Broken Seven Times Over

When I regained consciousness, it was to the sound of a heated confrontation.

"It wasn't me, Zach! I never stabbed her!" Louise insisted.

Zachary's eyes were bloodshot as he bellowed back at her, "Who else could it be if not you? You two were the only ones in the changing room, and your fingerprints were found on the scissors!"

Louise couldn't find the words to defend herself. She got on her knees and wailed loudly, but this time, he made no attempt to console her.

When the doctor came into the hospital ward, Zachary immediately walked up to him, his expression anxious.

"How is she, doctor? Why is she still unconscious?" he asked.

Frowning, the doctor replied, "Although her life isn't in any danger, the scissors struck her right in the womb, and she lost her child. She'll also have a hard time conceiving again."

"What did you say?" Zachary went rigid. "She was… pregnant? Why didn't I know that?"

He turned around in shock and met my lifeless gaze. Lifting my eyes to the ceiling, I said with an emotionless face, "The child… is gone?"

Zachary rushed over to the hospital bed and gripped my hand tightly, saying, "No. Everything's fine. We'll have another baby. Trust me."

For the first time, he wept for me, but all he got in return was me coldly turning away from him. "Get out. I don't want to see you."

He was hesitant, but he left anyway. However, he returned that night with bags of delicious food and even some medical equipment to aid in my recovery.

Zachary sat at my bedside and tenderly fed me spoonfuls of chicken noodle soup. I opened my mouth and ate mechanically. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that his gaze filled with even more guilt.

He took exceedingly good care of me, even instructing the bodyguards not to let Louise, his precious younger sister, anywhere near me.

Alas, he failed to keep her away. That night, Louise appeared in my hospital ward. Standing in front of my hospital bed, she said to me, "You planned it all from the start, didn't you, Claire? You wanted to use your baby to frame me! I've already looked into it. You came for a pregnancy test a few days ago, so you knew you were pregnant."

I silently closed my eyes.

"You'd seriously do anything just to marry Zach, huh? But you'll never be happy!"

What Louise didn't know was that I didn't even want to marry Zachary anymore.

On the day I found out I was pregnant, I was thrilled. I went looking for Zachary to share the news with him, only to find him in bed with Louise.

The door was ajar. The floor was covered in their clothes, including their underwear. I heard his low moans and her breathy gasps.

I nearly miscarried that day, but I did my best to keep my baby. But this time, my baby was truly gone. Though I felt some grief, for the most part, I felt a sense of relief. I figured the baby could also tell that now wasn't the best time for it to come into this world.

Without saying anything to Louise, I called for the bodyguards and instructed them to chase her out. While they hauled her off, I snuck out of the hospital ward.

Dr. Lane's car was parked outside the hospital. When he saw me, his face broke into a smile of satisfaction. "You made a wise choice this time, Claire."

Smiling, I got in the car, and it took us straight to the airport.

When I boarded the flight, there was a man in a suit in the seat next to mine. Dr. Lane nodded respectfully at the man before introducing me to him. Then, he said to me, "Claire, this is Mr. Connor Hamilton, the exclusive sponsor of the medical relief team."

Out of courtesy, I held my hand out for a handshake, and he returned it with a cold, detached expression. His hand was just as cold as his personality.

Dr. Lane murmured to me, "He's got a difficult temper, so you'd better not get on his bad side. It'll be hard for the medical relief team to complete our mission if he gets upset."

I hummed in acknowledgment before taking my seat beside Connor. Ever so gingerly, I tried to buckle my seatbelt while avoiding the wound in my abdomen.

"Don't you know how to put on the seatbelt?" Connor questioned curtly.

"That's not it. I'm just afraid I'll pull on my—"

"You're so silly," he commented as he leaned over and snapped the seatbelt in place with one swift motion.

The scent of his cedar cologne lingered in my nostrils. It smelled expensive.

I was briefly startled, but he had already gone back to his financial magazine and seemed to be reading with great focus. His brows creased, as if he had picked up on my gaze. I quickly averted my eyes and looked out the window.

The plane was slowly making its ascent, and the cityscape was soon replaced with endless stretches of clouds. Eventually, we landed in a barren area.

…

At the same time, Zachary carefully carried a cake into the hospital ward.

"Darling, I bought you your favorite—"

His voice came to a grinding halt, and the cake fell to the floor. The carefully piped frosting turned into a pile of mush.

With eyes rapidly turning red, Zachary grabbed the collar of the nearest bodyguard and snarled, "Where's Claire?"