Chapter 4

The next day, I listed the house for sale and started clearing everything out.

Olivia came home and saw the chaos. She rushed to stop me.

"Ethan, are you insane?! This is our home—how can you throw everything out?!"

I shoved her off. "You don't get to say the word 'home.'"

Seven years of feelings—all a lie.

There was no reason for this house to exist anymore.

"I know cheating was wrong. But I had a child with Carter—I had no choice but to hide it!"

"We've built this life for seven years—you can't just end it like that!"

I didn't want to hear her hollow excuses. I turned to leave.

But Olivia blocked me, clinging to me.

"Carter is the son of the company's vice president. My father asked him to look after me before he died."

"I got drunk one night—it just happened. Then I got pregnant. I couldn't abort the baby."

She pressed her face into my chest. "Ethan, I never wanted to leave you. You and Carter—you're both the most important people to me. I don't want to let either of you down. Just pretend you don't know anything. We'll go back to how we were. I'll do everything I should—give you everything you deserve. Okay?"

Her words made me sick to my stomach.

Olivia mistook my silence for weakness. She headed to the kitchen.

"You've been busy all day—you must be hungry. I'll make your favorite lasagna."

But the moment she stepped into the kitchen—

BANG. The front door flew open.

Lucy kicked it in from outside.

Before I could react, Greg lunged at me and slapped me across the face.

"Ethan! Where is Tommy?!"

Carter rushed in behind them and dropped to his knees in front of me.

"Dr. Harper, please—give me back my son! I'll give Olivia back to you—just don't hurt my baby..."

Olivia's face drained. "What do you mean—Tommy's missing?"

"Carter took him for his vaccine. When he turned back after paying, Tommy was gone!"

Greg's eyes were bloodshot. "Who else would kidnap a month-old baby but him?!"

Olivia snapped. She lunged at me, hands locked around my throat.

"You had Tommy taken?! Ethan, are you insane?!"

I clawed at her fingers. "I didn't—I'm a doctor—I would never take a child—"

Carter was still kneeling, sobbing. "Please, Dr. Harper—if anything happens to my son, I'll die..."

"I told you, I didn't do it! Why won't any of you believe me?!"

But no one believed me.

"Who else could it be?!"

Lucy stood to the side, her face cold—the same face that once argued fiercely for me.

"Bro, if you don't tell the truth, I'm going to have to use legal means."

When I shook my head, Greg lost it. He grabbed me by the hair and dragged me into the supply closet.

He yanked open a cabinet, grabbed a defibrillator, tore open the pads, and pressed them to my chest.

"Ethan, I thought I knew you! Tommy's only a month old! How could you do this?!"

"You're not going to talk? You want me to do this the hard way?"

He knew I was terrified of electric shocks. He knew exactly how to break me.

But I hadn't done anything. How could I confess to something I didn't do?

"Ethan, you made us do this!" Patience gone, Greg slammed the discharge button.

A violent jolt tore through my body.

I couldn't even scream. My whole body convulsed and slammed back to the ground.

The back of my head hit the floor. I felt something warm trickling down...

Then—a phone rang urgently.

"Mr. Carter? The police found your son!"

The defibrillator hit the floor with a clatter.

Everyone's faces lit up with relief. They dropped me without a backward glance and ran.

Hours later, they came back carrying the baby.

By then, the real estate agent had cleared out the entire house and started moving in the new owner's belongings.

Olivia charged at them. "What are you doing?! This is my home! Are you trespassing?!"

The agent just handed her a sale agreement.

"Mr. Harper said he's never coming back to this city. He sold the house to us."

"What did you say?!"