As I walked out of the hospital, an old man suddenly stared at the necklace around my neck and said, "Young lady, you're pregnant, yet you're wearing the ashes of a stillborn child. This is a trade of life for death. Your child has been exchanged into someone else's womb!"

The necklace was a gift from my best friend after her miscarriage. I hadn’t wanted to wear it, but she insisted and made me put it on. This morning, she found out she was pregnant again, while my previously healthy baby suddenly had no detectable heartbeat.

A chill ran through me. When I got home, I put the ashes necklace around the neck of a pregnant black dog.

——

I stood in front of the hospital entrance, staring blankly at the small silver gourd hanging from the necklace.

Inside, there really was a grayish-black powder. Was this… ashes?

My mind went blank.

“That’s the ashes of a stillborn baby!”

The old man’s expression was grave. “You’re pregnant, yet you’re wearing a necklace containing ashes. This is life exchanged for death. The child in your womb will suffer, while the one who gave you the necklace will give birth to a healthy baby.”

My heart tightened.

The necklace had been a gift from my best friend, Chloe, after her last miscarriage.

I never liked wearing jewelry, but Chloe insisted I wear it.

Today, she and I had come to the hospital together for a check-up.

My previously healthy baby suddenly had no heartbeat, while Chloe was pregnant again.

Overjoyed, she left first. I lagged behind, feeling downcast, only to be stopped by an old man named Mr. Keith just as I stepped out of the hospital.

With trembling hands, I was about to throw the necklace away, but Mr. Keith stopped me.

"The moment you put on the necklace, the ritual began," he said. "If you want to break free, you must find another pregnant woman to complete the ritual in your place. If you just throw it away, both you and your child will die."

I was torn. Wasn't this forcing me to do the same heartless thing Chloe did?

"Mr. Keith, is there no other way?" I asked.

Mr. Keith shook his head. "Before midnight tonight, you must give the necklace to someone else. Once that’s done, contact me again. Remember, whatever you do, don’t alert the target."

After leaving me his phone number, Mr. Keith hurried off.

It was 5 p.m. That meant I had only seven hours to save myself.

I couldn’t help but doubt Mr. Keith’s words.

Chloe and I grew up together. We were as close as sisters. After her last miscarriage, I even took care of her while heavily pregnant myself.

I couldn’t believe she would do something so cruel to me.

But… what if it was true? After all, my baby really did lose its heartbeat.

My mind was in chaos. I stumbled home in a daze.

As soon as I opened the door, I heard the sound of breathy moans from the study, the kind that come after passion.

Then I heard Chloe giggle and say, “Seeing your wife looking all lost and broken after leaving the hospital today, I couldn’t stop laughing.”

Harold comforted her, “Just wait till the ashes necklace ritual is complete and that lump of flesh in her belly falls out. She’ll cry her eyes out, look absolutely disgusting. You’ll enjoy the show even more.”

I felt like I had been struck by lightning. Mr. Keith had been telling the truth.

I wanted nothing more than to rush in and confront them, to demand why they had betrayed me like this.

But Mr. Keith had warned me not to alert them.

I could only leave the home I shared with Harold in silence and return to the apartment I had bought before we got married.

As soon as I stepped through the door, I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I broke down in tears.

Wiping my eyes and turning around, I saw my black dog crouching by the edge of its cage, far away from me.

I had raised this dog for seven years, but it never warmed up to me or my husband.

Instead, it wagged its tail and acted all sweet toward Chloe.

Looking at the dog’s swollen, pregnant belly, a sudden idea struck me like a flash of lightning.

Mr. Keith never said the ashes necklace had to be given to a person.

That thought hit me all at once.

A ruthless glint flashed in my eyes. If they could be heartless, then they shouldn't blame me for being merciless.

I immediately poured half a bowl of freeze-dried dog food. When the black dog was eating, I carefully wrapped the ashes necklace around its belly. Then I pushed it into the cage and covered the necklace with a blanket.

