Chapter 4

When I woke up in the hospital, Steven was holding my hand tightly.

I instinctively pulled my hand away and quickly covered my stomach.

Steven froze for a moment before slowly lowering his hand. "Melody, I know we lost the baby, but don't be sad. We'll have another one someday."

My hand froze against my stomach.

I forced a smile. "Steven, you're lying to me. Our baby already had tiny hands and feet. How could our baby just be gone? You're lying!"

I broke down and grabbed whatever I could reach, throwing it at him. I wanted him to admit that he was lying.

Steven let me kick and bite him.

Then he slowly injected a sedative into my arm. "Melody, you're not in a good state right now. Get some sleep. You'll feel better when you wake up."

When I woke up again, Natalie and Aurelia were already standing beside my bed.

Aurelia saw the emptiness in my eyes and sighed. "Melody, do you think your baby is the only one who suffered?

"Natalie got pregnant with Steven's baby on your birthday ten years ago. They registered their marriage the very next day.

"But Natalie remembered that you had saved her life, so she forced Steven to buy her abortion pills."

Natalie's eyes turned red as if she were about to cry.

Aurelia gave her a sympathetic look before her voice became even more cruel. "Melody, if you hadn't spent the last ten years making scene after scene, Natalie wouldn't have had to watch you take her place for ten years. She was never the homewrecker. You were."

I stared blankly at the ceiling. I almost laughed until I cried.

So that's why everyone had kept the truth from me.

In their eyes, my relationship with Steven had been something I'd forced from the very beginning.

I was the shameless woman who had ruined another couple's perfect love. I was the homewrecker.

Yet not one of them had ever been willing to tell me the truth.

They had watched me fall into depression after discovering Steven's affair. They had even watched as I cut my own body until deep scars covered my skin.

Natalie watched me fall apart.

Then she leaned close to my ear and whispered with a smile, "Actually, when you were brought to the hospital, your baby could still have been saved. But my baby suddenly came down with a fever, so Steven rushed him to the doctor. He even forgot to sign the paperwork for you. By the time he remembered you, your baby had already died inside your womb."

My eyes flew open.

My nails dug into her arm. "Natalie, what did you say?"

She was still smiling as she forcefully pulled my hand away. "You can't handle even that? But while you were having the procedure today, I secretly arranged for the doctors to remove your uterus, too. You'll never be able to get pregnant again."

I completely lost control.

I grabbed Natalie's hair and slammed her head against the wall. "You bitch! Go to hell!"

Blood splattered across the room as she screamed.

Aurelia screamed for Steven. He rushed over and violently threw me into the corner of the room.

Bang!

I heard the sickening crack of my bones.

Aurelia screamed at me. "Melody is insane! She attacked Natalie for no reason! Steven, you can't keep protecting her anymore. You need to send her to a psychiatric hospital right now!"

Steven had once spent four years making sure I saw therapists. He had always protected me.

But now, he called the psychiatric hospital without hesitation.

He didn't even look at me lying helplessly on the floor. His eyes were filled with concern for Natalie.

I forced myself to raise my head.

My voice was barely a whisper. "Do you two know what they do to people in psychiatric hospitals?"

Aurelia sneered. "Electroshock therapy. Beatings. Fighting dogs for scraps of food. But you deserve all of it."

So, they knew.

They knew exactly what would happen to me. Yet they would rather destroy me completely just to protect Natalie.

Steven held the trembling Natalie in his arms.

His eyes were bloodshot as he said, "Aurelia is right. We shouldn't have stopped you when you jumped off that roof four years ago."

That night, after they left, I remembered everything that had happened between us.

The last image in my mind was Steven walking away.

My lower stomach felt empty. That familiar heartbeat was gone forever.

I lay weakly on the hospital bed. In the darkness, I flicked on a lighter and threw it toward the curtains.

As the flames spread around me, I heard a nurse shouting in panic. "Mr. Palmer! The hospital room is on fire! Ms. Schneider is still inside!"