All Chapters of A Heart Shattered by an Earthquake: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

Due to the earthquake, I found myself trapped under some rubble.Trapped elsewhere was Wendy Smith. She was my husband, Steven Hough's first love.One of my arms was pinned beneath the debris and had already lost all sensation. Worse yet, I could feel a faint ache in my abdomen.The footsteps of the rescue team could be heard approaching. Just like in my previous life, I heard the voice of my husband's colleague, Reuben Landolf."Steven, your wife's GPS signal is coming from here!"The rubble above me was removed, and the beam from a flashlight shined on my face.I caught sight of Reuben's ecstatic face."Yelena, don't worry! We're going to get you out right away!"Yet, my husband looked distracted. His work phone started buzzing, and he answered it without hesitation.From the other end came a trembling female voice. "Stevie, where are you? It's so dark here, and I'm really scared…"I could imagine just how pitiful-looking Wendy was at the moment.Steven's gaze did not ling

Chapter 2

Steven had not yet ended the call, so I could still hear Wendy's faint voice."Stevie, is Yelena also trapped? Then, you should go ahead and rescue her first. I… I can wait."Steven's brows furrowed even deeper. He turned away from me, and instead, asked Wendy how she was doing.She started sobbing. "I'm in a department store at the city center. It's pitch black here, and I think my arm is pinned down. Stevie, it really hurts…"Am I going to die here, Stevie? I'm really scared. I don't want to leave you when I haven't spent enough time with you…"Steven's eyes immediately turned red-rimmed as he heard her heartfelt confession."You won't, Wendy. I won't let anything happen to you. I'm going over to rescue you right now!"With that, he abandoned me and led the team over to save Wendy. Reuben was still worried about me, so he stood in Steven's way."Steven, what about Yelena? Her situation is precarious right now. What if there's an aftershock? And she's pregnant too—"However

Chapter 3

Reuben chose to stay behind to rescue me. He desperately tried to remove the debris from above me, but his strength alone was not enough. It was like trying to put out a blazing fire with one cup of water at a time. But he still continued to encourage me and told me to not worry. I was moved by his warm actions.After who knew how long, Steven ran past us frantically while carrying Wendy. The woman was lying in his arms looking weak but seemingly no worse for wear.The only person he cared about was Wendy, and he had completely forgotten about his still-trapped wife.Reuben, who had bloody nails from lifting the debris, furiously grabbed hold of Steven and pointed at me."Steven! Your pregnant wife is still trapped under the rubble, but all you care about is rescuing Wendy? Are you even human?"Truth be told, I didn't know Reuben that well. I'd only run into him a few times when I visited Steven at his dorm. The young lad was always cheery and would always greet me enthusiasti

Chapter 4

In the midst of it all, I recalled the time I had spent with Steven.He hadn't always treated me like this. He used to be a secret illegitimate child who was the subject of bullying by other boys from rich families.My grandfather and I found him when he was barely alive after a beating, and we fed him his first proper meal.Grandpa could not help but pity Steven when he caught the latter doing everything he could to mend the workbooks that had been torn up by others. The sight of him injured and frantic tugged at Grandpa's heartstrings.When I was young, I was the de facto leader of that age group. With Steven under my protection, no one dared to bully him anymore.Thus, I was the person Steven was closest to up until college. I had even seen him secretly scribbling my name in his workbooks.This lasted until the underprivileged student that Grandpa sponsored, Wendy Smith, got admitted into the same college as us.She became the tail we couldn't quite shake, following Steven an

Chapter 5

By the time I opened my eyes again, the first thing I saw was a white ceiling.I was lying in a hospital bed attached to a ventilator and unable to move.The medical equipment beside me started to beep.Soon, doctors and nurses rushed in. Their faces lit up in surprise when they saw that I was conscious."You have a dozen broken bones, multiple organs suffered crush injuries, and you also hemorrhaged a lot due to your miscarriage. It's amazing that you managed to survive through all that!"They declared that I was no longer in critical danger, so they transferred me out of the Intensive Care Unit.The doctors wanted to contact my next of kin, but Steven never answered his phone. In fact, he never made an appearance, not even when I was finally discharged.During my stay at the hospital, his parents had come to visit me. They, too, made several calls to Steven. When he finally answered and found out they were with me, he was rather annoyed."Mom, Dad, you're also siding with tha

