When Naomi saw that everyone's anger toward me was growing stronger, her lips twitched as she watched me from where she was hiding in Michael's arms.

She snatched the life jacket and said in a choked voice, "Mikey, Leah's pregnant. She has to stay safe!"

As she spoke, she walked toward me. Just as she was about to reach me, she suddenly stumbled and fell backward. Michael immediately rushed over to catch her.

When he saw Naomi's reddened eyes, he put the last life jacket on her without a second thought.

After checking that he had knotted it tightly, he seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and he ruffled Naomi's hair fondly.

"Don't worry. I told you that I wouldn't let anything happen to you!"

Everyone said that they were like loving siblings, and Michael never corrected them.

Suddenly, the ship lurched violently and tilted at a steep angle. Everyone screamed when they felt themselves losing their footing.

At the most critical moment, the captain found a few inflatable lifeboats from the storeroom.

Michael kept one arm around Naomi as he arranged quickly for the others to get into the lifeboats.

Everyone rushed onto the lifeboats as if it was their final hope. Only the security officer, who knew the truth, looked at Michael and Naomi with a conflicted look in his eyes.

"Commander, Mrs. Yates hasn't gotten into a lifeboat yet!"

Michael gave me a cold look and shouted loudly, "How can my wife be afraid to die? We must settle the other military dependents first. We'll get on if there are extra seats."

His raised voice pierced through the wind and the rain, and everyone heard him. Many of those who had already gotten into the lifeboats were so touched that they wiped away tears.

"But—"

"But what? The ship is about to sink! Hurry up and help!"

Michael roughly cut off the security officer from saying the remainder of his sentence.

I lowered my eyes in understanding.

The captain had just said that there was one extra passenger on the ship on this trip, which meant that there wouldn't be enough space on the lifeboats.

The security officer was startled for a moment, but then he hurried off to help everyone escape.

"Are you going to force me to give you a life jacket because you're pregnant? Don't think I don't know that you can swim. Mimi can't!"

Michael gritted his teeth as he looked at me through reddened eyes.

From the beginning to the end, I hadn't made a fuss at all. I only watched impassively as he picked Naomi up and got onto the lifeboat with her.

In my past life, he had tossed me into the sea. I could still vividly feel the pain of being bitten by shoals of fish. I already knew what kind of man Michael was.

Even though I had helped him get to the position of commander step by step, and even though I was pregnant with his child, he had still never loved me.

Since that was the case, why should I keep hoping?

I closed my eyes and let my body slide as the boat tilted. The seawater submerged my legs.

At the most critical moment, the security officer got out of the lifeboat and tried to give me his spot. He said that a life jacket would be enough for him.

Before I could speak, Michael roared, "Don't let the lifeboat lose its balance because of you! You'll make everyone drown!"

I smiled bitterly and waved a hand at the security officer.

I looked at Michael, and as he watched in surprise, I tore up our soaked marriage certificate into shreds and tossed it into the sea.

In the final second before the seawater swallowed up my body, I smiled in his direction and said, "I don't want you anymore, Michael."

I let go of the railing beside me and got ready to face death.

However, there was a huge explosion from the bottom of the ship. My stomach lurched violently, and the ship didn't continue to sink.

However, there was a piercing pain in my stomach, and I felt something warm flowing out from between my legs.

My body was already completely submerged in seawater, and I could only breathe with difficulty if I stood on my tiptoes and threw my head back.

The storm was getting bigger, and the lifeboats were in danger as the wind continued to blow.

I could hear continuous screams and cries for help.

In the corner of my eye, I saw that Michael was still holding Naomi firmly in his arms. I felt like a dying fish as I hung right under the surface. Seawater kept flooding my nostrils, and I didn't even have the strength to cough.

Finally, a wave crashed over us, and the ship shuddered and sank. I used my final remaining strength to flail around before I gave up the struggle and let the waves push me further and further away.

The wind and the rain slapped my face relentlessly, but through my blurred vision, I seemed to see a boat rushing to our rescue.

The boat had just reached the lifeboats when Michael, who had proclaimed grandly earlier that he would guarantee the safety of the other military dependents, immediately scrambled onto the boat with Naomi in his arms.

He moved so quickly that the lifeboat almost capsized.

His actions immediately provoked the crowd on the lifeboats to anger.

Their voices carried to me on the wind.

The older woman who had spat at me said directly, "Commander! No matter how worried you are about your supposed younger sister, you should get on the boat in an orderly manner, shouldn't you?"

The others complained as well.

"That's right! We almost capsized!"

"Your pregnant wife is soaking in the water, but all you cared about was saving your so-called sister! Who knows whether she really is your sister or not!"

It was unclear who had said it, but it infuriated Michael at once.

"You don't know anything! Mimi is a doctor, and her hand is injured. If it gets wet and becomes seriously infected, she'll never be able to hold a scalpel again! To her, that would be worse than losing her life!

"Now you're worried about my wife? When there was only one space left on the lifeboat, why didn't any of you try to let her have it, since you're all so righteous?"

Everyone fell silent at what Michael had said. They didn't dare to say anything else.

Only the security officer looked in my direction and tried again to save me.

"Mrs. Yates seems to have had a miscarriage. There's a lot of blood around her. If we don't save her now, she'll sink!"

The security officer was very anxious, but Michael scolded him curtly, "It's just a bit of blood. Miscarriages don't happen that easily.

"I'm going to emphasize this one last time. Take care of the other military dependents. She can swim, and she'll be fine!"

The security officer was named Damon Chesney, and his face had turned bright red. However, he was still rowing the lifeboat toward me.

However, Michael threatened him before he had even managed to move three feet.

"Damon, don't forget who you have to thank for where you are today. I won't let you risk everyone's lives the way she did.

"Remember, I brought you out of the mountains and to your current position, and I can make you go back to where you came from to continue being a farm laborer!"

When Michael saw that Damon looked obstinate and refused to give in, he frowned and forced out the words.

"You might not be worried, but if your 70-year-old mother found out that you were fired for killing over a dozen people with your obstinacy, what would she think?"

Damon's hands froze in the water.

I didn't want to die like that, so I tried my best to cry for help. However, as soon as I opened my mouth, seawater flooded my throat, and I was unable to make a sound.

When I saw the rescue boat get further and further away, I felt despair.

The roar of the boat came to my ears through the noise of the storm, and my stomach hurt so much that I couldn't feel anything else.

I was hanging onto life by a fragile thread, and when the waves rose up once more and slammed me hard into the sea, a long ribbon of red trailed out behind me.

The feeling of suffocation in my chest grew stronger.

Finally, I gave up the struggle and stopped breathing.

Before the next wave brought me up to the surface, I faded completely out of consciousness.