Chapter 1

I was seven months pregnant when the car crash left me hemorrhaging and clinging to life.

My husband, an attending physician, burst into the ER—only to turn around and divert the last bags of blood meant to save me and our child.

He gave them to the woman who had hit me: his first love, Sienna, who had just returned from overseas.

When I woke up from surgery, I learned that I hadn't just lost our baby; I had permanently lost my uterus.

Yet my husband didn't bring me comfort. He brought a Waiver of Prosecution.

He was disguising attempted murder as a tragic accident, using custody of our daughter as leverage to force me to drop the charges.

I refused to sign. He slammed the door and left.

But the door didn't latch. Through the crack, I heard him soothing Sienna:

"Don't be afraid. Clara can't live without me. Once she's done throwing her tantrum, she'll sign it like a good girl."

In that moment, I swallowed every ounce of my agony, picked up the phone, and called my lawyer.

"Draft a divorce agreement for me."

.....

A stillborn child. A uterus gone forever.

I stared at the ceiling in despair. Every scream and sob was lodged in my throat. Even the shallowest breath pulled at my incision with a piercing, agonizing pain.

The door pushed open. Declan walked in.

He was carrying an elegant paper bag—raspberry croissants from that famous bakery downtown.

He used to despise it when I ate things like this.

He'd lecture me in his clinical doctor's tone about how unhealthy they were, and complain that waiting in long lines for pastries was a sheer waste of time.

Yet today, in an unprecedented move, he'd bought them himself.

"Clara, I know today's been hard on you. Have something to eat first." His tone was uncharacteristically soft.

Then, he pulled a document from his briefcase.

"Sign this, Clara." His voice carried an unquestionable command.

I numbly lowered my gaze and made out the words on the page—Waiver of Prosecution.

"Sienna has severe depression. She had a panic attack in her car that day and had no idea what she was doing. She didn't do it on purpose," Declan said.

"Signing this is best for everyone. I'll transfer a sum from the trust fund to you as compensation."

"Compensation?" Trembling, I threw back the blankets and pointed at my heavily bandaged abdomen, staring at him with bloodshot eyes.

"Declan, you knew I was a high-risk pregnancy, and you still signed off to divert the last two bags of life-saving blood! You saved her—but what about me? Our baby is dead! I don't even have a uterus anymore! How the hell are you going to compensate me for that?!"

Declan's expression stiffened.

He reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose, his voice tinged with exhaustion and strain.

"Clara, I never wanted things to turn out like this. But Sienna was abused so badly overseas that she's barely clinging to life. She's devastated about the accident—she was breaking down in her room just now, saying she wanted to die. I can't stand by and watch her get pushed over the edge."

"I know you're hurting. But just accept that the baby wasn't meant to be ours. I'll do everything I can to make it up to you—"

He didn't get to finish before the door was pushed open again.

Sienna wheeled herself in, tears brimming in her eyes.

"Clara... I'm so sorry. I really didn't know things would turn out like this. I don't even want to live anymore."

She glanced at my flattened stomach and added softly, "You must be in so much pain. Thankfully, you still have Lily... unlike me. I have nothing left. If I didn't have Declan's forgiveness and care, I truly couldn't go on."

She was wielding her depression like a get-out-of-jail-free card. In her most fragile, pitiful posture, she was subtly declaring her intention to stay in our lives forever, the eternal victim.

My stomach churned. I spat out two words: "Get out."

"Clara, I came to apologize, I mean it..." Sienna clutched her chest and struggled up from the wheelchair, moving toward me.

My fingers hadn't even grazed her, yet she suddenly gasped, jerked backward, knocked over my IV stand, and collapsed onto the floor, sobbing in apparent agony.

"Sienna!" Declan shoved past me and rushed over, pulling her tightly into his arms.

He snapped his head around and roared at me, livid. "Clara, are you insane?! How could you lay a hand on someone with severe depression?! You are so spiteful!"

I froze, staring in disbelief at the man who had shared my bed for seven years.

His instinct had been to disbelieve me.

In that moment, the fury blazing in my chest felt as if it had been doused with ice water, hardening into a bone-deep, chilling clarity.

"Mommy didn't push her! That lady fell backward all by herself!" From the doorway, my daughter Lily shouted bravely in my defense.

Sienna's tears fell harder as she buried her face in Declan's chest. "Declan, she's just a child, she doesn't understand. It's okay—I deserve this..."

Hearing this, Declan didn't feel a shred of doubt. Instead, he harshly scolded our six-year-old. "Lily, who taught you to lie like that?!"

Then he turned back to me, his eyes full of disgust. "Clara, are you sacrificing our child's honesty now, too? Look at yourself. In this hysterical state, you're completely unfit to be a mother!"

Fighting through the tearing pain in my abdomen, I snatched Lily as she ran to me and shielded her in my arms.

I looked at Declan as if he were a total stranger and forced the words out with every ounce of strength I had left:

"My daughter does not lie. And as for that waiver—I will never sign it!"

Declan let out a cold scoff, his eyes brimming with impatience and arrogance.

"You're extremely unstable right now, and I'm not going to argue with you."

"I'm taking her back to her room. Calm yourself down. And don't think a tantrum is going to solve anything."

With that, he supported Sienna's weight and walked her out.

The instant before the door clicked shut, I saw it clearly: Sienna turned her head, a smirk of triumph she couldn't suppress tugging at the corners of her mouth.

The door sealed into its frame. The room fell into a deathly silence.

The taut string inside me finally snapped. I held Lily tight against my chest, and the floodgates broke.

"Don't be afraid, Mommy. Lily will protect you." My daughter's tiny hands patted my back.

Hearing those words, I nearly broke into violent sobs.

But I took a deep, shuddering breath and forced myself back from the edge.

My voice came out hoarse, but resolute.

"Lily, baby, we're gonna leave this place. And we're never coming back to Daddy, okay?"