Chapter 5

“He’ll pay.”

It was because Zach truly intended to marry Ruby.

After hanging up, it was already 2:00 am.

I abandoned my plan to go home and say goodbye to my mother. Instead, I took a cab to a hotel near the airport. The wedding planner texted me to say thank you, adding that although Zach was angry, he had indeed transferred the payment.

I smiled, set an alarm, and fell asleep as soon as I lay down. I did not expect the phone to start blowing up with Zach’s calls. I simply blocked him, turned off my phone, and continued sleeping.

However, afterward, a frantic pounding came from the door.

“Coco! Open the door!”

When I heard Zach’s familiar voice, I suddenly remembered that I had forgotten to turn off location sharing. His voice was filled with fury, and my mind involuntarily flashed back to the scene of Ruby deliberately falling earlier.

Had she really lost the baby? Or had he come because I sold my shares?

The next second, the hotel room door was kicked open. Zach stormed in with bloodshot eyes and grabbed me, dragging me outside.

“Ruby miscarried because of you, and her uterus is permanently damaged! How can you still be sleeping?”

I struggled and tried to explain, “I didn’t push her. She threw herself down on purpose…”

However, Zach shoved me into the car. “That was her only child in this lifetime. How could she possibly do that to herself?”

He locked the doors and sped all the way to the hospital, where he forced me to kneel in front of Ruby’s hospital bed. “Apologize to her! And promise you’ll give her a child in the future as compensation!”

When my knees hit the cold tile floor, pain and a chill spread through my body.

I struggled to stand, but his hand pressed down on my shoulder, holding me in place. “Have you gone mute? Apologize! Do you hear me?”

I forced myself to speak, word by word, “I didn’t push her. If you don’t believe me, go check the neighbors’ surveillance footage.”

The camera outside the neighbor’s door would clearly show Ruby staging the whole thing. However, Zach did not believe me.

“Coco, you’ve really disappointed me! Do you know what you’ve done? Not only did Ruby lose her child, but she's also lost her uterus! She’s being generous by not holding you accountable and only asking for an apology. What more do you want?

“You took away her chance to be a mother, so giving her a child is only fair. Consider it compensation for secretly selling my company shares!”

That was what he called fair? The man who always put business above everything else had actually placed my 30% of shares behind Ruby. It only proved one thing—he was truly in love with her.

I laughed until tears came out, and finally said the words, “I’m sorry.”

Zach let go of me and made me sign a document.

How ridiculous he was. Why did he think signing it meant I would ever give Ruby a child? Still, I signed so that I could leave as quickly as possible.

Only then did Zach help me up with a complicated look on his face. “To prevent you from causing more trouble, you’ll have to bear with some inconvenience later. Also, you’re not allowed to tell anyone about Ruby losing the baby.”

It was only after I was locked inside an abandoned storage room in the hospital that I understood what he meant by 'inconvenience'.

Meanwhile, he took Ruby to proceed with the wedding. I banged on the door and shouted until a cleaning lady finally noticed and let me out.

I glanced at the time. My flight was about to take off, so I hurried to the airport by cab.

Zach’s mother called me while I was boarding. “Coco, where are you? Why is Zach saying you ran away from the wedding? And that he’s marrying Ruby instead?”

Before I could answer, she heard the in-flight announcement in the background. “Coco, are you at the airport? Today is your wedding with Zach. Where are you going?”

“Mrs. Quinn, the ones getting married today are him and Ruby. It has nothing to do with me.”

Before the call ended, she was demanding to know whether Zach had hurt me.