Chapter 4

When Rachel arrived at the hospital, I was sitting on the bed and staring into space.

“The baby…”

She glanced at my stomach with a pained expression, then lowered her voice. “Chloe, you need to make a clean break.”

I knew she was right.

However, I had grown up an orphan. I had always wanted a family of my own, someone who shared my blood.

When Ashton and I first started dating, we often talked about the child we might have one day.

He said that whether we had a son or a daughter, he would be the best father in the world.

“I’ll give you the happiest home. Trust me.”

Someone knocked at the door. I looked up to see Kimberly come in carrying a bouquet of flowers.

“Mrs. King, I’m sorry. I’ve talked things through with Mr. King.” She lowered her head. Her eyes were shining with tears.

“I’m going to resign. You won’t see me around him again.”

She set the flowers on my bedside table.

That was when I noticed the braided leather bracelet on her wrist, with its tiny silver guardian angel charm.

“I asked Mr. King if I could keep it as something to remember him by.” She hurriedly covered her wrist.

“He said it wasn’t anything important, so he gave it to me.”

It was not anything important.

That bracelet had taken me five hours to make. I had chosen the little angel charm because I wanted him to have something watching over him.

He had once told me that it meant more to him than his own life.

Yet he had given it away without a second thought.

“She’s resigning voluntarily, but she walked in here wearing a badge that says she’s the CEO’s executive assistant?”

After Kimberly left, Rachel gave a scornful laugh and said in contempt, “Those two really do deserve each other.”

The night air had turned cool. I said little and booked an abortion for three days later.

Ashton knew nothing about it. The next day, he even sent me another message.

He went on about how much Kimberly had given in and how considerate she was, then told me to stop making an issue of it.

He received no answer.

I had already handed my studio over to another friend. Everything else was taken care of. I would leave the country as soon as the procedure was over.

Perhaps my run of bad luck was not over. The day before my procedure, it got worse.

Ashton called me again and again while I was driving in rush hour traffic. When I finally answered, I lost focus for a moment and collided with a truck beside me.

“Chloe, when are you going to stop this? You’re the one who posted those claims that Kimberly is the other woman, aren’t you? You got people harassing her online!”

“She swallowed sleeping pills at home. If I’d arrived any later, she would’ve died! Won’t you stop until you’ve destroyed her?”

The airbag went off. Blood blurred my vision. The pain made my whole body shake. I gritted my teeth and said, “I didn’t post anything. Ashton, I’m outside your office. I just had an accident.”

He went quiet for a moment.

Then he snorted and indifferently said, “Even now, you’re still trying to lie to me? Get to the hospital and apologize to Kimberly right now, or we’re done.”

He hung up. As the ambulance sirens drew closer, I felt the last of my attachment to Ashton disappear.

“Doctor, no need to save the pregnancy. I was going to end it anyway.”

In the operating room, I used what little strength I had left to tell the doctor what I wanted. Then I closed my eyes.

I thought to myself, “Ashton, I should’ve been the one to say we were done. I never want to see you again.”

-

Third-person POV

Ashton came across a news report about the crash three days later.

Afraid Kimberly might try to hurt herself again, he had stayed by her side the entire time.

He and Chloe had not contacted each other.

Then he recognized the license plate in one of the photos.

Shocked, he was about to rush out when a nurse stopped him.

“Are you Mr. Ashton King? Your partner, Ms. Chloe Norman, asked us to give you a copy of her pregnancy termination record.”

The sheet of paper slipped from his fingers and fluttered to the floor.

At that same time, across the ocean, Chloe’s phone began buzzing nonstop.