Chapter 4

The doctor didn’t meet her eyes as he spoke, just kept scribbling on the clipboard like she was an afterthought.

“I said,” Hannah repeated, her voice quieter now, but colder. “I just lost my baby. I’m in pain. And you’re saying I should go to a government hospital like I’m some stray animal?”

“I’m only following instructions. Your ex-husband said there’s no point keeping you here on his tab.”

Her fingers curled into the blanket beneath her. Anger, grief, and humiliation all swirled in her chest like a rising storm. Of course James would do this. He discarded her like she was the problem. After what he and Lyra did?

She forced herself to sit up despite the ache in her bones. Every movement hurt. But not as much as staying here would.

The doctor placed a small paper bag on the table beside her. “Painkillers. A referral to the general hospital. That’s all I can offer.”

Hannah didn’t answer. She didn’t cry.

She simply took the clothes and began to dress.

Few minutes later.

Hannah stepped out of the hospital into the blinding afternoon sun, her body barely shielded by the thin clothes she wore. Her arm clutched her stomach, where the pain still lingered like a fresh wound.

No cab in sight. No one is waiting for her.

She started walking.

Each step scraped against the pavement like punishment, the world spinning slightly with every breath. She wasn’t sure where she was going—just that she wanted to disappear, crawl back to the only place left that might still feel like hers.

Her parents’ abandoned house.

She crossed the sidewalk and stepped onto the edge of the road, her mind blank except for a single looping thought: why I am stupid?

Her vision swam.

Her foot hit the curb wrong.

She staggered—

And stumbled into the street.

A sleek black Maybach came speeding around the bend, its engine humming like a predator in the distance.

Inside, Mathew Delacruz, tech mogul and heir to a global conglomerate, was frowning at the string of unread emails on his dashboard display. He barely looked up—until his instincts screamed and he slammed the brakes.

If he wasn't fast enough, he would have crushed her bone.

A dull thud. The screech of tires. The sound of bones hitting metal.

Mathew’s door flew open as he jumped out, his heart pounding in his chest. “Shit. Shit!”

There, lying in front of his car, was a woman.

She wasn’t moving.

Blood was blooming on her sweater. She looked pale, and color had drained from her body. She looked like a ghost, like she’d already died once before.

Matthew crouched beside her, lifting her gently into his arms.

“Miss? Can you hear me?”

Her eyelids fluttered.

One word slipped from her lips before she lost consciousness.

“Why…”

****

Hannah stirred, her eyelids heavy like wet sandbags.

She was in the hospital again.

White walls. Beeping monitors. A thin IV needle taped to her hand.

Her fingers moved weakly to her abdomen, the ache still painful.

A door opened, and firm footsteps approached.

She blinked slowly and saw a tall man in an expensive tailored suit step in, his face sharp, jaw tight with disdain. 

The man held out a clipboard toward her, his face contorted with anger. “Fill this out.”

Hannah stared at the form, confused. Before she could speak, his words cut like blades slicing through her heart. 

“I don’t know what game you’re playing, but whatever it is, it won’t work here. You throw yourself into cars now? Trying to snag your next client?”

Her heart froze.

“What?”

“The doctor says you just had an abortion. And now you’re out here, looking for the next man to trap? Pathetic.”

SLAP!

Her palm smacked across his face with a sharp crack.

Mathew reeled back a step, stunned. No one had ever done that. Not to him. Not a woman

But Hannah was already upright, clinging to her belly like it still held the life she’d lost. Tears streamed down her face, and her voice shook with fury.

“I don’t know you, and you have no right to judge me. You have no right to speak to me like that. I lost everything. My child. My family. And now you think I’m... some whore?”

Her words carved into the silence.

Matthew’s rage intensed. He felt humiliated and ashamed for being slapped by a woman. Luckily for him, no one was in the ward with them; if there had been, his picture would’ve made the front page of the newspaper tomorrow.

He said nothing for a moment. Then he stepped out, pulled his phone from his pocket, and sent a quick message to his PA.

"Find everything on her." Name: Hannah Reyes. Now."

Minutes later, his phone buzzed.

He read the report and froze.

I couldn't get a public record of her, but I found this at the hospital she used recently. She was chased out of the hospital by her ex-husband's order. Her husband divorced her today, and she lost her child. Family gone. Assets frozen.

She had no one.

And she still managed to stand up to him. 

Mathew walked back in, slower this time. His voice was quieter now.

“I was wrong.”

She didn’t respond.

“I judged you. And I shouldn’t have. I’m sorry.  The doctor said you used a powerful drug. I shouldn't have believed that,"

"Know before you judge, and the doctor was right, I didn't have a miscarriage, it was planned abortion from a friend I trusted most and my stupid ex-husband," 

Matthew eye's widened in disbelief, he couldn't believe what he just heard. 

His heart clenched at her ordeal. He knew what it meant to face betrayal from someone you love most, this was too much for her to bear. He couldn't help but to keep apologising for adding salt to her injury.

“I thought you were just another manipulative woman trying to play the system. But you… you’ve been through hell.”

Hannah gave a soft nod. Not quite forgiveness. But she heard him.

He studied her, this broken woman who still had the fire to slap a billionaire across the face. 

'She deserves justice, and I will help her get revenge on them,' he thought.

"Can you leave? I need to find my way out of here," she said.

“You don’t have to forgive me, but I’m not leaving you like this. I caused the accident; I must pay for my crime.”

“It’s okay, just let it go,” she murmured, turning her face away. 

“What if I don't?” he pressed

She frowned.

“Then report yourself at the nearest police station,” 

He took a step closer. “No, I want you to arrest me,” he said.

"I want to help you get the revenge you deserve," he said.