Chapter 4

The next day, Rowan rushed home after receiving the notification that the house had been sold.

He grabbed me from the pile of luggage I was buried in.

“Wylie, what do you mean by this? You sold our home? Have you lost your mind?”

The emotions I had been suppressing for so long finally exploded.

I let out a cold laugh and raised my hand. A sharp slap landed across his face.

Home? He actually still had the nerve to call it that.

“Rowan, was it fun treating me like a fool?”

A clear red handprint quickly appeared on his face.

However, he was not angry.

Just like every other time we had fought, he softened his voice first.

“Are you done? Do you feel better now? I admit lying to you was my fault. But after seven years together, how can we just end everything like this?

“My life belongs to you. How could I ever truly betray you?”

I refused to hear another word of his hypocritical excuses. I turned around to leave.

However, Rowan blocked my path and suddenly lost control, pulling me tightly into his arms.

“Vivian is the daughter of the company’s vice chairman. After her father passed away, he asked me to take care of her.

“I admit I was shameless for getting involved with her. I thought about ending things with her, but Vivian has severe separation anxiety. Every time I try to break up with her, she threatens to hurt herself. I just couldn’t watch something happen to her.”

He buried his face in my hair.

“Wylie, I never wanted to leave you. You and Vivian are both good women. You’re both the people I care about most. I don’t want to let either of you down. So, just pretend this never happened. Let’s go back to the way things were before. I’ll fulfill every responsibility I have, and I’ll never give you any less than what I promised you. Please?”

I was so disgusted by his words that I could not even respond.

Rowan took my silence for acquiescence. He got up and walked toward the kitchen.

“You’ve had a long day. You probably haven’t eaten yet. I’ll make your favorite chicken soup.”

However, before he could take another step, a deafening bang shook the house.

The front door burst open as Charles kicked it in.

Before I could react, Sandy rushed forward and slapped me across the face.

“Wylie! Where did you take the baby?!”

Vivian followed right behind her and collapsed to her knees in front of me.

“Dr. Lane, please, please give my baby back to me!

“I’ll give Rowan back to you. I promise. Just please don’t hurt my child…”

The warmth on Rowan’s face disappeared instantly.

“What did you say? The baby is missing?”

“Vivian took the baby to get vaccinated. Right after she paid and went back, someone took him!”

Sandy’s eyes were red as she shouted, “Who else would kidnap a one-month-old baby if not her?!”

The moment those words left her mouth, the veins on Rowan’s forehead bulged. He rushed forward and grabbed my neck.

“You had someone take the baby? Wylie, are you insane?!”

My neck felt like it was about to snap.

I desperately tried to pry his fingers away.

“I didn’t! I’m a doctor. Why would I kidnap a child?!”

Vivian collapsed on the floor, crying. “Please, Dr. Lane! If anything happens to my baby, I won’t be able to live…”

Rowan threw me aside violently. His eyes were filled with bloodshot rage. “Tell me the truth!”

“I already told you! I didn’t do it! Why won’t any of you believe me?!”

“Who else could it be besides you?!”

Charles stood to the side. The face that had once defended me in court was now filled with nothing but coldness.

“Wylie, if you still refuse to tell the truth, I’ll have no choice but to take legal action.”

I shook my head. Sandy’s anger reached its limit. She grabbed my hair and dragged me into the storage room.

She calmly opened the cabinet and pulled out a defibrillator. Then she tore open the electrode pads and pressed them against me.

“Wylie, I can’t believe I misjudged you! Their baby is only one month old! How could you do something like this?!

“Are you really not going to confess? Are you really going to force me to do this to you?”

She knew I was terrified of electric shocks. She knew exactly how to force me to tell the truth.

However, I had not done anything. How could I confess to something I never did?

“Wylie, you forced us into this!”

Her patience finally ran out. Sandy pressed the shock button without hesitation.

A violent current surged through my body.

My entire body jerked upward like a broken puppet before crashing back down.

The back of my head slammed against the floor. A burst of white light exploded in my vision.

Then, a warm liquid slowly flowed down the inside of my thigh.

Everyone was startled for a moment. “Wylie, you—”

At that moment, a police officer’s voice came from the living room.

“Is Miss Quinn here?

“We’ve found the child! Please have the family return to the hospital as soon as possible.”

With a clatter, the defibrillator fell to the floor.

Everyone’s faces instantly lit up with the joy of getting something precious back. They pushed past each other and rushed out of the room, leaving in a hurry.

Not a single person looked back at me.

I sat there in a daze, staring at the bloodstain on my skirt as it slowly spread.

My tears fell.

Several hours later, they returned with the baby in their arms.

When they walked back into the living room and saw the blood covering the floor, along with the medical report and USB drive sitting on the table, the strawberry cake Rowan had brought to apologize slipped from his hand and smashed onto the ground.

His movements froze as he picked up the report. His face turned deathly pale.