Chapter 3

Ethan frowned. "What's with the sour face? It's not our fault you couldn't protect your baby."

"Ethan, don't say that about Rory. I'm sure she didn't mean to lose the baby," Xavier said, shielding Aurora.

"Fine, keep defending her, see where that gets you," Ethan sneered, cocking his eyebrow.

"Rory's my fiancee. Of course I'll defend her," Xavier countered, turning to stroke Aurora's hair.

At that moment, realization hit Aurora.

Xavier had defended her like this countless times in the past, and it was always after Ethan admonished her or put her down. Looking back, if Xavier had truly been protective of her, would his friend Ethan pick on her and tear her apart mercilessly?

The only reason she could think of was that Ethan and Xavier had colluded to manipulate her and make her pay for taking Violet's place in the Bowman family.

She suddenly found all this to be a farce. Squeezing out a smile, she said, "I should go get some rest in my room."

…

Aurora slept for a long time. She knew Violet and Xavier had swung by at some point, but she had no interest in dealing with them. And so, she pretended to be fast asleep.

But when she heard the sound of the door opening, followed by sniggering, she bolted upright in bed. She quickly pulled the blanket over her like a shield and demanded anxiously, "Who are you?"

Standing before her were a group of men and women she'd never met before. They didn't look like they'd come for a friendly chat.

"Did you forget about us already?" one of them sneered as the rest raised their eyebrows, cackling. "We go way back in school, remember? We're even regulars at the nightclub where you worked!"

Aurora's eyes wouldn't stop twitching. Her hand trembled as she grabbed her phone to call for help, but a short-haired woman snatched it away. "Don't bother trying to call Mr. Stafford for help. He's Violet's man!"

"Violet sent you?" Aurora asked in disbelief.

The short-haired woman slapped Aurora. "Keep Violet's name out of your filthy mouth, you bitch!" she hissed.

She forcefully tugged Aurora's blanket off and stared at her flat stomach, breaking into a wicked laugh. "Lost your baby, huh? That's what you deserved, you shameless woman! It's your fault for always flirting with old men and stealing Violet's man!"

The others chimed in, "You had that miscarriage coming!"

"I didn't do any of that." Aurora's face was deathly pale as she shook her head vehemently.

However, the short-haired woman wasn't satisfied. She punched Aurora in the stomach several times. "It's all your fault for upsetting Violet! May your womb rot, and may you never have children!"

Sharp pain exploded through Aurora's body. She summoned all her strength and strained to press the help button, but Violet walked in at that moment.

Violet looked elegant and beautiful in a long, white dress. "Stop! Aurora's my younger sister! I won't let anyone bully her!"

Chasing out Aurora's assailants, Violet approached Aurora's bed. "Are you alright? Those people are unbelievable!"

Aurora curled up and said feebly, "Unbelievable or not, they were acting on your orders."

Tears welled up in Violet's eyes as she said dejectedly, "I know you're angry and upset after dealing with something like that, especially since you've just lost your baby. But I don't know or have anything to do with this. How could I ever hurt you?

"It breaks my heart to see you like this too. Don't worry, Aurora. I promise I'll make those people apologize to you!"

With that, she reached for Aurora's hand.

"Don't touch me!" Aurora rasped, and it took all that was left of her strength to smack Violet's hand away.

Unbeknownst to her, Ethan and Xavier entered at that precise moment to see her lashing out at Violet.

"How dare you lay a hand on Violet?" Ethan thundered, slapping Aurora before pulling Violet behind him.

Xavier eyed Aurora coldly. "I'm disappointed in you, Rory. Violet flew all this way to look after you, and this is how you repay her kindness?"

"I wouldn't let her touch me because she had people come in here to beat me up!" Aurora's heart sank, and a tremor went through her body. She pointed at the marks on her stomach. "If you don't believe me, go check the security footage!"

"Why should we check the footage when we know Violet would never do something like that?" Ethan said through gritted teeth, "I bet you just can't stand the thought of Violet doing well and refuse to let her come home!"

Having said that, he took Violet's hand and led her out of the hospital room without a backward glance.

"For heaven's sake, Aurora," Xavier said. "Hating Violet is one thing, but making up a crude lie like that is an entirely different story. You have no idea how worried Violet is about you."

He sighed and produced a box of food. "She even told me and Ethan to buy you your favorite crab cakes. How could she possibly hire people to beat you up?"

Aurora laughed bitterly. She was allergic to shellfish and would never eat crab cakes. To think that she had loved Xavier for seven years, only for him to be unaware of her allergies and take another woman's side at first instance.

She took a deep breath and got out of bed, then led Xavier to the security control room. "See the footage for yourself."

In the footage, Aurora was seen getting beaten up by a group of people. They mentioned Violet's name clearly in the audio too.