I pressed a hand to my forehead and got to my feet, blood seeping down between my fingers, staring at Sean in shock.
My condition startled him, and he looked back at me, thrown.
But the moment his eyes landed on the IV needle feeding blood back into Myra, the surprise in them drained away, leaving only disgust and judgment.
"Delilah, what gives you the right to hit Myra? What did she say that was wrong? How did you turn into this, spinning lie after lie, consumed by jealousy, without a shred of the diligence and kindness you had back when you were a pilot?"
"You even used Cassie's death to blackmail me. Don't forget, you've still got a child in your belly. Can't you act like a mother at all?"
"Apologize, or crawl back home. Your choice!"
I dug out the USB drive and left the hospital. Outside, rain came down in sheets, and I had no choice but to walk all the way home.
Water had gotten into the drive in my palm. Back home, I dried it off and plugged it into the computer again.
It was the only way I had left to remember Cassie.
But now, there was nothing. The drive was blank.
I stared at the screen for a long time.
Before I walked away, I ought to make Sean understand exactly who had been lying all along.
At dawn, a sharp sting jolted me awake.
I opened my eyes to see Sean dabbing the blood at the corner of my forehead with a cotton swab.
He looked at me with tender concern.
"Does it hurt a lot?"
"I'm sorry, I lost control today. But Myra didn't do anything wrong."
"You're her sister-in-law. How could you talk about her like that in front of outsiders? Her body was never as strong as yours. It wasn't easy for her to get pregnant."
I pushed his hand away.
"What are you trying to say?"
There was a flicker of expectation in Sean's eyes as he looked at me.
"Her birthday's tomorrow. She's planning to treat all her colleagues to dinner. I want you to come with me."
"You'll apologize to her. Just say you were under a lot of mental strain, that you misread the situation and misunderstood her, and that everything else you said was made up."
"Aren't you on good terms with your boss? While you're at it, arrange for your company's employee health checks to be done at Myra's hospital."
A wave of nausea spread through my whole body. I forced down my anger and pressed him.
"Sean, are you sure you want to do this?"
He set the swab down, his tone even.
"Myra's emotionally fragile right now. If you're going to apologize, you need to show some sincerity. Think of it as a gift from both of us to her and the baby."
"Didn't Cassie always want a family portrait? Once this is over, we'll go take one right away."
I stared at that familiar face for a long while, but I could no longer find the man he used to be.
After a moment, I answered.
"Fine. I'll do it."
Sean bent down to kiss me, but his private ringtone cut him off.
I rolled over and looked out the window. Sean pushed the door open and hurried out.
Not long after, my phone started buzzing with one text after another.
"Delilah, don't you ever get tired?"
"Leaning on the fact that you're pregnant, playing the victim to make him pity you. You think Sean still cares about you? If it weren't for the Sawyer seed in your belly, he'd have thrown you out ages ago!"
"Oh, and by the way, you probably don't know this. He even booked a custom world tour for me and the baby."
I stared at the words on the screen, gripping the phone tight.
Once, I would have blown up at Sean and demanded the truth.
But now, all I felt was how pathetic Myra was.
I called her directly.
"So what? My child is the one every Sawyer acknowledges. Do you really think Sean's parents would let a foundling's child by Sean set foot in that house?"
"If word got out about you and Sean, how do you think the Sawyers would see you? Would Sean still want you then?"
Myra went silent for a long time. I let out a scoff.
"So you should understand. As long as I have two children tying Sean to me, he'll never leave me."
"He likes to run around out there? Fine, let him have his fun. But there will never be a day when his wife isn't in his eyes."
