Buried In Lies, Burned by the One I Loved

Lorenzo’s eyes filled with disbelief. He had always assumed Francesca was a child I had with another man after escaping the fire.

“Whose... child is she?” Lorenzo’s voice was hoarse, barely audible.

Back then, before the fire, I was still his fiancée and had never been involved with any other man.

Lorenzo’s body trembled slightly. For the first time, he started to question Francesca’s identity.

The doctor shook his head.

“Miss Collins always came to her prenatal appointments alone. Aside from Mrs. Ursula, only one other woman visited her often.”

“But that woman didn’t seem to care about her at all. She constantly yelled at her, hit her, taking advantage of her weak condition.”

Suddenly, I remembered that I had told Lorenzo about the pregnancy. But he had laughed it off, thinking I was just trying to trap him into marriage.

He never believed me. The only one who showed up was Tabitha.

She stormed into the hospital, tore up my prenatal report and nearly pushed me off the rooftop.

If it hadn’t been for Grandma Ursula protecting me, both Francesca and I would’ve died at Tabitha’s hands.

Once Tabitha found out I was pregnant, she did everything she could to cling to Lorenzo, begging, crying and manipulating until she finally stopped him from visiting me altogether.

During the entire ten months of my pregnancy, he never once came to the hospital.

It wasn’t until the fire that he suddenly remembered his so-called “enemy” and went crazy trying to force my mom to reveal where I was.

“Who was that woman?”

Just as the doctor was about to answer, Tabitha walked in. The doctor paused for a moment, then leaned in and whispered to Lorenzo,

“It’s her.”

“That young woman is truly cruel. She nearly tormented a pregnant woman to death.”

“If Mrs. Ursula hadn’t stepped in, Miss Collins’s baby wouldn’t have survived. That woman almost caused her to miscarry.”

Lorenzo froze, then slowly turned to stare at Tabitha in disbelief.

“Lorenzo, aren’t we going to try on wedding clothes?” Tabitha chirped as she clung to his arm, unaware of the change in his expression.

Yes, three days from now was their wedding. No wonder she had looked so panicked when she heard my name earlier.

On the way, Lorenzo seemed distracted, quietly fiddling with the ring on his finger.

“Lorenzo, aren’t you happy to marry me?” Tabitha asked, sounding uncertain.

After a long silence, Lorenzo finally asked what had been weighing on his mind.

“Tabitha… did you already know Yana was pregnant?”

Her face stiffened. She hesitated, then forced a smile.

“Why are you suddenly thinking about her?”

Lorenzo said nothing. Her gaze flickered with unease before she quickly added in a soft, tearful tone,

“Lorenzo, I only did what I did because I saw her meeting another man in secret. I got angry. I just wanted to teach her a lesson… for your sake.”

“Secretly meeting someone?” Lorenzo frowned.

He knew that all those years, I had only ever cared about him. Maybe I had set the fire out of desperation or even to force him into marriage, but betrayal? That was something he couldn't believe.

He started to question Tabitha's story.

“I saw it with my own eyes. A man came to the hospital to see her and he even said things like ‘our child’…”

“Lorenzo, I just felt so bad for you. That’s why I tried to teach her a lesson.”