A middle-aged man rushed out of the hospital.
“Mrs. Gilbert?”
“I'm the hospital director. Is something bothering you?”
“Mr. Gilbert gave strict instructions that you're to receive a full examination!”
Bonnie was ushered inside by the director himself. As she passed me, I couldn't see a single trace of the girl she'd once been. The helpless girl who'd begged me to take her out of those mountains.
Who'd begged me to help her go to school.
I remembered what Zane had said. That on the night she turned eighteen, she'd drugged me and crawled into his bed.
My throat convulsed, and I coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Before I blacked out, I saw the black Maybach. It hadn't left. It was parked not far away.
When I woke again, I was lying on a surgical table that reeked of rust and filth.
Zane's voice reached my ears, ice-cold.
“Get rid of the thing in her stomach.”
“Make it quick. I need to get back to my wife tonight……”
I was terrified. I struggled, tried to resist.
But I felt something yank hard at my abdomen.
“Well, I'll be damned. First time I've seen someone pull up in a luxury car to get an abortion at our place!”
“The guy said she's the other woman. Said she only deserves a place like this!”
The two people operating on me let out contemptuous laughs.
A sharp, wrenching pain tore through my stomach.
“God, I hate homewreckers!”
“So she's the mistress, huh?”
“And here I was feeling sorry for her. Go harder! Teach this little homewrecker a lesson she won't forget!”
The numbness in my abdomen gave way to mounting, unbearable pain. I couldn't hold back a scream.
Someone shoved a wad of foul-smelling cloth into my mouth.
“Shut up! Filthy homewrecker!”
“You think you get to scream?!”
The woman spat the words and dug her fingers into my chest, pinching hard.
I flinched from the pain, then turned my head toward the sound of Bonnie arguing outside the operating room.
“Zane, this time you've gone too far!”
“How could you send Paige to a place like this for an abortion?!”
“Back then, I was the one who couldn't control my feelings for you. I seduced you on purpose.”
“But I never wanted to hurt Paige. I just wanted you once, that's all……”
Bonnie sobbed, beating weakly against Zane's shoulder.
Then she turned to walk into the makeshift operating room.
Zane caught her arm and pulled her back, bowing his head to coax her softly.
“Be good, Bonnie. You're my wife. Paige is just the other woman.”
“The other woman only deserves a place like this.”
“Don't throw a tantrum. I don't like women who make too much noise……”
That last line carried a note of warning.
Bonnie stopped in her tracks, turned around, and rose on her toes to kiss him.
“Don't be mad, Zane. It was my fault.”
“Tonight, whatever you want to do, I'm all yours……”
Through the glass, I saw every second of their kiss with perfect clarity.
It felt like someone had punched a hole clean through my heart. The pain made it impossible to breathe.
My body grew colder and colder.
My consciousness began to drift.
“What's happening?!”
“I think she's hemorrhaging!”
“Quick, quick! Get that guy back in here!”
Frantic voices shouted somewhere near me.
I turned my head and looked through the glass one more time.
Zane was already gone.
“Where'd he go?!”
“The bleeding won't stop! Call 911, now!”
Inside the operating room, monitors shrieked and beeped in wild alarm.
Fragments flashed behind my eyes. Memories, images, all at once.
I didn't know how long it had been before I heard the ambulance siren.
“Go, go, go! Get her on the stretcher!”
“Who the hell gets an abortion at a place like this?! Are you trying to die?!”
The paramedic cursed under his breath, hands pumping against my chest without stopping.
“Who's your emergency contact?!”
