After returning home, I started to pack my things.
I have to take Luna's toys, picture books, and clothes with me. This is all I want. Lila is still young, so I have to take her with me. I can't let her stay in this cold home any longer.
My mother's doctor contacted me.
The appointment time for the specialist who can perform the surgery has been confirmed.
Once my mother has finished the surgery, I can leave Liam without any worries and continue to seek justice for my deceased daughter.
In the following time, in addition to continuing to collect evidence of Luna being bullied, I would go to the hospital to accompany my mother.
Just as I was about to go to the ward, Vanessa stood in front of me holding a photo album and asked, "Sister Clara, are you going to see your mother?" She deliberately raised her left hand, with a big diamond ring on her ring finger.
The album cover is a photo of her and Liam in the snow-capped mountains - the Swiss flag in the background is particularly eye-catching. That's a place I've been wanting to go for five years, and Liam always said "after I'm done with this busy schedule." It turns out that his "after I'm done with this busy schedule" means going there every year with another woman.
"Sister Clara, look at this." She flipped through the album, her fingertips running across a photo of the two of them in the Maldives. Liam was holding a little boy, his eyes curved with a smile. "This was when Noah was three years old. Liam deliberately postponed surgery for three months to go on vacation with us.
Noah sticks to him all the time, unlike your Luna, who has rarely even held her daddy's hand, right?"
Noah? Vanessa's son? I stared at the boy's features in the photo, and my heart suddenly sank—his double eyelids and high nose bridge were exactly the same as Liam's childhood photos! My hand, clutching the surgical sheet, began to tremble. "You said... Noah is Liam's son?"
"What else?" Vanessa smiled proudly, "We have known each other since childhood for over twenty years. Noah is six years old, older than your Luna.
Why do you think he married you? It's because you are healthy and suitable for having children.
Noah has had kidney problems since he was a child, and the doctor said he needs a kidney from a relative. He's looking for you so you can give birth to a child who can donate a kidney to Noah!
"Give birth...donate a kidney?" I felt like I was struck by lightning, and my ears were buzzing.
When we got married, Liam said, "I want a daughter as gentle as you." When Luna was born, he held her and said, "I'll love you both dearly from now on." Turns out it was all lies! I suddenly remembered my three previous miscarriages. Each time, he'd downplayed it, saying, "It's just not fate." Now I know... I stared at Vanessa, my voice trembling, "Those three children...were lost because we couldn't get a matching kidney?"
Vanessa raised an eyebrow, reached out to smooth her hair, and spoke in a light tone, as if she were discussing the weather: "Finally, you're not stupid anymore. The first three times, I checked the amniocentesis, and the match rate was less than 30%. What's the point of keeping it? Liam asked the doctor to 'treat' it, and he even lied to you that it was an accident - only you were stupid enough to believe him when he said 'it will be fine next time'."
"It's taken care of..." My vision went black, and I held onto the wall to keep from falling. The first time I miscarried, I cried for two weeks. Liam held me and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't take good care of you." The second time I was hospitalized, he gave me a bouquet of sunflowers and said, "When you get better, we'll try again." The third time, I nearly had a massive hemorrhage, and he said, "No more children, we just need each other"—it turns out all those gentle gestures were just to keep me as his "reproductive tool"!
"Where's Luna?" I looked up suddenly, tears falling on the photo album, blurring Liam's smiling face. "Luna's kidney donor was a match, so you let Noah push her down the stairs? That's why Liam tampered with the evidence and said she 'committed suicide'?"
Vanessa didn't answer me but asked, "Why else do you think he treats you so well? The porridge you cook isn't as good as the coffee I make, and the clothes you wear aren't as fashionable as mine. He's only with you because he sees that you can have children and endure humiliation! He told me a long time ago that once Noah's surgery is successful, he'll divorce you and marry me as his legal wife—and we'll even go to France for our honeymoon, to Provence, where you want to go the most. It'll piss you off to death!"
"Marry you?" I suddenly laughed out loud, the sound of blood in my laughter. "When he told you he 'only loves you', did he tell you he still had a photo of Luna and me in his wallet? Did he tell you he'd always yell at Luna's name when he got drunk? He'd even killed his own daughter as a kidney donor. Do you think he could truly love you?"
Vanessa turned pale at what I said, and suddenly screamed and rushed over to grab my face: "Liam loves me. You are here competing with me for Liam. You might as well worry about your mother's surgery. If I tell Liam that I can give up your mother's surgery spot, will he agree?"
