Chapter 1
In the middle of the night, Evelyn's cervix had already dilated to three centimeters, but the baby in her womb had the umbilical cord wrapped three times around its neck.
"Where is the husband? Where did he go?"
The head nurse was near tears as she frantically searched for Daniel Vaughn, who had been standing outside the delivery room just minutes before.
She thrust the consent form into Evelyn's trembling hands. "We can't reach your husband. You need to sign this yourself. We have to perform an emergency C-section."
"He couldn't have gone far. I'll... I'll call him."
Five consecutive calls. Each returned the same cold, merciless dial tone, and her heart dropped to the floor.
11:58 p.m. Between ever-worsening contractions, Evelyn saw a new post from Ivy Shaw, the girl she had sponsored for years: Mr. Vaughn said he'd give me a coming-of-age gift.
11:59 p.m. Ivy updated again: Mr. Vaughn says he can barely hold back now.
Evelyn pounded the messenger, crying into her phone, "Daniel, where are you?"
12:01 a.m. Her screen lit up: He's in. A lick, a soak. Adulthood is wonderful.
In agony, Evelyn signed the form with shaking hands and slipped into unconsciousness under the anesthesia.
Those few delayed minutes were fatal. The baby suffocated. She hemorrhaged and teetered on the edge of death.
At dawn she woke from the anesthesia. Her flattened belly and the raw, numb pain of the wound told her the truth: the child was gone.
On Ivy's profile, pinned to the top, was a blurry photo of the girl kissing a man: The coming-of-age in adult is really a plunge. Thanks for seven unforgettable gifts.
Even blurred, Evelyn recognized him: Daniel.
"That high-profile lawyer nearly died fighting that gang-r**e case for his wife. And this baby? It took six rounds of IVF. He adored her. How could he be missing at such a critical time?" someone murmured.
Whispers filled the corridor. Daniel burst in, eyes swollen from crying. He already knew the worst.
But the messy hickeys on his neck made last night painfully clear.
Evelyn stared at him, opening her mouth several times but unable to force out a word.
"Evelyn, I'm sorry. A last minute client crisis came up at dawn. I thought you could deliver naturally," he said. "We can have another child. I'll stay with you. I swear I will never leave you again."
His grief sounded raw and sincere, and he lied without a single flicker of shame.
His false face made Evelyn's stomach turn and the room spin.
‘How could Daniel, who claimed to love her, abandon her in labor to slept with an eighteen-year-old girl seven times in one night.'
The thought of his infidelity twisted like a knife. The child she had protected through nine months of bed rest, the child who had almost reached the world, now lay curled and cold in the morgue. Needles of pain pierced her chest.
She wanted to vomit, but the nurse pressed mercilessly on her abdomen, shredding her with pain until she nearly blacked out. "Hold on. Pressing the fundus helps the afterbirth come out faster," the nurse ordered as if she were nothing more than a procedure.
"Please, be gentler!" Daniel pleaded, gripping her hand. Tears shone in his eyes, as if he wished the pain on himself.
With a sudden motion, Evelyn yanked her hand free and clutched the sheet so hard the fabric threatened to tear. Daniel paused, reaching for her again, when the door swung open.
A large bouquet of jasmine entered before its bearer did.
"Evelyn, I only found out your baby died when I got to the door," Ivy said, setting the flowers down and tilting her neck to show matching red marks. "White flowers are fitting, aren't they?"
Evelyn began to cough violently and shoved the bouquet off the bedside table. "Get out," she rasped.
"Evelyn!" Daniel's face changed. "What are you doing? Ivy came to see you out of kindness. She knew nothing about this." He leaned toward the girl. "Apologize to her. Postpartum hormones make people act strangely; she'll understand."
"A child?" Evelyn smiled through tears, bitter. A child who sleeps with married men?
She restrained herself from exposing them and only asked, voice small, "Daniel, have you forgotten I'm allergic to jasmine?"
The hand that had comforted Ivy froze midair.
"Patient's family! Sign here!" a nurse called from the corridor. Daniel hurried out as if escaping.
Ivy shut the door and, shedding her previous innocence, crept toward Evelyn with a strange, predatory smile.
"You know everything, don't you? Why won't you expose me?" she purred. "He's so wonderful. You can't bear to leave him, can you? Don't worry. I have plenty more surprises planned. We'll take our time."
She slapped her own cheek, grabbed the jasmine, and left in fake sobs.
Outside, Daniel murmured soft reassurances to someone unseen. That door never opened for anyone else again.
At dusk, a message arrived on Evelyn's phone: Honey, I'm going on a business trip for a few days. When you've recovered from your confinement, we'll take care of the baby's arrangements.
She glanced at it, deleted it, and called another number.
"I accept the position at your firm," she said. "I'll start in one month."
She had made up her mind.
One month was enough.
Enough to settle the baby's affairs, to divorce, to deal with what needed dealing.
Enough to destroy Daniel.
She would ruin him.