Chapter 6

His own wife had barely made it out of the hospital alive and had even suffered a miscarriage, but Steven himself was off frolicking with his lover on his wife's birthday.They naturally turned their nose down on him.Tina's expression was stony as she struck him across the face. "You scum! Your wife nearly died, and she just had a miscarriage, yet you're blatantly running around with some other woman! You've ruined the Hough family's reputation in Luxdoun!"Steven had been slapped very hard, but a smug smile still lingered on his lips.He looked toward me and threw a stack of documents right at me. His gaze then flicked to the wheelchair I was sitting in and sneered. "Wendy's friend works at Jorlina Hospital. I was wondering how you could have suffered such extreme injuries, so Wendy had her friend check your medical records. You never had a miscarriage, nor did you have any fractures. All you had was slight abrasions and minor scrapes!"You're sinking to new lows just to vie f

Chapter 7

I sobbed as I tried to pick up the small pile of ashes, but they only slipped through my fingers like sand.Before I succumbed to the anaesthesia, I had begged the doctors to help me preserve the remains of my baby so I could have them cremated. Then, I would be able to carry the ashes close to my heart every day.Yet, my baby boy was now scattered all around because of his bastard of a father.Steven started to panic."What is this?" he asked.I raised my head and flashed him a deathly stare."I thought you didn't believe me? Now that you've scattered all his ashes, do you believe me now?"It was as if Steven had been struck by a bolt of lightning as he stumbled backward.But soon enough, he seemed to recall something and stood up straight again.He tilted his chin up, and his tone was cold."So what if the child is gone now? I can only say that this is karma for all the despicable things you've done! You bullied Wendy and made her miss the opportunity to secure a spot in th

Chapter 8

"Also, my aunt is an obstetrician-gynecologist. She assisted Wendy with an abortion before. She told me about it after she saw Wendy's student ID. You'll be able to find these records if you go to the hospital that my aunt works at."Everyone gasped at this piece of news, and Steven's expression darkened.It naturally never crossed his mind that the innocent girl he had cherished so carefully was actually so promiscuous.He clenched his fists tightly, refusing to believe any of it.I, too, had not expected his love for Wendy to run so deeply.Steven pointed a finger at my face as he accused, "Even if you were innocent during those incidents, how do you explain the part where you took advantage of me being drunk and getting pregnant with my child? Don't tell me you weren't the one at fault here!"I didn't get a chance to explain the truth before Tina stepped in front of me."I was the one who had Yelena go to the bar to look for you. When you two came back, I was also the one who

Chapter 9

After Steven signed the divorce papers, he was kicked out of the party by his parents. He kept turning his head back when walking out, his gaze dripping with regret.I ignored him and treated this whole fiasco as a mere hiccup, then got back to enjoying my lavish birthday party while receiving well-wishes from everyone present.Steven didn't come looking for me anymore.I heard that he was kicked off the rescue team after that. It was Reuben who'd reported him, telling his higher-ups everything that happened during the rescue that day in detail. And because Steven, due to his personal feelings, had not followed the rules of prioritizing the elderly, the disabled, and the pregnant, he was deemed to have disregarded human life and was thus dismissed from the team.Reuben's parents resigned from their posts at the Hough household too. Though Jim and Tina did try to persuade them to stay, they did not change their minds.A video of Steven carrying a barely injured Wendy and forceful

Chapter 10

I shook my head and replied calmly, "Don't forget, Steven. You're the person who killed him."He froze, and a dead silence hung over us.I soon had the butler escort him out, but not before telling him, "I will never forgive the murderer who killed my son."…On the day of Grandpa's death anniversary, I returned to Jorlina, where I ran into Jim and Tina, as well as Steven's younger sister who had been living abroad all this while.They told me that Steven had been exiled from the Hough family, and that they had named his sister as the new successor.As expected, when it came to business, any form of familial ties were negligible.Most surprising of all, Steven was taken to court on homicide charges soon after that.As it turned out, Wendy had used her unborn child to blackmail Steven into marrying her. But when she realized that Steven was no longer the wealthy Hough scion, she immediately found him to be of no use to her.Her unborn child had turned out to be Steven's after a

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