Chapter 3

With the system's help, I recovered in a day and returned to my newly rented house. I was prepared to live out the next two days in peace and quiet.

I felt much calmer without Quinn and Atlas yelling in my ear.

However, a group of black-suited men swarmed into my house two days later. Upon seeing me, one of them shouted coldly, "That's her! Take her away!"

I was still having lunch at the time. I was baffled when they covered my mouth and dragged me off to the house I used to stay in with Quinn.

Melody was in the living room, holding a wailing infant. Her eyes lit up when she saw me.

"You've finally come back, Ariel!" she exclaimed.

Then, she continued aggrievedly, "She's been crying ever since I got her. Did you feed her something? She's your child, so you can't just—"

I reflexively took my daughter from her before Melody could even finish speaking. She gradually stopped crying in my arms. She stared unblinkingly at me and even seemed to be smiling.

Quinn was dumbfounded. He didn't notice that Melody's gaze had darkened completely.

Melody gritted her teeth before forcing a smile and saying despondently, "In the end, Ariel's still her biological mother… unlike me. Who knows if I'll still have the chance to have a child of my own?"

Her words were cut off by a series of coughs, her face instantly turning pale.

Quinn immediately snapped out of his daze and hugged her, comforting her and patting her back gently. His movements were so practiced he must've done that a thousand times before.

Melody gently tried to push him away. "Ariel's still here—"

Quinn interrupted coldly, "You're my wife now, so it doesn't matter."

As he spoke, he glanced pointedly at the nanny, Goldia Jennings, who had been standing off to the side. "Well? Hurry up and take the child back!"

My daughter had already fallen asleep.

Melody carefully took her and hummed gently to her.

However, a second later, she started crying harder. She waved her hands wildly in the air, her face turning purple.

Melody started crying from fright. "What's going on? She was fine just a moment ago! How did this happen?"

Quinn led Melody and our daughter outside. "We're heading to the hospital right away."

Halfway to the door, a thought seemed to occur to him. He glanced at the men in black and ordered, "Bring Ariel Somer along as well!"

After arriving at the Langley family's private hospital, the doctor frowned down at my daughter, who was breathing weakly. "She looks like she's been poisoned."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Goldia arrived in a hurry with Atlas in tow. "This is bad! Mr. Atlas has difficulty breathing, and his face has turned purple!"

Quinn was shocked. "How did this happen to Atlas too?"

The doctor looked Atlas over with a serious expression. "These two seem to be affected by the same poison. Quick! We need to detoxify them!"

Quinn glared disbelievingly at me and roared, "What kind of poison did you feed the children, Ariel Somer? Our daughter's only four days old! How cruel can you be?

"It's no wonder you disowned them and decided to let Melody stay with me! You were already planning to frame her today, weren't you?"

I desperately shook my head. "That's not it at all! They're both my children, so there's no way I'd poison them! You can't accuse me of this without evidence!"

Quinn snorted coldly, refusing to listen. "It's not like it's the first time you've done such a thing. You were behind Melody's current condition too, so poisoning two children is hardly beyond you."

I shook my head repeatedly, tears falling from my face.

Even if I didn't like Atlas anymore, he was still my biological child. How could I even think of harming him?

I wanted to follow after the doctor to check on the children, but Quinn's men held me down before I could take more than a single step forward.

Quinn mocked coldly, "Still trying to run, are we? Just wait right there. You'll get to go home only once the children are fine."