Chapter 4
1153 Words
BOOM!
Evelyn clutched her chest, white-hot agony exploding from her heart and radiating all the way to the tips of her fingers and toes.
So this is how deeply Adrian loved Sophia, deeply enough to let her carry his child.
Looking back, children had once been the thing he cared about most in the world.
When she'd had her first miscarriage, he'd held her in his arms and cried all night long.
"Evelyn, we'll have another baby someday. I promise you."
But after that? He'd slowly, steadily stopped touching her.
She stumbled along in a fog, when suddenly her phone buzzed violently in her pocket.
A notification from the food delivery platform popped up. She'd been fired.
Only Adrian could have done this. If she lost this job, she'd lose all her salary and bonus too!
No! This money was for her grandma's funeral! She couldn't lose it!
Every muscle in Evelyn's body locked up tight. She burst out the door and raced straight to the delivery company to demand her money back.
But when she reached a deserted side alley, a bright red sports car came barreling straight for her.
CRASH!
The impact sent Evelyn flying ten meters through the air before she crumpled to the ground.
Through blurry vision, she watched a woman scramble out of the car, panicking as she dialed her phone.
"Adrian, something terrible happened! I accidentally hit someone! Evelyn was jealous and came after me to attack me. I was already getting ready to drive away. I never thought she'd throw herself right in front of my car!"
The call was on speaker. At the other end of the line, Adrian's breath caught, then his deep, gentle voice echoed out into the quiet alley.
"It's all her fault for acting out over stupid jealousy. It's okay, don't be scared. I'm on my way right now to take care of this..."
A few minutes later, Adrian arrived. He soothed the visibly shaken Sophia for a moment, then walked over to Evelyn, ready to lift her limp body off the ground.
That was when Sophia spoke up, voice weak and trembling, "Adrian, my heart won't stop racing, I'm so scared..."
Panic flashed across Adrian's face. He immediately handed Evelyn off to his bodyguards and spun around to steady Sophia.
"You guys take her to the hospital. I'm going to stay here and take care of Sophia first."
In those final seconds before her consciousness faded away, all Evelyn could see was Adrian's unforgiving back as he turned away.
When she forced her eyes open again, she was lying on a cold hospital bed.
The second she tried to move, a searing agony tore through every inch of her internal organs, and her bones ached so badly they felt like they were about to crumble apart.
She fumbled for her phone and dialed the police, but before she could get a single word out, Adrian shoved the door open and stormed in.
He wrenched the phone right out of her hand, ice-cold detachment hardening every line of his face.
"You’re not calling the police. Sophia didn’t hit you on purpose. This is what you get for starting trouble with her again."
Evelyn's heart trembled violently. "Adrian, I never went looking for trouble! She hit me on purpose! Go check the dash cam!"
Nothing but irritation flashed across Adrian's eyes. To him, every word she said was just another jealous lie meant to stir up drama.
He grabbed her shoulders with both hands, speaking to her as though she were some unreasonable child. "Calm down, okay? Sophia is just new to driving a sports car. She didn’t mean to hit you. Stop making such a big deal out of nothing. If word gets out, people will think Adrian Carter’s wife is an unreasonable brat. How about I buy you a new designer bag as compensation?"
Evelyn couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
Her heart felt like it was being slowly sawed apart with a dull knife.
She was lying there covered in injuries after being hit by a car, possibly suffering internal bleeding and ruptured organs.
And Adrian wanted to protect his precious Sophia… by bribing her with a single handbag?
Rage exploded through her.
She grabbed the water glass from beside the bed and hurled it straight at him, screaming at the top of her lungs, "I will never take another cent from you! Get out!"
Adrian's face darkened instantly. He spat out that she was ungrateful, then slammed the door hard enough to shake the walls before storming out.
Evelyn gritted her teeth, forcing back the searing pain tearing through her chest as she desperately tried to think of a solution.
She lost her job.
She lost her bonus.
Now her entire body was broken.
How was she supposed to afford her grandmother’s funeral?
Then her eyes landed on the IV needle in her arm, and suddenly, a desperate idea formed in her mind.
Shaking badly, she forced herself out of bed and stumbled out of the hospital toward the person she had contacted earlier.
“Hi, it’s me, the one who called before. You said you pay for blood donations…”
The middle-aged man leaned against his van impatiently. "Hurry up and get in. Five hundred dollars for two hundred milliliters. The more blood you give, the more money you get."
A cold chill shot through Evelyn's heart.
But she desperately needed the money, so she gritted her teeth and agreed.
By the time the blood draw was finished, her legs were shaking so violently she could barely stand.
She clutched the thousand dollars she had earned so tightly, her knuckles turned white and staggered back toward the hospital.
But just as she reached the entrance to the alley, someone slammed into her shoulder.
Before she could react, the money was snatched right out of her hands.
"Stop! Give it back!" Evelyn stumbled after the thief, trembling violently, but her body was already at its limit.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t catch him.
She was on the verge of completely breaking down.
The money she earned by selling her own blood… gone just like that.
Barely holding herself together, she returned to the hospital planning to pull up security footage and call the police.
That was when she heard familiar laughter coming from the next room.
When Evelyn reached the doorway, she saw Sophia holding the thousand dollars in one hand while laughing hysterically.
"Evelyn is such an i***t! She actually thinks selling her blood for money will make Adrian pay attention to her? I’ll never let her get what she wants!"
The man beside Sophia nodded quickly. "Miss Bennett, I got the money exactly like you asked. So…"
"Relax. Here’s your bonus, take it." Sophia casually tossed the money, the very money Evelyn had practically traded her life for straight into the thug’s hands.
- Writer
