Chapter 3

The intense abdominal pain made Scarlett's vision blur as cold sweat instantly soaked through her back.

She slowly slid down along the freezing railing to sit on the ground, each breath bringing sharp pain.

Just when she thought she would pass out in this deserted winter night, a car slowly stopped beside her. The window rolled down, and a gentle middle-aged woman's voice called out, "Miss, are you alright? Do you need me to take you to the hospital?"

Scarlett used her last bit of strength to nod.

City Hospital, Emergency Department.

After a series of examinations, the doctor looked at Scarlett with a serious expression, "These are signs of early threatened miscarriage. You need to be hospitalized immediately."

Scarlett's mind went blank, and she instinctively asked, "What?"

"You're six weeks pregnant. Didn't you know?" The doctor frowned, "Emotional instability during early pregnancy is dangerous. In your condition, the baby is at risk."

She was pregnant.

A child... hers and Thaddeus's child.

Scarlett stood alone in the cold hospital corridor.

She stared blankly at the ultrasound report in her hand, her fingers gently tracing the small shadow representing a new life.

Fate had played a cruel joke on her.

It came at the worst possible time. Just when she had resolved to cut everything off, to free herself from this torture called "marriage," it arrived.

Should she keep it? How could she bring a child into a family without love, without even respect?

Should she give it up? But it was an innocent life, a part of her.

Standing in the busy corridor, Scarlett's heart was torn in a way she had never experienced before. That thin ultrasound report now carried the weight of a life.

She eventually walked toward the inpatient department. Regardless, she needed time and a quiet place to decide this child's fate.

But fate seemed unwilling to give her any breathing room.

Just as Scarlett turned toward the inpatient corridor, a familiar figure made her stop abruptly.

Thaddeus was accompanying Lavinia outside a surgical consultation room, apparently waiting for a doctor to bandage her wrist.

Scarlett's first reaction was to step back and hide.

She didn't want them to see her in such a vulnerable state.

But it was too late.

Lavinia's sharp eyes had spotted Scarlett.

She approached casually, her face wearing a concerned expression.

"Scarlett, why are you at the hospital too? Were you also injured at home earlier?"

Hearing this, Thaddeus scoffed, "Scarlett? How could she be injured? Pushing you to the ground while remaining unharmed herself—isn't that her specialty?"

" What, hurting Lavinia wasn't enough? You had to follow her to the hospital to see the damage you've done?"

His tone was filled with undisguised mockery and disgust.

Faced with Thaddeus's immediate accusation, Scarlett instinctively hid the pregnancy report behind her back.

She didn't know why she did this.

Perhaps out of maternal instinct, she didn't want this newly formed life in her womb exposed to his contemptuous gaze.

"I'm fine," she said, trying to walk past them. All she wanted now was to leave quickly.

But Lavinia, seemingly ignoring Scarlett's resistance, moved to support her, stumbling forward with a cry of surprise as she fell directly toward Scarlett!

"Scarlett, watch out!"

Scarlett instinctively stepped back, trying to avoid her. But Lavinia crashed straight into her!

A powerful force made Scarlett's arm go numb. She involuntarily loosened her grip, and the report slipped uncontrollably from her fingers, floating to the ground.

Before Scarlett could bend down to pick it up, a white high-heeled shoe had already stepped on the paper.

Lavinia bent down and picked up the report.

When she saw the diagnosis, Lavinia's pupils contracted sharply, flames of jealousy nearly erupting from the depths of her eyes!

Scarlett was pregnant?!

Immediately, Lavinia's face displayed an exaggerated expression of shock and pain.

She looked up, feigning surprise as she shouted, "Scarlett, you're pregnant?"

This successfully stopped Thaddeus in his tracks.

Lavinia clutched the paper tightly, looking at Scarlett with disbelief and anguish.

"Scarlett, how could you do this? Even if you found a lover, you shouldn't take it out on Thaddeus!"

Thaddeus snatched the report from Lavinia's hand, his gaze falling on the words "6 weeks pregnant."

A tidal wave of rage at being betrayed consumed all his rationality in an instant!

He thought about their marriage—separate bedrooms, estranged for nearly half a year.

Thaddeus grabbed Scarlett's slender wrist with such force that he nearly crushed her bones.

His eyes bloodshot, he stared at her intently, each word seeming to grind out from deep in his throat.

"Whose child is this?"

Terrified by Thaddeus's reaction, Scarlett felt intense pain in her wrist, but she still shook her head desperately, tears finally breaking through.

"It's yours! Thaddeus, the baby is yours!"

"Mine?" Thaddeus reacted as if he'd heard the biggest joke, his voice full of fury and sarcasm. "Scarlett, do you take me for a fool?"

"No!" Scarlett cried, shaking her head and desperately explaining, "It's your child... from over a month ago, on your birthday night, when you were drunk... don't you remember?"

That night.

Vague fragments flashed through Thaddeus's mind. He did seem to have returned to the master bedroom.

Seeing the flicker of doubt on his face, a glimmer of hope rose in Scarlett's heart.

Nearby, Lavinia shed tears, seemingly mediating but actually pouring oil on the fire with every sentence.

"Thaddeus, don't be like this. Perhaps Scarlett has her reasons. Don't frighten her."

She paused.

"After all, you've been with me lately because of the press conference."

This statement was the final straw that broke Thaddeus's last trace of rationality.

He violently released her hand with such force that Scarlett stumbled back against the cold wall.

"I don't care which lover's bastard this is," his voice was ice-cold, "You will get rid of it, right now!"

Scarlett protected her abdomen, looking at him through tear-filled eyes.

No! Thaddeus! He's your child! Would you kill your own child?

Thaddeus stared at her protective gesture over her stomach and found it unbearably offensive.

That was not his child.

That was the greatest humiliation of his life!

He took out his phone and called his bodyguard.

"Send two men up here to take Scarlett to the VIP ward on the top floor. Keep her under watch."

He paused, his cold gaze sweeping over Scarlett's pale face.

"Notify the obstetrician. First thing tomorrow morning, schedule an abortion."