I never thought I'd end up severely injured and lose my baby on my wedding day.

That day, I walked toward my husband full of excitement, only to watch him rush right past me and straight into the arms of his secretary. Confused, I turned around and saw someone in a wedding dress lying on the ground, blood pooling beneath her. It was his secretary, Quinn Fable.

Steve York, my soon-to-be husband, panicked and scooped her up, but Quinn stared at me with tearful eyes, crying, “Summer, I ate the candy you gave me… Why would you want to hurt my baby? Please, Steve, save our child… please…”

Steve was beside himself with rage. Without a second thought, he kicked me hard in the stomach.

I collapsed into the champagne tower, shards of glass embedding into my skin. Blood poured from between my legs. Yet, they still clung to each other, crying bitterly as if I didn't exist.

When the ambulance arrived, they didn't even hesitate to push me aside to save her first.

“Forget about her!” Steve shouted. “Save Quinn! She's lost so much blood. She must be in terrible pain! As for Summer, that vicious witch… she deserves to die!”

Due to the delay, I suffered a ruptured uterus and missed the window for proper treatment. And as if that wasn't enough, Steve personally announced that our marriage was null and void.

He marched straight to the clerk's office with Quinn and made it official.

On my ICU bed, I received a text from him. “Pack your things and get out. Quinn wants you out of her sight.”

I never could have imagined that on my wedding day, the secretary of my husband, Steve York, would suddenly have a miscarriage. To top it off, she burst into the chapel wearing her wedding dress, bouquet clutched tightly in her hand, her body soaked in blood.

The entire room gasped in shock while I stood frozen, staring at her, my legs glued to the ground.

Quinn Fable collapsed at the foot of the stairs with a thud, still stubbornly crawling toward me. Her tears and blood left a horrifying trail on the marble floor.

“Summer… Why? I ate the candy you gave me… Why would you hurt my baby like this? Steve… Steve, please… Save me… Save our child…”

She grabbed onto my ankle, her blood soaking the hem of my gown. Desperately, I looked back over my shoulder to see Steve shouting Quinn’s name with heart-wrenching anguish and pushing past me to reach her.

I lost my balance as Quinn yanked me down. My shoulder slammed hard against the stair railing, pain shooting through me. Still, I stubbornly lifted my head to find Steve in the chaos.

We had been together for eight years and had known each other for fifteen, so I always believed I was irreplaceable to him. However, when he scooped Quinn into his arms without hesitation and kicked me aside, sending me crashing into the champagne tower, something inside me shattered completely.

The Steve who once stood before my parents’ grave and promised to love me for the rest of his life… was gone.

“You monster! Quinn fought so hard to have this baby. How dare you hurt her?”

Steve’s accusation cut through me like a blade, each word sharper than the last. My body screamed with pain, but even worse was the disbelief twisting inside me.

Quinn whimpered in his arms, her face pale, her lips trembling. “Quinn, don’t blame Summer. I… I shouldn’t have come between the two of you… But the baby… The baby is innocent…”

I didn’t…

I wanted to scream, to defend myself, but no sound came out. Instead, I opened my mouth and tasted blood, thick and metallic. I watched, heartbroken, as tears streamed down Steve’s face and he stroked Quinn’s belly with trembling hands, devastated. That was when I knew he loved her.

They didn’t say another word after that. They just looked at each other, raw and full of grief, their connection so intense it burned like a fire.

Steve didn’t care about me or what our family and friends thought. Wearing the tuxedo I had personally designed for him, he carried away the woman who had destroyed our marriage.

In that moment, eight years of love and loyalty crumbled into dust. The physical pain faded beneath the overwhelming agony in my heart.

When the ambulance arrived, I was still lying there alone in a pool of blood. Broken glass from the champagne tower pierced my skin, but no one stayed by my side. They all rushed toward Steven and Quinn, crowding around the ambulance.

Some pulled out their phones to film the spectacle; some others, who were longtime business partners of Steve’s, whispered eagerly about how maybe it was fate that Steve and Quinn were meant to be.

Meanwhile, I, who had no family to stand up for me, was left forgotten among the shards of glass and spilled champagne.

“Help me…”

I finally managed to choke out the words, my voice hoarse and broken, like an old accordion struggling to breathe. It wasn’t until I had called out multiple times that Steve finally turned around.

