By the time the baby was born, it was already daylight.
She was a small bundle, wrapped in a white blanket. Her skin showed an unhealthy red, and her breathing was so light it could barely be heard.
I only looked once and knew she was much smaller than a full-term baby.
My heart felt tightly held. I raised my hand, my fingers trembling badly, but I still moved closer step by step and softly touched her face.
“I’m sorry…”
My throat felt tight, my voice hoarse and unfamiliar. “It’s mom’s fault.”
She could have stayed inside my belly a bit longer, not needing to come into this world so early, so suddenly.
“It’s Mom who didn’t protect you well.”
The doctor stood nearby and quietly explained the situation, saying the baby needed to stay in an incubator for monitoring. Although she was premature, her vital signs were still fairly stable for now.
I heard it in pieces, but my mind felt unusually clear.
“The child’s father…” the doctor paused for a moment.
I cut him off.
“Don’t notify Lorenzo.”
The doctor was clearly startled for a second, but he still nodded.
When the baby was wheeled away, I kept watching that door.
Only after the door fully shut did I slowly close my eyes.
Not long later, the ward door was pushed open.
When Lorenzo came in, his face looked so dark it was scary, and anger pressed between his brows.
“Are you satisfied?”
I lay there, too weak to even lift my eyes, yet his question still shocked me.
“Vienne, do you have to make things this final?”
He coldly laughed, his tone turning harsher.
“During last night’s livestream, Ariella was attacked by a group of haters. They kept calling her a mistress. She held on alone until she broke down and almost cut her wrists in the bathtub to commit suicide.”
“Those online trolls, you arranged them, right?”
He looked at me, his eyes cold with no warmth.
“Just because I didn’t pick up your call?”
“You’ve gone too far.”
I silently laughed.
Lorenzo actually believed I did this.
“Ariella is my brother’s wife, the person my brother worried about most before he died. Why did you push her this far?”
“You have me, you have a child, you have a complete family. What else are you unhappy with?”
“She almost died. Do you know what Miguel would do if she died?”
So Lorenzo came here not because I was lying in a hospital bed.
He came to stand up for Ariella.
The blanket covered my body, hiding my already flat stomach.
He didn’t notice.
I didn’t remind him either.
“Then do you know—”
I looked at him, my tone calm.
“I was locked in the restroom at the banquet, soaked with ice water, and the door was locked from the outside.”
“I almost died in there, and I almost… lost the child.”
Lorenzo’s brows tightened at once.
“What does that have to do with Miguel?”
He reacted fast, his tone turning cold. “Are you trying to say Ariella taught him?”
Before I could speak again, he cut me off.
“Vienne, don’t blame everything on her. Do you think I’d believe you making things up about them now?”
At that moment, the last bit of warmth in my heart went out.
I didn’t want to speak anymore.
No hurt, no anger, no wish to argue.
I just looked at him, at the man I once loved without thinking, my voice so soft it was almost unheard.
“Believe whoever you want.”
Anyway, it didn’t matter anymore.
Lorenzo’s expression changed slightly.
He paused, then still said, “Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary. I’ll make it up to you. As long as you’re willing to apologize to Ariella, we’ll have dinner at night and settle this.”
After speaking, he turned and left, already assuming I would agree.
When the door closed, the room became quiet again.
Not long after, the lawyer called.
“President Bailey, everything has been completed.”
My assistant also contacted me quickly, saying the company transfer was fully finished.
I felt my body grow lighter. I got up, found the baby, and held her in my arms.
She slept quietly, a small bundle against my chest, her breathing faint but real.
I lowered my head to look at her, my voice very soft.
“Let’s go, okay?”
“Mom will take you away.”
Leave this place.
Leave everyone.
Apology, anniversary, none of it will happen anymore.
Lorenzo, I wonder what you’ll do when you receive the three big gifts I prepared for you.
