Chapter 3

Olivia sobbed uncontrollably, her face streaked with tears. "I'm sorry, Colin! I didn't mean to! I never thought there would be wolves here... Joey died protecting me…"

Colin gently pulled her into his arms, comforting her as if nothing else mattered. "Baby, don't cry. Of course, I know it wasn't your fault."

I could not believe it. Colin did not care—he did not even bat an eye at the fact that Olivia had caused our child's death. Rage boiled inside me, and before I could stop myself, I stormed forward, yanked Olivia out of his arms, and slapped her hard across the face.

"You shameless woman! If you have a death wish, why did you take my child with you? You should've been the one dead!"

Colin instantly retaliated, striking me with such force that I fell to the ground. He gathered Olivia into his arms again, his voice full of fury.

He growled, "You're insane! Olivia already told you it was an accident, and you're still throwing a tantrum?"

"A tantrum?" I shot back, trembling with anger and grief. "Colin, look at her—she killed our child! Our child is dead because of her!"

Tears streamed down my face, mixing with the blood dripping from my split lip. I was shaking, both from the pain in my heart and the sting of betrayal.

"Shut up!" Colin snapped coldly. "You're going to scare Olivia! And so what if that bastard child is dead? As long as Olivia is okay, that's all that matters."

His words hit me like a block of ice, freezing my soul in an instant. Colin had just called Joey a bastard child, as if he were nothing more than an inconvenience.

Despair and anger overwhelmed me, dragging me into a suffocating abyss. Suddenly, blood surged up from my throat, and I spat out a mouthful of blood before collapsing into unconsciousness.

...

When I woke up in the hospital, I overheard two nurses whispering outside my room.

"Did you see it? Mr. Shaw is taking such good care of Ms. Martinez. He's been making her soup every day."

"Soup? Seriously? Colin Shaw?" I thought bitterly. He never cooked or lifted a finger in the kitchen for me—not once in all these years.

"Yeah, I saw. And I heard he's trying to arrange for this patient's kidney to be donated to Ms. Martinez."

"No way! That poor woman's been unconscious for days, and Mr. Shaw wants to take her kidney? Unbelievable."

"Thank God it's illegal without her consent. If this were some shady hospital, who knows if she'd even be alive right now."

"Seriously... It's just pure evil."

"Shh! Don't say another word. Someone might hear us," the other nurse warned, and their conversation trailed off.