Our eyes met, and for a second, I thought maybe he would remember; maybe, out of guilt if nothing else, he would save me.

Instead, he shouted, “Quinn’s in critical condition! Get her to the hospital, now!”

His words cut into my already bleeding heart.

I closed my eyes in despair. Tears slid down my face, mixing with the blood and wine staining my skin.

Maybe… I should never have loved him.

In the depths of my sorrow, the last thread connecting me to my baby began to snap. I could feel my life draining away along with my blood.

Through the haze, I heard Steve’s desperate voice again.

“Are you the best gynecologist here? My girlfriend’s losing the baby. Please, I’ll pay whatever it takes. Just save her!”

The hospital was private, and since Steve was a major shareholder, the doctors couldn't refuse his demands.

I clenched my fists so tightly that my nails dug deep into my palms, leaving bloody marks all over. I wanted so badly to punch him, but my body was too weak. I couldn't even lift my arm.

As my attending doctor, the one I trusted, was pulled away, another doctor from the same department rushed over to check on me, his voice filled with urgency.

“Preliminary scans show that your uterine wall has ruptured, which means we can’t save the baby. You also have fractures and multiple puncture wounds. We need to operate immediately…”

Sweating heavily, I reached out with trembling fingers, motioning for the surgical consent form.

“You can't sign for such a major surgery by yourself! Where are your family members?”

I forced my cracked voice, “It’s fine… I can sign... My family’s overseas.”

The nurse sneered and muttered under her breath to the doctor, “What's the rush? Everyone’s already talking about it. She’s the homewrecker who crashed the wedding. Even if she had family here, they probably wouldn't want to show their faces.”

My hand froze for a second, but I gritted my teeth and signed anyway. Even that tiny movement drained all my strength. I couldn’t even speak anymore.

I was rushed into emergency surgery, and after a day and night of fighting for my life, I was finally pulled back from death’s door and transferred to the ICU. When I woke up, I was covered head to toe in gauze and tubes sticking out of my body everywhere. I looked like a mummy.

A nurse was changing my IV while my mind slowly cleared, and that was when I fully realized my situation.

My leg was broken. My skin was torn and mangled. My baby was gone.

I remembered what the doctor said during our premarital checkup—that I had a naturally thin uterine wall, making it extremely difficult for me to conceive. The baby was a miracle, and I had planned to surprise Steve after the wedding to tell him the good news. Yet, before I even got the chance, our baby had been murdered by its own father.

The baby had been my only blood tie aside from my brother, Ashton Grey. Now, the baby was gone, and I might never get another chance to conceive again.

“My baby…” I croaked, every word cutting through me like a knife.

“You’re lucky to even be alive. Stop whining about the baby. You’re just making more work for us.” She muttered coldly as she finished changing the IV and then stomped off, but not before sneering under her breath, “These homewreckers think getting pregnant gives them the right to crash someone else’s wedding. It’s disgusting. Obviously, the man loves his real fiancée more. What the hell was she thinking?”

I could feel the contempt and disgust in her voice.

“I'm not… a homewrecker…”

My voice was so faint it barely stirred the stillness of the ICU. No one heard me.

I stayed in the ICU for a week, hovering between life and death. And while I lay there, Steve erased every trace of me from his social media.

Then, he posted a new wedding photo. Only this time, the bride standing next to him wasn’t me—it was Quinn. They were smiling brightly, each holding up a marriage certificate.

The tiny bit of strength I had regained shattered the moment a nurse brought my phone to me, especially when I saw the wedding photo. Then I received a message Steve sent me.

“Pack your things and get out once you’re discharged. Quinn wants you out of her sight.”

We chose the home together, and I had poured my heart into decorating it, yet I was the one being thrown out.

The emotional blow triggered a relapse. I crashed again and was rushed into another emergency surgery.

Rumors started flying through the entire hospital. They said I was the other woman between Steve and Quinn; they said I got pregnant to trap Steve; they said I drugged Quinn to cause her miscarriage.

“I mean, come on, Quinn's been with Steve since the beginning, through thick and thin. Now that Steve’s made it big, of course, some trash would try and latch on.”

“I heard Quinn’s health is messed up now, and she might never have kids again. That homewrecker should rot in hell!”

