Abandoned and Broken, I Found Love Once Again

Just as I expected, no matter how hard I searched, I couldn’t find the protective sacred artifact my parents had left me.

Pale-faced, I rushed to Blake, reaching out to confront him.

"Blake, where did you hide my sacred artifact?"

"Alison’s been dreaming about the baby lately. I heard your sacred artifact works well, so she kept it to use for a few days."

"What? You owe her a life and now you can’t even give back a sacred artifact?"

Blake frowned with impatience.

Alison flustered, quickly pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from her pocket, trying to press it into my hand with a face full of apology.

"I’m sorry, Delilah. I didn’t know it was so important to you. I'll return it to you right now…"

I reached out with trembling hands to take it, but she jerked back suddenly and the sacred artifact slipped into the pot of chicken soup.

"Alison!"

The chicken soup had just come off the stove, still bubbling hot. Without thinking, I reached in to grab it.

But the sacred artifact had already disintegrated, completely unrecognizable.

Red blisters quickly rose on both my hands and Blake let out a sigh, his eyes full of confusion.

"It’s just a sacred artifact. Was it worth hurting yourself and wasting a whole pot of chicken soup?"

Unable to hold back, I squatted down and sobbed.

"I'm sorry..."

Blake hadn’t expected me to be so meek and humble; for once, he didn’t make things difficult for me.

"Delilah, if you really like it, I’ll take you to the church next time."

I didn’t answer, swallowing my heartbreak as I turned and walked into the guest room.

He didn’t understand that sorry wasn’t meant for him. It was for my parents.

Their daughter had let them down, unable to protect even the last thing they had left behind.

Blake, staring after my retreating figure, felt a faint stab of guilt and was about to speak when Alison clutched her stomach and leaned against his chest, her face twisted in pain.

Seeing Alison’s pale complexion, Blake panicked and quickly scooped her into his arms, carrying her into the master bedroom.

Noisy sounds echoed from outside.

It seemed like a crowd had arrived; judging by the commotion, they must have practically moved the whole hospital over.

Meanwhile, because of the severe burns on the backs of my hands, I developed a high fever and drifted in and out of consciousness.

I thought back to the early days of our marriage when Blake had cared for me so tenderly that even a scraped heel would make him fuss for days.

But after I accidentally fell down the stairs and lost our first child, everything changed.

The women around him rotated one after another; he spent less and less time at home and the way he looked at me grew colder by the day.

All of a sudden, I opened my eyes wide.

At some point, Blake had stormed into the room, crouching low beside my bed.

His deep-set eyes now simmered with fury.

"You really can’t stand Alison, can you? You tampered with her food?"

"I told you, you owe her a child. I’ll compensate you later; what more do you want?"

"Delilah, you weren’t like this before. You’ve changed into someone I don't even recognize!"

He yanked my hair and dragged me all the way to the master bedroom.

The doctor, wiping sweat from his forehead, spoke urgently.

"President, Miss Alison, shows signs of food poisoning. Though we’ve stabilized her for now, we need to know exactly what the lady put in the food to prescribe the correct treatment…"

Blake shot me a vicious glare. "Speak! What exactly did you do?"

I truly didn’t know what to confess. "This has nothing to do with me."

Blake sneered coldly and shoved me in front of the doctor. Then, he grabbed a bottle of alcohol and poured it over me.

The exposed burns on the backs of my hands flared with sharp, stabbing pain, like countless needles digging in. I gasped and nearly fainted.

But he wasn’t finished, his cold, hard shoe sole pressed down on my wounded hand.