Chapter 5

The last flicker of hope in my heart was snuffed out.

Gideon looked down at me with a cold, detached stare. “Evelyn, you really have gone insane.”

Then, he stepped closer. With deliberate cruelty, he crushed his boot down on my arm. “Which hand did you use to stab her?”

I did not respond. I did not even have the strength to open my mouth. My body felt lifeless, like a corpse.

“Not talking? Fine.”

He drew a silver pistol and, without hesitation, pulled the trigger.

Two deafening shots exploded.

A bullet in each hand.

The pain ripped through me, white-hot and unbearable. Tears burst from my eyes.

Gideon did not even flinch. He simply slid the gun back into its holster.

“Evelyn, that was your final warning. If you ever hurt Bella again, we’re done.”

My parents’ smiles faltered when they heard his last sentence. They rushed to speak.

“This vile woman will only cause more trouble, Don Wade! You should get rid of her at once. How can we ever feel at ease while she’s still around?”

My parents took turns hurling insults. In their eyes, I was trash, a burden, and a disgrace—someone who deserved to die.

However, I was their daughter too.

When Bella left home, I was the one who stayed behind to care for them. I was the one who took them on trips, who sat by their hospital beds when they were sick, and prayed for their recovery.

After everything I did for them, all I got in return were insults.

“Don Wade, the family doctor is here!”

Soon, Bella was lifted onto a stretcher.

The doctor suddenly froze. Her white pants were soaked red, yet the stab wound was clearly in her abdomen.

Gideon noticed immediately. He seized the doctor’s wrist. “What’s going on? Why is she bleeding there? Did… she stab her somewhere else?”

The doctor examined the wound. “Please calm down, Don Wade. From what I can tell, Ms. Bella might have suffered… a miscarriage.”

“What?” Gideon’s head shot up. His hands shook uncontrollably.

My mother collapsed to the ground, crying out, “The baby… The baby’s gone?”

Gideon frowned. “What baby? When did she get pregnant?”

My mother wiped her tears. “It was right after the party. She wanted to surprise you with the news in a few days…”

With every word she spoke, the pain in Gideon’s eyes deepened.

As he looked at the blood streaming down Bella’s thigh, for the first time, the usually stern and unflinching man teared up.

“No… My child…”

Everyone in the family knew that years ago, Gideon had taken a bullet to the abdomen during a gang shootout. The doctors said it left him nearly infertile.

I understood everything now.

My parents’ desperation to make Bella his wife was because she was pregnant.

However, why would she risk losing her own baby just to set me up…

Before I could make sense of it, Gideon’s bloodshot eyes turned to me. There was grief in them, but also bitter, crushing disappointment.

How ironic.

His voice was hoarse when he said, “She killed my child. She’ll pay for that. No one is to treat her wounds.”

The room fell silent.

Randel looked at him with disbelief, but Gideon’s icy gaze silenced him instantly. “If anyone dares speak for her again, they can die with her.”

Then, he turned around and walked away. His silhouette grew smaller and smaller until the world around me dimmed to black.

When I woke up again, the cell was empty. The blood on my body had already dried.

Tears streamed down my face. It was not from the pain but from the hollow ache in my chest.

I realized the heartbeat that once fluttered inside me was gone. My baby was dead, killed by his own father.