Chapter 4

I went into labor at the hospital a full week before my due date.

The nurses rushed me into the delivery room.

Outside, Trenton paced anxiously with Bridget and Jasper. Bridget stood with her hands clasped together, praying nonstop, while Jasper never took his eyes off the delivery room doors.

Minute by minute, the hours crawled by.

Every muffled cry of pain from inside drove another knife into Trenton's heart.

Then a commotion erupted near the elevators.

"Move! Everybody move! I'm the victim's father! My daughter is dead! What gives you the right to keep me out?"

Trenton spun around.

My father and Lillian had arrived with Hayden and his parents, marching toward the delivery room with several other family members in tow. They'd gone to the morgue to identify my body, but after asking around and learning my husband's family was at the maternity ward, they'd come straight here demanding money.

The moment my father stepped off the elevator, he spotted Bridget and Jasper outside the delivery room.

Without noticing where they were, he immediately started shouting, "So this is why my daughter's insurance money hasn't come through yet! You outsiders are trying to steal it!

"Lyla Ashley is my daughter. Now that she's dead, every penny belongs to me so my younger daughter can get married! Don't think you're keeping a dime!"

Hearing him demand my insurance money outside the delivery room, I let out a bitter smile.

The year I graduated from high school, I'd been accepted to one of the country's top universities. I ran home clutching my acceptance letter, too excited to contain myself.

My father didn't even glance at it. He ripped it into pieces right in front of me.

"College? With what money?" He threw the scraps in my face. "Lillian got into community college. Her tuition's $15,000 a year. Starting tomorrow, you're getting a construction job and paying for her education.

"The best things in life should always go to your sister. You owe her."

I'd heard those words my entire life. The best food went to her, and so did the chance to go to college. The money to buy a house went to her. And now, in his mind, even the lives of my husband, my baby, and me belonged to her.

"You crazy old idiot, shut your mouth!" Bridget finally snapped. "If you scream one more word outside this delivery room, I'll throw you out the window myself!"

"You wouldn't dare!" Lillian immediately stepped forward, pointing a finger at Bridget. "You old hag, my sister's dead. That makes me the one in charge now. Hand over the money, or I'll beat all of you too!"

She had just rolled up her sleeves and was about to lunge forward when the delivery room doors swung open.

A nurse emerged carrying a swaddled newborn, beaming from ear to ear. "Congratulations! Mom and baby are both doing great. It's a beautiful little girl."

My father and Lillian froze where they stood. Their smug expressions melted into stunned disbelief as they stared at the nurse.

Then another nurse wheeled me out behind her.

I was alive and completely unharmed.

Looking at their wide-eyed faces, I smiled coldly. "Who told you I was dead?"