"You filthy bitch! How dare you show your face here? I’ll rip your mouth apart!"
I was quickly overwhelmed. One against many—I had no chance. They pinned me down and began beating me mercilessly, delivering brutal kicks straight to my stomach.
Blood quickly filled my mouth. A searing pain tore through my abdomen, and a gush of warm amniotic fluid soaked down my legs.
Only when they’d finally vented their rage did they stop. One of them gagged me, tied my hands and feet, and tossed me back onto my bed like a broken doll.
Before I could even sit up, I was slammed hard onto the floor again. Dazed, I looked up and saw the ringleader—an older woman—counting money and handing out bills to the others. The payout wasn't small.
“Thanks, sisters. Easy work, right? Fast cash, too.”
I couldn’t speak, but my eyes burned with fury as I glared at them from the corner—hatred etched deep in my bones.
Still bound and gagged, I endured hours of excruciating pain before finally blacking out. It wasn’t until the next day that the warden found me—face pale, lips bloodless—and rushed me to the infirmary.
When I woke up, the doctor gave me the news. The baby was gone.
The women who attacked me all stuck to the same story. With no witnesses and no solid evidence, the incident was swept under the rug with nothing more than a verbal warning.
I said nothing—but in my heart, I knew exactly who had orchestrated this. I knew who saw me as an enemy worth eliminating at all costs.
...
When the news broke that I had been badly injured and lost the baby, Jade closed her phone with glee and burst into laughter.
"What's got you in such a good mood this early, babe?" Derek lazily wrapped his arms around her from behind.
Riding the height of her victory, Jade cheerfully suggested they go out for drinks and have fun. Derek, ever the obedient fool, readily agreed. The two of them soon left the house.
Meanwhile, upstairs in the attic, Cody called out weakly for his father, but Derek didn't even flinch. After they drove off, the child, alone and starving, fainted from hunger.
Since Jade had moved in, she'd done nothing but indulge in pleasure with Derek, who catered to her every whim. He hadn't been to the office in days. No one in the house even remembered that Cody existed.
—
Back in the infirmary, I wept in silence. The warden, finally moved by my misery, granted me another visitation.
When my parents arrived and saw my pale face, frail body, and lifeless eyes, my mother instantly noticed the flatness of my stomach and burst into tears.
“My baby... who did this to you? I swear, I’ll tear Derek to pieces! That coward hides behind that vixen Jade while you suffer like this!”
My father, equally grief-stricken, told me that he had gone looking for the accident victim to beg for forgiveness—but the man had already been transferred to another hospital. No one knew where he'd gone.
Long before my parents arrived, I'd managed to get hold of a phone and dialed that number. The voice on the other end was like a shot of adrenaline, completely calming my heavy heart.
As my parents raged on in my defense, I glanced calmly at the digital clock.
Seven days.
It had only been seven days since I entered this hell.
But very soon, everything was about to change.
"Mom, Dad... trust me. Karma is coming—and it won't be gentle."
They looked at me in confusion, thinking I must be delirious. After all, Derek seemed to be flying high. The Ortiz Group had just announced they would go public in three days.
I was about to explain when suddenly Leonel burst into the visitation room, soaked in sweat and panting heavily.
He took a deep breath and shouted, “Derek says he’s turning himself in!”
The room went still.
Leonel looked flustered. “He just called me—said he’s taking the evidence to the police and wants to confess that he was the one behind the wheel!”
My mother’s knees buckled, and she fell to the floor in disbelief.
I finally smiled triumphantly.
Still stunned, Leonel turned to me. “Say something—what’s going on here?”
Everyone looked at me with bated breath.
I stood tall, confidence glowing in my eyes.
"Confession? That's not enough. Karma doesn't come with just one slap—it comes with the full storm."
"And turning himself in? That’s just the beginning.”
The Reed family never lets things go. Their precious son was critically injured. I didn’t even have to lift a finger—they’ll handle Derek for me.
Everything was going exactly as planned.
And the real show was only just the beginning.
