Chapter 2

'smack!' Landon's hand lashed out, hitting the young nurse across the face.

"Nonsense! Do you really think giving birth to a child for the Thorne family makes you special?! Now you’re spreading lies about that fire right in front of me?! Shameless!"

"seraphina fell from the third floor saving me. Now, every time the weather changes, her back hurts. I’m with her every day; how could I not know?"

The nurse clutched her red, stinging cheek, trembling as she placed a report on the table.

"But Ms. Vance's medical reports over the years have never shown any back injury."

"However, Dr. Hayes's records show over a dozen comminuted fractures in her lower back, accompanied by severe burns…"

"The date of her treatment was the very day the fire happened eight years ago…"

"It's all clearly written in this report. Please, take a look." The nurse, with a hint of pleading, gently pushed the report on the table closer to Landon's hand.

Landon glanced down, then casually swept the stack of reports into the trash bin. He let out a sneering laugh.

"Amelia's tricks are getting more elaborate! Now she's learned to hide and have you fight her battles! But I'm not an idiot! Eight years ago, on the day of the fire, I called her hundreds of times, and she never picked up! If it weren't for Seraphina, I would have died in that fire long ago!"

"And we've been married for years. I know her body as well as my own. Whether her back was fractured or burned, how could I, her husband, not know? Bringing up an eight-year-old incident now, your Dr. Hayes is truly becoming both wicked and foolish!"

My soul floated above Landon's head, a piercing pain radiating from my hollow chest.

He truly never believed me.

Not even after all these years, seeing me swallow countless pills, or noticing my unusual reactions during our intimate moments.

He even saw me being rushed into the operating room while he recovered in the hospital eight years ago.

Yet, he still refused to believe. He stubbornly insisted that the one who saved him from the fire eight years ago was Seraphina, not me.

"Mr. Thorne…"

"Enough! I don't want to hear it! Tell your Dr. Hayes, she can come home or not; if she doesn't, she can just die outside with the child for all I care!"

'dr. Hayes really is dead…"

Landon slammed the door shut with a thunderous bang! The deafening sound drowned out the nurse's tearful whisper.

As soon as he got home, Landon saw all the baby things I'd prepared. He kicked them aside like trash, then pulled out his phone and called Seraphina.

'seraphina, I'm having the driver send all that baby stuff over to you. Amelia and that illegitimate brat in her belly don't deserve anything I prepared!"

Watching the driver haul away those obnoxious items, Landon let out a sigh of relief.

He poured himself a glass of red wine, switched on the TV, and sank into the couch.

Just as he brought the glass to his lips, the somber voice of a news anchor filled the room.

[Three days ago, a renowned obstetrician from our city tragically died during childbirth, along with her baby, on the operating table she loved most. May she rest in peace.]

Landon dropped his wine glass and sprang from the sofa. He stared intently at the large news headline: Obstetrician? Difficult labor? His brow furrowed, but after a few seconds, a smile spread across his face.

In a huge city like this, you could throw a stone and hit an obstetrician.

Besides, Amelia's medical skills were always top-notch.

She surely wouldn't die on the operating table, she could even deliver a baby with the help of a janitor.

The truth was, I wouldn't have died that day.

A mother's fierce instinct kicked in, and I screamed myself hoarse, but no one came.

I had no choice but to push through and deliver the baby myself.

The baby's head was already crowning, but my frantic pushing tore at my back injury, which still had a dozen steel pins in it.

I simply couldn't exert any more force…

Landon sank back onto the sofa, pondering for a long moment, as if something had just occurred to him.

He pulled out his phone and called his assistant.

"Go, send some money to the family of that obstetrician who died. It's a tough job, dying on the operating table. I don't know whether to be happy or sad for her…"

The assistant on the other end was silent for a few seconds, then spoke timidly.

"Mr. Thorne, my friend told me that obstetrician was from our hospital, and her last name was… I think…"

"Landon~"

Seraphina's sweet, cooing voice from the yard made Landon hang up the phone and head outside. The assistant had already started to say my name, but Landon was already walking away from the phone, engrossed in Seraphina in the yard…