Chapter 4

A dull, agonizing pain exploded in my lower abdomen.

A broken whimper escaped my lips, and a wave of warm fluid trickled down between my legs.

The world instantly went black.

When I opened my eyes, a doctor was standing beside the bed, holding a medical chart.

"Have you been taking birth control pills long-term?" he asked, his forehead creased with concern. "There are severe internal lacerations down there as well.

“Child, how could you be so careless with your own body?"

I squeezed my eyes shut, holding back the burning tears. "I'm sorry."

The doctor let out a heavy sigh, his tone softening with pity.

"What's the point of apologizing to me? Your uterus was already fragile. After taking that hard blow to the stomach, we couldn't save the baby."

My eyes snapped open.

My heart felt as if it had been carved out of my chest, leaving a hollow, bleeding hole.

With trembling fingers, I dialed Lawrence's number.

A flirty female voice picked up instead.

"Are you looking for Lawrence Peterson? He just finished tiring himself out and fell asleep."

The woman's suggestive words turned my blood to ice.

The second the call disconnected, a cold laugh escaped my throat.

My eyes ached from the bitter absurdity of it all.

What was I expecting?

Was I expecting Lawrence to comfort me?

Or was I hoping he would panic and try to soothe me, the way he always did whenever Vivian was hurt?

I tapped open a different contact and typed out a message to the unknown number.

I lost.

The phone rang almost instantly.

A man's amused, low voice vibrated through the speaker, making my ear throb.

"Send me your location," he purred. "I'm coming to collect my debt."

After hanging up, I finally closed my eyes to rest for a short while.

It wasn't long before my phone buzzed again. It was Lawrence calling back.

"Did you call me earlier?" he asked curtly.

"Yes," I replied, my voice flat. "Just reminding you not to forget our 2:00 PM appointment at the registry office for the divorce."

Silence stretched over the line for a long time.

Finally, Lawrence squeezed out an icy word through gritted teeth, "Fine."

---

I checked myself out of the hospital and took a cab straight to the registry office.

Lawrence showed up with Serena, the young girl from the club in tow, clearly intent on rubbing it in my face.

The moment I looked at her, my eyes caught the diamond pendant resting on her collarbone.

It was Vivian's absolute favorite necklace.

Lawrence had never allowed me to even touch it, yet here he was, giving it away to a girl he had just met.

The clerk looked between us. "Reason for the divorce?"

"Irreconcilable differences," I said calmly. "We are divorcing by mutual consent."

The clerk glanced at Serena who was clinging tightly to Lawrence's arm, throwing me a look of deep sympathy.

Just as the clerk lifted the stamp to finalize the papers, Lawrence suddenly blurted out viciously, "Clara Hall, are you really going through with this? Don't you dare regret it!"

I ignored him entirely and motioned for the clerk to stamp the document.

Lawrence panicked.

He leaped out of his chair to stop the ink from hitting the paper, but his foot caught on the chair leg and he stumbled to the floor.

Behind us, a person in line suddenly spoke up in confusion.

"Do you guys feel like the floor is shaking?"

"Yeah, I feel it too," another muttered. "I thought my blood sugar was dropping."

Suddenly, every phone in the hall burst into a deafening emergency alarm.

The sudden, violent trembling knocked people off their feet.

Glass windows shattered into dust, and the load-bearing walls emitted a horrifying, agonizing groan.

Chaos broke out. Everyone rushed frantically toward the single emergency exit.

Lawrence pulled the girl close, sheltering her completely beneath his arms.

I was slammed to the ground by the surging crowd.

My frail, battered body took repeated blows from the stampede, and I spat out a mouth full of dark blood onto the floorboards.

Watching the two of them hurry toward the exit, a sudden sense of peace washed over me.

Dying right here didn't seem so bad after all.

I slowly closed my eyes.

---

The moment Lawrence made it out into the courtyard, he unclasped the necklace from the girl's neck and tucked it safely into his inner jacket pocket.

"Find somewhere safe to hide," he ordered, turning back toward the entrance.

The girl grabbed his sleeve in horror. "Are you crazy?!"

Lawrence violently shoved her hand away.

But just as he took a step back toward the entrance, the entire registry building collapsed into a cloud of dust.