Chapter 5

Sophie collapsed to the floor.

The surgical wound tore open, and blood spilled out at once.

She looked up in panic. “I didn’t! Clara, I wasn’t trying to hurt the baby. You were the one who let go—”

“Enough!”

Daniel’s voice cut through the room, sharp and furious, his eyes cold.

“Clara is his mother. No one loves that child more than she does. If it wasn’t you, then who was it? I never thought you could be this cruel to lay a hand on a baby.”

Sophie stared at him, stunned.

Cruel?

More than anyone, he knew she was the child’s real mother. Even if she died, she would never harm him.

Pain swallowed her whole.

“I didn’t… I really didn’t…”

But Daniel didn’t love her, so why would he believe her?

His expression darkened as he ordered the aide to take Clara and the baby for a checkup.

Then he turned back to Sophie, his gaze heavy, his voice low and chilling.

“Sophie, I understand that you resent me for giving our child to Clara. That’s on me. I’ll make it up to you. But you crossed a line today. It seems you still haven’t come to your senses.”

He slammed the door and walked out.

As he stepped over the blood spreading from her body, he didn’t spare her a single glance.

Sophie was pushed back into surgery to have her wound stitched up again.

In the days that followed, Daniel never came. There wasn’t a single person by her side to take care of her.

She had to get her own meals, collect her own medication, even make her way to the bathroom alone.

Once, while hooked up to an IV, she fell asleep—when she woke, blood had flowed back into the line, filling half the tube, and no one had called a nurse for her.

Just as she thought being left alone in the hospital was the extent of his punishment, Joanne came rushing in, breathless with panic.

“Sophie! Your parents came into the city to see you… Your father… he was accused of groping a woman in a public restroom. They’ve taken him in. They’re saying they’re going to charge him with sexual assault!”

Sophie’s mind went blank, her whole body turning cold.

If the charge stuck, her father could be facing years in prison.

Her father had spent his whole life being kind and honest. If he were branded like that, it would destroy him, drag the entire family down with him, leave them with no way to hold their heads up again.

Sophie tore out her IV and ran barefoot toward the base.

At the entrance, her mother sat on the steps, pale and worn, her face streaked with tears.

Sophie’s chest tightened. “Mom…”

Her mother scrambled to her feet, lost and shaken like a child.

“Sophie, what’s going on? Daniel had someone pass word that you were in the hospital, told your father and me to come see you.

“But on the way, a woman suddenly ran into your dad, fell to the ground, and started accusing him of touching her!

“No matter how we explained, no one would listen. Your father’s already in poor health from all the hard labor, and now they’ve taken him.

“How is he supposed to survive this…? Daniel was just here. I wanted to beg him for help, but he said he’d wait for you. Did you two have another fight?”

Sophie froze. “Daniel told you to come?”

A chill shot up her spine.

Could it be… all of this was deliberate?

The anger she had been holding back snapped. She turned and stormed into Daniel’s office.

“You did this, didn’t you? You had someone set my father up, just because Clara said I hurt her child?!”

She hadn’t expected Clara to be there.

Clara looked at her and smiled, slow and mocking.

“That’s right. I asked Daniel to stand up for me. You dared to hurt what’s mine, so now you get to see how it feels.”

Daniel stood in the dim light, his expression unreadable, his gaze cold as it landed on her.

“You refuse to admit your jealousy and resentment toward Clara. Without a lesson, how are you ever going to understand?”

His voice dropped, quiet and chilling.

“Sophie… don’t forget, an accusation like this can ruin a man’s life.”