Chapter 3

All the rescue workers stared at me, their eyes full of dissatisfaction at my unnecessary interference.

Ethan snatched the child from my hands and kept comforting Lily.

"Rachel, you just don't want Lily to have it easy! Can you afford to ruin Lily's future?!"

Because of this accident, a crowd gathered around us.

"This mom is way too impulsive. Now she's made the child disabled!"

"The rescue team is already here and she's still putting on a show. I think this woman did it on purpose."

No... it's not like that...

The pain in my fractured hand intensified, but I felt my heart hurt even more.

It was clearly Ethan who didn't watch the child properly, clearly the staff's mistake.

I just wanted to save my child. What's wrong with that?

The crowd's stares were like thorns, tearing me apart with their accusations.

The rescue team took Lily away. No one cared about my injuries. I could only go to the nearest hospital alone to treat my wounds.

The first and second days had come true. I didn't dare imagine the third day.

A person can still live without one hand, but if they lose half their body, they'll most likely die.

Fortunately, my injuries weren't serious enough to require surgery, but both my arms were indeed temporarily unusable.

I couldn't help thinking, if I hadn't stepped forward, would Lily have avoided getting hurt?

The more I thought about it, the more I blamed myself. I couldn't accept that my Lily would be disabled from now on.

I checked the location tracker. Ethan and Lily were still at the children's hospital.

I took a taxi there to check on them.

Walking through the corridor and looking through the door, I saw Lily curled up in Ethan's arms, asleep, with her left hand firmly wrapped in bandages.

Ethan seemed to sense something. He looked up at me like I was his enemy.

He gently placed Lily on the bed, opened the door, and ignored the injuries on my hands.

"The rescue team was right there. Why did you have to make things worse!"

"Lily's hand was crushed and can't be reattached. From now on she'll be disabled. Are you satisfied?!"

Facing Ethan's accusations, the grievances I'd been holding back for so long surged up.

"I just wanted to save my Lily. What's wrong with that?!"

I asked with red eyes, but only got Ethan's cold stare in return.

"Of course you're not wrong. Since we got married, you've never made a mistake!"

"I'm the one who was wrong, wrong to leave Lily in your care. I'll never let you see her again."

No, that can't be.

Tomorrow Lily will definitely have an accident. I have to save her.

But Ethan's next words hit me like a blow to the head.

"Lily will be better off without you as her mother! So many things you do are useless and only hurt her!"

I stood there stunned, watching helplessly as the hospital room door opened and closed.

Wasn't today a perfect example?

If I hadn't tried to save Lily, maybe the accident wouldn't have happened.

Did I really... do something wrong?

I spent the night in a daze.

For the first time, I wasn't looking forward to tomorrow. I sat outside Lily's room, restless and anxious.

Logically, since Lily was in the room now, nothing bad should happen to her.

I sat outside the hospital room. A nurse saw me alone and kindly handed me a cup of water.

After the cold liquid went down my throat, I gradually felt dizzy.

I tried hard to stay awake, but after not sleeping all night, my body couldn't take it anymore.

When I woke up again, there was no one around, and it was terrifyingly quiet.

Alarm bells went off in my mind. I noticed Lily's room door was slightly open.

I yanked the door open. Ethan was gone, and Lily, who should have been on the bed, was also gone.

I kept trying to calm myself down, telling myself that maybe Ethan had just taken Lily out for some fresh air.

Then I frantically opened the location tracker to check, only to find that Ethan's location wasn't working.

Looking at my call log, there were countless missed calls from Ethan.

The next second, Ethan called again. My fingers trembled as I answered.

"Rachel, what are you doing? Lily is missing and you as her mother aren't worried at all?!"

What? Lily is missing?

A chill crept from my feet to my head. Was the third day coming true too?

Only then did I realize that no matter what I did or didn't do.

This nightmare would cling to me and Lily like a curse. It had nothing to do with what I did.

If that's the case, I had to stop all of this from happening even more.

I had to keep my Lily alive.

"Ethan! Where are you right now?!"

I practically shouted this question.

"I'm at the hill behind the hospital. The medical staff said Lily went this way."

"You really are bad luck. Lily is like this because she has a mother like you!"

There was noise on Ethan's end. He was breathing heavily, his tone tired and impatient.

I had just heard yesterday that the hill behind the hospital was under construction, supposedly being converted into a new staff dormitory building.

Ethan was still blaming me. I hung up directly.

As I passed the entrance, a medical staff member recognized me.

He said my Lily had gone to the back hill, and my husband was looking for her.

The hill behind the hospital was very large. Bulldozers were operating here and there, and most of the forest hadn't been cleared yet.

Finding a five-year-old girl here would be very difficult.

I called out Lily's name while searching everywhere.

This time even the police and helicopters came. Everyone was turning the mountain upside down.

And strangely, I didn't see any trace of Ethan at all.

He said he was at the back hill, so why hadn't I seen him?

I asked every rescue worker, and the answer was always no.

Despair overwhelmed me. What if Lily was already dead here?

Thinking that I might soon receive news of Lily's death, I almost fainted.

I knelt in the mud, feeling like I was already dead.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't change this cruel ending.

Just then, I suddenly saw a white figure pass by a hidden spot not far away.

It was a medical staff member, carrying a sack of garbage.

I felt like I'd seen this person somewhere before.

Suddenly, my mind went blank with a buzz.

Anger and hope instantly flooded over me.

I understood.

I had thought Lily wasn't on this mountain, but actually she'd been on the mountain all along.

Without time to think, my legs moved uncontrollably forward, charging straight at that medical staff member.

I yanked off the mask, revealing a familiar face underneath.