Chapter 4

Mia lay in the hospital bed for three full days.

The doctors mentioned she had lost a lot of blood, and her uterus had suffered severe damage. They said it might be really tough for her to conceive again.

James appeared once after she woke. His eyes were shadowed with bruises. He tried to hold her hand, but she pulled away.

He stayed silent for a long while before finally speaking in a hoarse voice, “Zinnia… Her ankle was seriously injured that day. I had to take her. How are you? That day… Did you cut an artery? How did you bleed so much?”

The medical report sat on the bedside table, but he did not even glance at it.

Mia said nothing, turning her head to the side. “Get out.”

James froze for a moment. There was a hint of offense in his eyes.

After that, he did not come again.

However, the hospital bills were paid on time.

A private suite, the best medication, the most meticulous care.

This, apparently, was his version of making up to her and being kind to her.

Just then, her phone lit up. A silent notification appeared at the top of the lock screen.

It was a flight booking confirmation.

The departure would be three days later, two o’clock in the afternoon.

It was the only fragile thread of hope she could grasp.

On the day of her discharge, Mia returned home carrying the printed divorce papers.

However, she stumbled upon a scene that made her blood run cold.

On the large bed, Zinnia, clad only in a thin silk slip, was locked in a kiss with James.

The heavy, ragged sound of their breathing stabbed into her ears like needles.

Her surgical wound in the lower abdomen flared as if it had split open again. A piercing pain shot through her, sharp enough to make her dizzy.

James, hearing a stir at the door, turned around to look.

“Mia? You’ve been discharged? Why didn’t you say anything? I could have picked you up.”

His tone was casual. It was as though the utterly scandalous scene unfolding before her was completely normal.

She had just endured a hemorrhage that nearly took her life, lost her unborn child, and bore deep scars on her womb.

Yet her husband, while she hovered between life and death in the hospital, was in bed with another woman at home.

Zinnia’s eyes locked with Mia’s empty stare, and her lips lifted in the faintest of smirks.

She rose and brought a cup of hot cocoa.

“Mia, why do you look so pale? Haven’t you recovered yet?”

Mia looked up, noticing the fresh, red hickeys on Zinnia’s neck.

She didn't answer.

The next moment, the cup clattered to the floor, scalding hot cocoa spilling all over Mia’s hands.

“Ah!” Caught off guard, Mia jolted as the scalding heat seared through her. Pain spread instantly through her body.

“Mia!” James jumped up.

“The cup was too hot, I… I didn’t hold it right… James, check if Mia’s okay! It’s my fault, I’m so clumsy…”

James roughly wiped the cocoa from her face and neck.

After a few swipes, he paused for a moment, looking at her reddened face and hollow eyes.

After a few seconds of silence, he suddenly reached out, gently cupping Mia’s reddened cheek in his palm and rubbing it lightly.

His voice lowered, tinged with barely noticeable guilt.

“You didn’t even try to move out of the way.”

Mia turned her head sharply, dodging his hand.

James’s palm hung frozen as his expression darkened.

At last, seemingly to shatter tension in the air, he spoke to Mia,

“Your birthday’s tomorrow. I’ll make it a big celebration. Consider it an apology, and a way to chase away bad luck.”

Mia finally lifted her eyes and glanced at the bedroom drawer.

"No need to wait for my birthday," she said with a dry and hoarse voice. "There's something you need to do right now."

James raised an eyebrow. “What?”

Mia pulled out the documents she had prepared and handed them to him.

James signed the papers without even looking at them.

“Why go through all this trouble? Jewelry? Property? Just have my assistant handle it. You’re my wife. There’s no need for this hassle.

“The birthday party goes on as planned.”

He returned the signed papers to her. His tone regained its usual controlling edge. “Let’s have a proper celebration. Whatever you want, you’ll get it that day.”

Mia took the seemingly weightless papers that carried the weight of a thousand burdens. She stared at his familiar signature. She did not look at anyone else and turned around to leave the room.

In three days, she would finally be able to leave this place for good.