Chapter 4

The curtains in the room were drawn shut, blocking out every sliver of light.

On the nightstand, a phone played a loop of a fetal monitor alarm on full blast.

Scattered across the floor were the shredded pieces of a 3D ultrasound photo—the one I had waited in line all by myself to get when I was six months pregnant.

Lucy covered her ears, thrashing wildly on the bed. "It's Caitlin! She's the one texting me these curses! She said she and the baby will never forgive me! She wants to drag me to hell with them!"

Chad strode over and wrapped his arms tightly around her. "It's okay. You're safe. It's just a hallucination."

"It's not a hallucination! Look at my phone!" Lucy pointed a trembling finger at the device on the floor.

Chad picked it up. On the screen was a text message from an unknown number. "You stole my husband. My baby and I will haunt you for the rest of your life."

Chad's face instantly darkened.

He knew this tone all too well. In the past, whenever I was driven to a breaking point, I would confront him with that same look of despair.

"She has completely lost her mind."

Chad gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with absolute disappointment. "Using a baby to terrorize a patient? Is this her idea of medical ethics?"

Floating in midair, I saw Lucy bury her face in his chest with a cold smirk playing on her lips.

Of course she knew I was dead.

Last night, when she drove that knife into me, her eyes had been terrifyingly lucid.

She had even calmly pressed the handle into my hand after pulling it out, creating the illusion of a struggle.

And now, she was using a dead woman's name to keep playing the victim in front of Chad.

Chad pulled out his own phone and dialed the number to the medical administration office.

"Mr. Benson, it's Chad. Please cancel my wife's fellowship placement for next year. Her emotional state during this pregnancy has been extremely unstable. She's showing paranoid and aggressive tendencies, so she isn't fit to treat patients right now.

"Yes. I'll submit a formal psychological evaluation report later."

With just a few words, he stripped away three years of my hard work.

He even used his professional status to brand me as mentally unstable.

After hanging up, he sent me one final ultimatum. "Get to the hospital within ten minutes and apologize to Lucy face-to-face.

"Otherwise, once the baby is born, I'm not letting you act out like this anymore. I will seriously consider having you suspend your residency to focus on being a stay-at-home mom.

The text went through, but the silence remained unbroken.

Lucy clutched the hem of his shirt, sobbing hysterically. "Chad, I'll never be able to have kids of my own. Why does she have to use a baby to provoke me?"

As Chad looked at her pale face, a pang of guilt flashed through his eyes.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the velvet box that was meant for me.

With a soft click, it snapped open.

The silver baby anklet gleamed under the room's light. The name "Grace" engraved on it was glaringly sharp.

"Don't be scared. I'll always be here with you."

Chad took Lucy's hand and placed the anklet meant for my child right into her palm. "Take this. Consider it her apology."

Lucy wiped away her tears and smiled, squeezing the anklet tightly in her fist.

Suddenly, a loud crash echoed through the room. The door to the suite was kicked violently open from the outside.

Eve stood at the threshold, breathing heavily. Her hair was a disheveled mess, and her eyes were bloodshot with rage.

She lunged forward, swung her arm, and slapped Chad across the face.

The sharp crack of a slap echoed through the quiet room.

Eve's voice shook violently. "She and the baby are both dead, and you're using the anklet for her baby to comfort the murderer?"