Chapter 7

For just a split second, Jasper looked like he was unsure and emotionally torn.

The feeling vanished when Summer said through her tears, “Jas, it hurts so bad... Am I going to die?”

“You won’t die. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

He forcefully pulled his leg free from Esther’s grip and said coldly, “Esther, don’t bother playing the victim with that baby. You brought this on yourself.

“If the baby is what makes you think you can get away with being this cruel, then I’d rather not have the baby at all.”

Jasper rushed off with Summer and did not see that Esther was bleeding out on the floor behind him.

She clutched her abdomen in agony and pleaded desperately, “Jasper, I swear I didn’t hurt her! Please don’t go! Don’t abandon me! Save our baby, please!”

He did not slow his pace. Soon, he disappeared from her sight.

She screamed through her tears of pain, “Jasper, I hate you!”

Wave after wave of intense contractions racked her body. The blood kept pooling beneath her. She bit her lip until she tasted copper.

Then, she started crawling across the living room floor, toward the villa’s front door.

After what felt like an eternity, she finally reached the door. By chance, someone was strolling past her.

She urgently called out for help.

“Help... please... someone help me,” she called.

The passerby quickly called 911, and Esther was rushed to the hospital.

She gripped the paramedic’s arm tightly. Her face was covered in tears and sweat.

“Please save my baby. He’s due in one more month. Please, save him...”

The doctors and nurses placed an oxygen mask on her and hurriedly transferred her into the operating room.

Under the bright surgical lights, her ears rang, and all she could hear were the tense voices of the medical staff as they worked.

She was aware of everything—the anesthetic being administered, the incision being made across her belly, and the baby being taken from her womb.

The last thing she heard before losing consciousness was a doctor muttering, “Such a shame. She got here too late.”

Her eyes widened in panic, and she passed out.

When she woke again, she was already back in the hospital ward. Her once heavily swollen belly had flattened significantly, leaving only loose, sagging skin behind.

She moved, but the strain on her stitches sent her right back down.

A hoarse voice rang out from the corner. “Esther, thanks to your little games, you’ve lost our baby. Are you happy now?”

She turned toward the voice and saw Jasper sitting on the couch in the corner of the room.

He looked disheveled as he fixed his gaze on her. There was a small urn resting on his lap.

When she saw the urn, she turned over and crashed to the floor.

She could not get up. All she could do was stare at the urn as tears poured down her face.

The pain was so excruciating that she struggled to breathe.

She opened her mouth to scream, but all that came out was a raw, wheezing rasp.

It took her a long time to force out a few words.

“Give me back my baby.”

Jasper stood up, holding the urn in his arms.

He said coldly, “My family has already filed a police report over what you did.

“Out of respect for my family, Sunny agreed to keep this out of court. All you have to do is apologize to her in person, and she won’t press charges.”

She looked at him furiously. “You still expect me to apologize to her?!”

His gaze was indifferent as he said, “If you refuse, even I can’t save you. If you end up in prison, your entire life will be ruined.

“Besides, don’t you want your baby’s ashes back?”

She was shocked into numbness by Jasper’s cruelty.

She had no fight left in her—only a hollow acceptance of her fate and a deep, burning resentment.

“Okay.”