"You had this much money all along? We're husband and wife, and you've been hiding assets from me?"
"I told you, that's my emergency fund—"
A searing cramp ripped through my lower abdomen. Wave after wave of warmth gushed out, and the air turned thick with the metallic stench of blood.
I looked down. My white shoes were soaked red.
"Victor, take me to the hospital. The babies—"
"Hospital? Nobody's going anywhere!"
Theresa shoved me to the ground and stomped on my stomach twice, hard.
"You need a lesson in how this family works. You think you can hide money behind our backs and still have those babies? Forget it!"
She grabbed my hand and opened the transfer screen on my phone.
"Every last cent of that two million goes to my son. Enter the password!"
The pain in my abdomen was getting worse. My vision flickered between black and white, consciousness slipping so far I could barely keep my eyes open.
I reached out and clutched Victor's hand, my voice cracking into something close to begging.
"Victor, take me to the hospital. I can't hold on—"
He peeled my fingers off one by one and pressed the phone into my palm.
"Babe, just be good and enter the password. The second the money hits, I'll take you to the hospital."
"You already gave up tens of millions. This is nothing compared to that. Think of it as buying your babies' lives. That's a bargain."
He smiled at me, but there was nothing behind his eyes.
My heart went completely cold.
I nodded in despair.
"Fine. I'll transfer it."
Ding. Transfer complete.
Victor stared at the extra two million in his account, his face lighting up.
He turned to his mother. "Mom, the money went through. Let me take Edith to the hospital."
But Theresa grabbed his arm and said coolly, "Wait a little longer. Let her learn her lesson. See if she dares try this again."
I was drenched in cold sweat from the pain, my voice barely a whisper.
"Victor, these are your only children. Are you really not going to save them?"
Victor moved to stand, but his mother yanked him back.
"There's no rush."
I slumped on the floor, sitting in a spreading pool of my own blood.
Victor's face went pale.
"Mom, we really should take Edith to the hospital. She's lost so much blood. It's terrifying. What if the babies don't make it—"
Jeanette hauled him back by the arm.
"Hospital for what? If she loses them, she loses them. As long as she never has kids of her own, she'll have no choice but to devote herself to Sunny."
Victor shot me a guilty glance. "Babe, just hang on a little longer. Once the babies are gone, I'll take you to the hospital."
Every inch of my body felt like it had been plunged into ice water. I used the last of my strength to speak.
"Victor, don't... you'll regret this..."
He looked away. Just then, his phone buzzed with a text.
He tapped it open casually, and the color drained from his face.
"Mom, we need to get Edith to the hospital NOW!"
