Chapter 5

The baby was premature and went into the incubator.

Ethan grabbed my hand guiltily, eyes reddening. "Natalie, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to push you. After this summer ends, I'll make Stella leave our home."

I turned away, tears flowing silently.

After being discharged, Ethan locked me in the house. He even hid my phone.

The first day, they only brought me three meals. I held my newborn baby and cried myself hoarse.

The second day, I smashed everything in the room and cut my hand.

The third day, Ethan finally came to see me.

I demanded hysterically why he wouldn't even give me the freedom to move around.

He frowned as he bandaged my hand, his eyes helpless. "Your emotions are too volatile right now. I'm afraid you'll go out and ruin Stella's reputation. She's still a young girl. We can't destroy her life over your momentary impulse, can we?"

Stella beside him cast me a sympathetic look. "Natalie, don't worry. I'll do that job well, and I'll maintain your friendships for you too."

My heart felt like a piece of flesh had been carved out.

I was disheveled and deathly pale. "Ethan Smith, what gives you the right to let someone else replace my life! Is this what you call love?"

Ethan froze for a moment, his patience exhausted. "When you learn how to be a magnanimous mother, I'll naturally let you out."

He wanted me to learn to be a magnanimous mother, yet he stripped away my marriage, my work, my freedom.

Meanwhile, under his protection, Stella enjoyed everything that should have been mine.

I covered my face, laughing until tears streamed down.

The baby beside me suddenly began wailing. I touched the child's burning forehead, and my heart twisted like a knife.

"Ethan Smith, let me out! Nathan has a fever!"

I beat frantically on the door, my nails leaving bloody streaks.

The crying finally brought Ethan.

He frowned. "What are you making a fuss about now?"

I begged without dignity. "Ethan, look at Nathan! He's your son! He's really going to die!"

Hesitation and conflict flashed in his eyes. "But..."

My mother suddenly entered. With one glance, she said lightly, "Making a mountain out of a molehill. You had fevers when you were little too. Just give him some fever medicine. You're making such a scene—could it be because... Stella got confirmed in her position today, and you want to go ruin her work?"

Ethan's expression instantly darkened. "Natalie, enough is enough. When did you become so unreasonable? You're even using your son as an excuse."

I laughed, my whole body trembling. "I'm unreasonable?"

He didn't understand. "Stella is your sister. Why can she accept all this, but you can't?"

It seemed my breakdown and helplessness were nothing in Ethan's eyes. He answered a call, his face breaking into a smile, and left without looking back. "Mom, Stella's promotion report is starting. Let's go."

I looked at the child in my arms with his flushed face, feeling no pain as I desperately kicked the door open.

But I was covered in blood. Passing drivers didn't dare let me in their cars. When I finally got a taxi, I discovered Ethan had confiscated my phone—I had no money for the fare and was thrown out by the driver.

By the time a kind stranger got me to the hospital, the doctor shook his head helplessly. "Why didn't you bring him in sooner? The baby was already premature. As a mother, you're too careless."

Holding my child's cold body on the way home, I was dead inside as I lit a fire. In the firelight, the drone of a helicopter was especially jarring, and a figure slowly walked toward me...

"Sorry. I came late."