I wasn’t sure if I was imagining it, but after I put the ashes necklace on the dog, it looked at me with a strangely human-like expression of disgust, cold and eerie.

My hand trembled slightly as I locked the cage door.

Just then, the front door opened and to my shock, Harold walked into the hallway, carrying several large bags.

“Honey, I asked the security guard. They said you entered the neighborhood but left in a hurry without going home. I figured you must be feeling down and secretly came here to grieve. I bought black-boned chicken. I’ll make you some soup tonight to nourish your body.”

Harold’s voice was as gentle as ever, but hearing it sent a cold sweat down my back.

He had actually found this place.

The black dog suddenly burst out of the cage. I didn’t even have time to stop it. I could only watch as it pounced on Harold’s leg, whimpering affectionately and rubbing against him.

My nerves instantly tightened.

Why was the black dog suddenly being so affectionate to Harold?

Harold was clearly surprised too, but the moment he saw the ashes necklace on the black dog, his face turned dark.

“Honey, why is the necklace Chloe gave you on the dog?”

“Oh, that…” I forced a smile. “I thought it’d be fun to put it on the dog and record a video. Who knows? It might go viral online.”

In a split second, I picked up my phone, recorded a short clip of the black dog wearing the necklace and posted it online right in front of Harold.

His face stayed gloomy. He snapped coldly, “What if the necklace gets ruined? How could you treat Chloe’s gift like this?”

He took the ashes necklace off the black dog and came over to me, his voice turning gentle again.

“Come here, let me put it back on you.”

Without the necklace, the black dog reverted to its old behavior, baring its teeth and growling at Harold.

Harold glanced at it once and the dog shuddered, tucked its tail and crawled back into the cage.

I felt a chill run down my spine.

At the same time, Harold placed the ashes necklace back around my neck.

It felt like a cold, venomous snake coiling tightly around my throat that I struggled to breathe.

My stomach suddenly twisted sharply. I cried out in pain, “Ouch!”

“What’s wrong, honey?” Harold asked with concern.

“My stomach hurts a lot. I’m going to lie down for a while.”

I bent over, pretending to be in discomfort and walked into the bedroom.

I had planned to take off the necklace secretly while Harold wasn’t paying attention and find a chance to put it back on the black dog.

But just as I touched the ashes necklace…

“Honey, what are you doing?”

My heart suddenly jumped up to my throat.

Harold leaned against the doorframe, expressionless as he stared at me.

His cold gaze was just like that of the black dog wearing the ashes necklace.

“I’m going to change clothes.” I frowned and shot back, “Honey, why have you been following me all day?”

Harold fixed his eyes on the ashes necklace around my neck. “The baby just had a problem. I can’t trust you.”

“You rest first, I’ll go cook for you.”

He was clearly guarding against me taking off the necklace.

Swallowing my anger and fear, I desperately searched for another chance to remove the necklace.

However, Harold’s gaze followed me like a shadow. Even if I stayed a few extra minutes in the bathroom, he would knock on the door.

Time quietly slipped away and it was already past nine o’clock.

Less than three hours remained until midnight.

Under the intense tension, my mind began to feel dizzy in waves and Harold had to support me as I lay down.

After a while, I opened my eyes and turned sideways to look toward the living room. Harold was sitting on the sofa with his back to me, making a phone call.

“Don’t worry, I’ve been watching her closely. She doesn’t have a chance to take off the necklace. I added something special to the soup tonight. She’ll sleep until tomorrow and by then the ritual will be complete.”

“Do you think I’d give up on her? No way. She’s like a dead pig in bed. If it weren’t for her money, I wouldn’t even spare her a second glance.”

“Once she’s had the operation, I’ll add something to her meals every day. When she’s gone, everything she has will be ours.”

At that moment, tears poured down my face like rain.

After my parents passed away, Chloe and Harold became the two most important people in my life.