Even though doctors were supposed to remain neutral, they were human too. Their disgust and judgment were impossible to ignore.

Ever since they decided I was the villain, life in the hospital became hell. I got dirty looks, I was isolated, and I heard whispers behind my back.

That was until Steve’s sister, Jacqueline York, came to see me.

“Summer… How did this happen? He promised he’d love you forever! I just got back from a business trip. I didn’t even get a chance to congratulate you guys…” She broke down, swearing she’d make Steve pay.

Finally, I allowed myself to cry, sobbing hoarsely into the night. Only then did the hospital staff finally realize I was Steve’s fiancée and childhood sweetheart. It was Quinn, the so-called girlfriend, who had been the real third party all along.

With someone finally standing up for me, I could finally sleep peacefully. However, that very night, I woke up thirsty and reached for some water, only to overhear a conversation coming from the next room.

“You idiot, why couldn't you be patient? If you’d waited a few more days until she was dead, you could’ve inherited half her estate!”

“How can you say that?” Steve snapped back. “She caused Quinn to lose the baby. Did you expect me to sit back and watch?”

Hearing their conversation, I felt the blood drain from my face.

As it turned out, the sister who had always looked after me and acted like she didn’t like Steve had another side to her. Worst of all, the real reason Steve married me was for half of the inheritance my parents left me.

In that moment, I finally understood that besides the family tied to me by blood, no one would ever truly love me. All the so-called help and salvation I thought I had found was nothing more than a carefully scripted performance by Steve. He had faked it all just to get his hands on the money. He just couldn't keep up the act until the end, and his real motives finally slipped out.

That entire night, I couldn’t close my eyes. I lay awake as the sky outside slowly lightened into a dull gray.

At dawn, Steve stormed into the room, his face twisting in anger. He threw a bunch of roses at me.

“Alright,” he snapped. “We’re even now. That day, I was just panicking because of what happened to Quinn. I didn’t mean to kick you. And besides, it’s your fault anyway, isn’t it? If you hadn’t drugged her, none of that would've happened. You brought it all on yourself.”

Next to him, Quinn clung to his arm, her eyes glistening with fake tears. In a sickeningly sweet voice, she chimed in, “Yeah, Summer. I’ve worked with Steve for so many years… Of course, feelings grew. That’s only natural.

“I understand you must be upset, but the baby is innocent. And it’s Steve’s baby too. You can’t blame him for getting mad. Please, just forgive him, okay?”

They painted themselves as the victims, pretending to apologize, but every word was directed at blaming me.

While I stayed silent, the nurses in the room started chiming in, trying to persuade me.

“That other woman’s just a fling. You’re the one who’s a real match for Mr. York. If you play your cards right, he’ll come running back to you.”

“Exactly! You know what they say—it’s only temporary. Men make mistakes. It’s practically built into them!”

“Here’s what you do: forgive him now, get your bestie to help you bring that mistress down, and you’ll win. You’re gorgeous, honey. Getting a man back won’t be hard for you.”

Listening to them, a cold and bitter smile tugged on my lips. I hadn’t even said a word, yet somehow, they had already forgiven Steve for me. They even thought they were doing me a favor by offering advice on how to ‘win him back.’

Even Jacqueline, the one who played the loyal friend act so well, took my hand and earnestly said, “Summer, listen to me. I hit him for you yesterday. He knows he messed up. He’s willing to change. Think about it. The Yorks have money and power. You’re not going to find another chance like this. Just forgive him this once. If he screws up again, I’ll beat him up again, okay?”

Beat him up? Really?

I let my eyes slowly drift over to Steve. There were only a few Band-Aids on his neck. Then, I noticed that Quinn had matching Band-Aids on her neck, too.

I didn’t let my expression change, but inside, I was laughing coldly.

Yeah, they hadn’t been fighting. They'd probably just gotten a little too rough in bed.

Even though I didn’t want to deal with them anymore, I couldn’t even take care of myself right now. My only family was overseas, and I couldn’t risk making a move yet. So, I forced a fake smile onto my face and accepted their ‘apology.’

Steve looked smug—like he thought I finally knew my place—and left satisfied.

After the room finally emptied, I picked up my phone. With trembling fingers, I dialed an international number.

“Ash,” I said. “I’m ready. I’ll accept the blind date you arranged.”