Science Gave Me a Baby, Not Love

The moment we got off the plane, Ethan had the driver take me home while he hurried toward another car.

I wasn't sure if it was from the overnight flight, but I felt terrible. Getting off the plane made it worse. My head spun, nausea rolled through me, and sharp pains cramped my lower abdomen. I could barely stand it.

I wanted to tell Ethan, but before I could grab his sleeve, he was already gone. I held on as best I could and had the driver turn around and take me to the hospital instead.

I forced myself to walk into the hospital building, only to see Ethan with his arm around Kimberly as they stepped onto the elevator.

My heart sank. The pain made me break into a cold sweat. My vision blurred as I leaned against the wall and slowly slid down.

Right before I collapsed completely, someone caught me.

"You're awake? The doctor will be here soon."

The man in front of me wore a perfectly tailored suit. He had broad shoulders and a narrow waist, with an air of refinement about him.

"I'm Chase Jordan. You fainted, so I brought you here."

I was starting to recover a bit, but I still felt weak all over. "Thank you. I'm Cindy Sutton..."

The doctor rushed in.

"Cindy, right? How can you be pregnant and still get this upset without taking care of yourself? And where's her husband? How could you not take better care of her?

"You're lucky we caught this in time. She nearly had a miscarriage, do you understand?"

Chase's expression remained neutral, though his ears turned slightly red.

I cut the doctor off. "You've misunderstood. He's not my husband. He just kindly brought me here."

The doctor looked surprised. "I only said that because I saw he paid your medical bills. My apologies.

"When is your husband coming? You almost miscarried. There are many precautions for protecting the pregnancy going forward, and I need to go over them with him."

I gripped the bedsheet and answered calmly. "He's very busy with work. You can just tell me."

The doctor grumbled for a moment about how no job should keep a man from his wife and child, then carefully explained everything I needed to know. After the doctor left, I realized Chase was still there.

"Thank you so much for everything. Let me transfer the money for the medical bills to you."

Chase gave me his phone number. "When is your husband coming? I'll wait until he gets here before I leave."

The image of Ethan holding Kimberly so carefully, so tenderly, kept flashing through my mind. I laughed bitterly. "I'm divorcing him, so I'm not planning to tell him."

Chase didn't say anything more. He took a phone call and stepped out.

I checked the time. I'd been unconscious for three hours, and he'd waited the entire time for me to wake up. I couldn't even be sure my husband of five years would have that kind of patience.

What surprised me even more was that Chase came back with hot soup in his hands.

"I ordered too much for a client who's staying here, so I had my assistant bring some over for you. Don't mention it. Call if you need anything."

Then Chase left. This small kindness from a stranger made my throat tighten with tears. I forced myself to eat something, but just then, my phone buzzed.

It was a message from Ethan. "Honey, I have a last-minute business trip for two days. Take care of yourself."

Perfect. Now I didn't need to make up excuses to hide my hospital stay. As for Ethan, I didn't need to think twice to know he wasn't on a business trip. He was with Kimberly.

I tried scrolling through social media to distract myself and stumbled across Kimberly's account. She'd posted her prenatal checkup report today with the caption, "Daddy and I can't wait to meet you."

I scrolled up and found that last month she'd posted photos of luxury handbags and Ethan with his sleeves rolled up, cooking. The caption read, "It feels so good to be spoiled."

Ethan hadn't bought me anything in ages. He'd never cooked for me either. In fact, he always frowned when I finished cooking and smelled like kitchen smoke.

…

I kept scrolling. The earliest trace of Ethan appeared a year ago.

The photo showed a hotel room. Kimberly held a glass of red wine, and behind her was a glimpse of Ethan's bare back. The caption said, "One day, you'll be completely mine."

Ethan had a heart-shaped birthmark on his left shoulder. I couldn't mistake it. That's when I finally remembered that I'd met Kimberly once before.

A year ago, Ethan took me to Valeria for business. We visited a vineyard, and Kimberly was the owner's daughter.

During that trip, Ethan didn't come back to our room for two nights straight. His explanation was that he'd worked too late and didn't want to disturb my rest.

How ridiculous. He'd started lying to me that early. And I was the fool who believed him, focused only on giving him a child so all those vultures circling the Shaw family assets would finally shut up.

I let out a long breath and tossed my phone aside. I wasn't going to look anymore.

During my three days in the hospital, Ethan didn't call once. But on the day I was discharged, I ran into him instead.