I wrapped my trembling arms around my belly and locked myself in the en suite bathroom.

In that cramped space, I hugged my knees in the corner and let the tears fall in silence.

Three days passed. Theodore never let me out.

Hunger blurred my vision, the darkness closing in from the edges until I lost consciousness entirely.

When I woke again, the sharp sting of disinfectant filled my nose.

Theodore was sitting at my bedside, gripping my hand so hard it hurt.

He looked haggard, hollowed out, like he'd been there for a long time.

The moment he saw my eyes open, his turned red.

“Summer!”

He pulled me into his arms, his voice shaking.

“I'm sorry. I'm so sorry……”

“I had no idea the food the housekeeper brought you was eaten by the dog. I just wanted you to cool down. I never meant to starve you……”

I pushed him away, slowly, and turned my face to the wall. I had nothing to say to him.

Panic flickered through Theodore's eyes. He had never seen me like this, and it unsettled him.

He lowered his voice and tried to explain.

“Hilda's been diagnosed with depression. The doctor says she has a serious risk of self-harm.”

“She saved my life once. I can't just abandon her.”

I listened in silence.

Nothing stirred inside me anymore.

“Okay. Got it.”

Theodore's expression shifted, but he quickly reassured himself: I was just jealous, throwing a little tantrum. A few kind gestures and I'd come around.

Over the next few days, he transformed back into the husband everyone envied.

He fed me by hand, blew on the hot porridge to cool it, sat up through the night checking my temperature.

The nurses couldn't stop gushing.

“Professor Delgado is so good to his wife. I heard he even hired a private caretaker just for her.”

The next day, the so-called caretaker was nowhere to be found.

I kept my eyes down and said nothing under the nurses' awkward glances.

That caretaker was probably with Hilda.

It didn't matter. Ten more days and I'd be free. Whoever Theodore wanted to dote on after that was no longer my concern.

But someone wasn't content to leave me in peace. The following day, Hilda walked into my hospital room with her chin held high.

“Summer, do you know something?”

“The one who isn't loved is the real other woman.”

“If you had any dignity left, you'd walk away from Theodore on your own.”

“And here's something else you probably don't know. The baby in my belly? It's his.”

I looked at her, cold and flat. “Get out. You're not welcome here.”

Venom flashed behind her eyes. She hadn't expected that. She'd come here to watch me shatter, and I hadn't given her the satisfaction.

Faint footsteps sounded outside the door.

Hilda's face changed in an instant.

She snatched the bowl of porridge from my bedside table, turned her back to the door, slipped something into it so fast I barely caught it, then tipped the bowl back and drank.

The next second, the door swung open.

Hilda let out a piercing scream and crumpled to the floor.

Blood ran down between her legs.

“Hilda!”

Theodore's face drained of color. He rushed to her like a man possessed and gathered her into his arms.

Hilda clawed at his shirt, sobbing, her whole body shaking.

“Professor……”

“I don't know why, but after I drank the porridge your wife gave me, my stomach……it hurts so bad……”

Theodore's head snapped toward me. Rage burned through every line of his face, and before I could speak, he kicked me square into the hospital bed. “How could you be vile enough to drug her?!”

I didn't even have time to react before my entire body hit the floor.

My belly slammed against the ground, and the pain was so blinding that my vision went black.

But Theodore didn't even glance at me.

He scooped Hilda into his arms, his voice vicious.

“Summer, if anything happens to Hilda or the baby, I swear you'll pay for it!”

He turned and rushed out without noticing the color draining from my face.

A warm trickle of liquid ran down between my legs.

Sheer, crushing terror swallowed me whole.

I clutched the bedsheets with white knuckles, my voice shaking as I cried out：

“Nurse……”

“I……I think the baby's coming……”

I lost all sense of time. It felt like I'd walked through abyss and come back half-dead before they finally wheeled me out of the operating room.

The baby came early.

So impossibly small, her skin wrinkled and paper-thin, every breath she drew barely there.

Through the glass of the incubator, I reached out with trembling fingers to touch her.

The pain in my chest was raw, as if someone had carved my heart open with bare hands.

I'm sorry, baby. I'm so sorry you had to suffer.

I stayed by her side until nightfall before exhaustion finally pulled me under.

But I hadn't been asleep long when Theodore barged into the room.

For a split second I thought he'd found out about the premature delivery, and my whole body tensed.

But he just walked straight to the bed, pinned my wrist down, and started pulling at the family heirloom bracelet on my hand.

He wore the look of a man who thought he was being generous：

“Hilda's a good person. She's not holding the poisoning incident against you, and the baby's fine.”

“She just wants to wear the Delgado family bracelet for a little while, to feel what it's like to have a real family.”

“Just a few days. Consider it compensation for how you bullied her. I'll repay you after her child is born.”

Making amends?

I didn't do anything wrong. What exactly do I need to make amends for?

I almost laughed.

Theodore was the one who had placed this bracelet on my wrist himself.

He'd knelt in front of me and told me I was his only wife.

He'd told me that when our child was born, the matching child's bracelet on his wrist would go to our baby.

Mother and child bracelets, for safety, for health.

And now the mother's bracelet was going to Hilda.

The child's bracelet had probably already been set aside for the baby in Hilda's belly.

I'd just given birth. My body was so weak I couldn't even fight back.

Theodore took my silence as permission and wrenched the jade bracelet off my wrist.

Without anything to ease it, the jade scraped across my skin, leaving a raw, angry streak of red around my wrist.

He didn't see it, or didn't care. He was just pleased he'd gotten what he came for.

It took him a moment to realize I hadn't reacted at all. My eyes were perfectly still.

His hands paused. He frowned down at me：

“Why aren't you angry?”

I looked at him, and there was nothing left in my gaze.

“Why would I be?”

“Isn't this exactly what you wanted?”

Something in his expression stiffened, like he wanted to say more.

But then his phone buzzed in his pocket.

A message from Hilda.

He didn't press further. He just gave my head an absent, careless ruffle.

“Stop overthinking. Focus on recovering. Once the baby's born, I'll throw the biggest welcome celebration you've ever seen.”

Then he turned and left.

I closed my eyes, and the last thread of feeling I had for him snapped clean through.

Over the next week, Theodore never came back. I spent the time tying up the final loose ends.

On the last day, I held my daughter, took the finalized divorce papers and immigration documents, and boarded the plane.

Before boarding, I used my old phone number to send everything I had prepared over this period to the pre-arranged email address.

That included all the information about how I was framed, as well as evidence of Theodore's infidelity and betrayal. Soon, these will be made public.

Once the upload confirmed, I snapped my SIM card in half and dropped it in the trash.

From now on, my daughter and I had nothing to do with Theodore Delgado.