I never imagined they could be so cruel. They were not only to harm my child but also to harm me.

Seeing Harold hang up the phone, I hurriedly lay back down and pretended to sleep.

Listening to his footsteps getting closer, my whole body tensed up uncontrollably.

Fortunately, this time, he only glanced at the bedroom door and then went to the study.

I waited a while longer before daring to open my eyes. When I checked my phone, it was almost eleven o’clock.

I quickly checked the surveillance footage of the study and saw Harold already lying on the small bed there.

I quietly slipped out of bed.

I fed the black dog the leftover dinner spiced with the added ingredient and the dog quickly passed out.

Luckily, I ate very little for dinner, so I could still hold on.

Despite the dizziness in my head, I tied the dog's mouth with a towel, carried it out of the house and took a taxi to a park far from home.

Finding a deserted corner, I retied the bone ash necklace around the dog's body.

Now, there were only five minutes left until midnight.

I didn’t dare relax. I took a new phone out of my bag, swapped the SIM card and threw the old phone far away.

I had never been on guard against Harold and Chloe before. I wasn’t sure if they had tampered with my phone.

This new phone was originally a birthday gift I had prepared for Harold.

How ironic.

With a few minutes left before midnight, I used this window to contact a lawyer. I would never let them get away with this so easily.

As soon as the clock struck twelve, I immediately called Mr. Keith.

The moment the call connected, the unconscious black dog suddenly struggled and howled in pain.

The black dog kept bleeding black blood nonstop.

My belly visibly shrank.

If I hadn’t sent the ash necklace away, my child would have suffered the same fate.

I trembled as I spoke, “Mr. Keith, I’ve sent the ash necklace away. What should I do next?”

Mr. Keith told me to come to his house immediately. “The ash necklace is a cursed object. Your child has already been affected. You must find a way to restore the energy, or your child still can’t be saved.”

“All right, I’m on my way.” I held my swollen belly and suddenly felt a faint movement.

My child was responding to me.

In that instant, I felt a surge of strength and forced myself to run out of the park. Just as I was about to hail a taxi, a car suddenly sped toward me. It was Chloe behind the wheel.

She leaned halfway out the window, her face as pale as a ghost, yelling fiercely, “Raina, who did you give the ash necklace to?”

I narrowly dodged her car just in time. A taxi stopped nearby and I quickly jumped in.

Chloe’s car slammed into the greenery. She jumped out, a large bloodstain spreading across her skirt.

She charged at me, snarling, “Raina, don’t think you can run away.”

My heart was pounding like thunder and I urged the driver, “Please, hurry, she’s crazy!”

As soon as the driver stepped on the gas, the taxi sped off. When we arrived at Mr. Keith’s house, my legs gave way and I slid down the door panel to sit on the ground.

Before I could catch my breath, my phone rang again.

It was Chloe sending me a bloody photo. She had actually gutted the black dog.

“Ugh.”

My stomach pain worsened and I felt wetness beneath me. I couldn’t tell if I had lost control of my bladder from fear or if it was an early sign of bleeding.

At the same time, Harold’s call came through.

I immediately hung up.

But he was relentless, calling more than ten times in a row.

I anxiously looked at Mr. Keith, who was arranging an eight trigrams diagram with candles, saying, "Don't worry, it’s almost done."

I tried hard to calm my breathing.

I didn’t answer the calls and Harold started sending me messages.

[Honey, where are you? Let me come pick you up and bring you home, okay?]

[Bitch, do you think throwing away your phone can help you escape me?]

My heart suddenly jumped.

Then, Harold sent a photo. It was a picture of the gate of the community where Mr. Keith’s house was located.

His messages kept popping up one after another.

[See, I found you.]

[I've entered the community; it's really rundown here.]

[I've gone into the building. Damn, there's no elevator.]

[I'm here.]

I felt a lump stuck in my throat.

The next moment, the door was knocked on.

"Honey, open the door!"