

After all, if I was going to act, I had to act until the end.

When I reached the top-floor private room at the Monarch Club, I was about to push the door open when laughter from inside made me freeze.

"Ethan, you're so ruthless. How can you even make up such lies?"

That was the voice of Ethan's friend, Marcus.

Inside the warm room, the words Ethan spoke made me, standing outside the door, feel cold all over.

"If I don't make up lies, would Sophia, with her stubborn personality, believe me? She took a bullet for me back then. My safety and my family's gratitude matter most to her in this life. Only by using my dead mother as an excuse will she not go crazy."

"But Lena's baby is already three months along. Can you really keep it from her?"

"What's there to fear?" Ethan leisurely swirled his wine glass, his tone full of arrogant control. "The bullet fragment in Sophia's chest has been there for eight years. The doctor said she could have an episode at any time. Even if I don't say anything, her broken body won't last much longer."

"Besides, once Lena gives birth, I'll just say I found a surrogate abroad. As long as I tell Sophia I still love her, she can't live without me, and she'll eventually accept the child as her own."

Inside the room, exclamations erupted as friends praised Ethan's clever plan, keeping both wife and child by his side.

Outside the door, I stood frozen in place, my mind completely blank.

Even though I already knew the secret of the ultrasound report, hearing Ethan use my devotion as leverage to manipulate me still tore my heart apart.

He not only wanted to humiliate me with lies. He was even hoping the bullet fragment in my chest would kill me!

In his plan, my compliance and death were both stepping stones to pave the way for his mistress and illegitimate child!

A sharp pain shot through my chest.

It was the rusted bullet fragment warning me from within my flesh and blood.

I clutched my chest tightly, my face pale with pain, cold sweat instantly soaking my back.

I didn't push the door open to make a scene. I didn't confront him.

I just quietly looked at the medicine in my hand and tossed it into the nearby trash can like garbage.

A dull thud.

Along with my eight years of love, thrown away together.

I turned and walked into the rainy night.

I didn't go home. Instead, I went straight to Central Hospital.

In the emergency room, the doctor looked at my chest X-ray with furrowed brows. "Ms. Blackwood, this bullet fragment has moved to the edge of your aorta! Have you been under some kind of stress lately? If you don't have surgery, you won't live past a month!"

"I won't have the surgery." I calmly got dressed. "Just give me some painkillers."

The doctor looked at me in shock. "You're waiting to die!"

I smiled faintly and didn't answer.

Yes, I was waiting to die.

Because with the thirty-day countdown, no one could rewrite my fate.

I looked down at my left wrist, where the red line flickered faintly. "Time until death: 26 days"