My mind went completely blank. I was so frightened that my feet would not move.

He did not even give me a chance to explain. After rushing downstairs, he ordered the driver to force me into the car and took me to the hospital behind the ambulance.

Not long after Thalia was pushed into the emergency room, Cassian suddenly stormed up to me.

His roar nearly tore the air apart.

“Melody, I really misjudged you! You actually pushed her down the stairs out of jealousy? Were you trying to kill my child? No wonder she was so afraid of you at the wedding!”

Tears poured down my face. My whole body shook uncontrollably.

“I didn’t… I really didn’t… she fell by herself… wait until she wakes up… she will tell you…”

But Cassian’s eyes were cold as ice.

It was clear he did not believe a single word.

He stepped toward me in his custom made shoes, one step at a time.

Each footstep sounded painfully clear, like it was knocking against my bones.

He stopped in front of me, towering over me like a judge who had crawled out of hell.

“Melody, I’ll ask you one last time. Tell the truth.”

His voice was utterly cold, like a blade pressed against my throat.

“If you dare lie again… the dog at home, I’ll have someone cook it and make you eat it. If that’s not enough, your friends might suffer too.”

He narrowed his eyes slightly, his tone dark and threatening.

“Don’t forget, that best friend of yours, Wen Shuke, still works at my company. She finally made it to manager. If something goes wrong… it won’t be so easy to settle.”

I jerked my head up, the world spinning violently.

Time and again, he struck at my weakest places.

The colder his gaze became, the more frozen it felt.

“Since you refuse to tell the truth, then we’ll wait until Thalia wakes up and ask her.”

He bent down slightly, looking at me like a filthy insect.

“But don’t think I’ll let you off easily. What you owe her, what you owe the child… you’ll repay it right here.”

He pointed at the light above the operating room.

“Kneel. Kneel here and pray for the safety of the mother and child.”

Every word pressed down on my spine.

I was forced to kneel at the door of the operating room.

The white light fell on me, magnifying my humiliation until there was nowhere to hide.

Doctors and nurses passing by avoided looking at me, quickening their steps.

As if I were a disaster no one wanted to touch.

I knelt for three hours.

My legs went completely numb. My tears had long since dried.

Then the operating room doors suddenly opened. Thalia was wheeled into the corridor, her face pale, still unconscious.

The doctor walked toward Cassian with a grave expression.

“Mr. Gao, the patient fell from a height and suffered abdominal impact. The child could not be saved. And due to severe bleeding, the uterus was also damaged. In the future… it may be very difficult for her to conceive again.”

I felt as if I had been struck by lightning. My breath caught sharply.

Cassian slowly turned to look at me, his eyes dark and vicious, as if he might kill someone at any moment.

I shook my head frantically.

“No, it wasn’t me… I didn’t push her… it wasn’t me…”

But to him, every explanation was nothing but an excuse.

Back in the hospital room, Cassian did not scold me even once.

He sat quietly by the bed, gently holding Thalia’s hand, his eyes full of tenderness, pain, and guilt.

And I was ordered to kneel on the floor at the foot of the bed.

Like a prisoner awaiting judgment.

Night deepened. The lights in the corridor were glaringly bright.

I did not drink a drop of water. I did not eat a single bite. I knelt until my knees felt as if they had been nailed to the floor.

By the time dawn arrived, I was so weak that my vision darkened, and I was on the verge of collapsing.

When my phone rang abruptly, I did not even glance at the caller ID. I answered out of habit, my voice carrying the exhaustion of work. “Hello.”

“May I ask if this is Melody, a family member of Ms. Nove?”

The voice on the other end was calm to the point of stiffness. Behind it came the faint beeping of medical equipment and blurred human voices, as if separated by a thick layer of glass.

My heart tightened for no clear reason. My fingers froze. “Yes, this is Melody. Who is calling?”

“This is the emergency department of City First Hospital.”

The caller did not pause for even a second. Every word struck my heart like a heavy hammer.

“Your mother suffered a sudden cerebral hemorrhage half an hour ago. She was already in a deep coma when she arrived. Her vital signs are extremely unstable and she is currently being resuscitated. Could you come immediately? The situation is not optimistic. We may need you to sign a critical condition notice.”

“What?”

My voice split apart, like a string snapped without warning.

I jumped up from my chair. My ears buzzed violently. All that remained were the repeated words echoing in my head. Critical. Resuscitation. Come immediately.

I rushed to beg Cassian to take me to the hospital. He was reluctant at first, but seeing how desperate I was, he finally agreed.

The car had been moving for less than five minutes when his phone suddenly rang.

The screen lit up, and without even leaning closer, I could clearly see the name on it. Thalia.

Cassian’s hand paused on the steering wheel. Then he answered without hesitation.

A soft voice came through the phone, gentle and ingratiating, filled with dependence and a closeness I had never received.

“Cassian, I’m not feeling very well. Can you come over? I really need you right now.”

Her voice seeped into the air from the speaker, like a smiling blade, sharp enough to make breathing hurt.

A surge of unease rose in me. “Cassian, my mom is still being resuscitated. Can you please take me to the hospital first?”

He frowned, as if I had interrupted something far more important. “She’s in an emergency too. Don’t forget, she lost the baby because of you.”

“My mom is in an emergency as well.” My voice trembled. I was almost begging.

“Please. Just twenty more minutes and we’ll be there. Take me to the hospital first, then you can go. Please.”

The rain fell harder and harder, pounding against the windshield, as if smashing the last of my hope.

From the phone came a soft, delicate call. “Cassian…”

That single, spoiled whisper was like a spell.

The next second, he slammed on the brakes.

My body lurched forward violently. My heart felt as if it stopped along with the car.

“Get out.”

His voice was cold, completely devoid of warmth. “I have to go now.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “This is the highway. It’s pouring outside. How am I supposed to go?”

He did not even bother to look at me. He only repeated, “I said, get out.”

Then he reached over and opened my door.

Wind and rain rushed in instantly, icy and biting.

Before I could react, he shoved me out without mercy.

“Cassian, you can’t do this. My mom…”

“You figure it out yourself.”

He shut the door as soon as he finished speaking and stepped hard on the accelerator.

The taillights sped away into the curtain of rain, along with my last shred of illusion, crushed into nothing.

I stood there in the rain, miserable like a discarded joke. Water streamed down my face. I could no longer tell which drops were rain, and which were tears.

I stumbled through the torrential rain for two hours. With every step, the water inside my shoes soaked in deeper, icy and piercing.

By the time I finally reached the hospital, I was drenched as if I had been pulled straight out of the water, barely able to speak.

The nurse looked at me, her expression darkening instantly. “Your mother… has been waiting for you.”

When I rushed into the ward, my mother was already so weak that even opening her eyes took effort.

She lifted her hand, trembling as it reached for me.

“Mom… I’m here… I came…”

I held her hand. The cold, damp chill pressed into my palms, stealing my voice.

She only forced a faint smile, using the last of her strength to gently squeeze my hand once.

The next second, her hand slipped away.

The heart monitor let out a long, straight tone.

The world fell terrifyingly silent.

I collapsed to my knees, crying until my chest tore apart, but no matter how I screamed, she could no longer hear me.

I thought nothing could be more devastating than losing my mother.

But what truly crushed me came afterward, when I saw that post.

“I just said I wanted a little cake, and he dropped everything to buy it for me. Love or no love is really that obvious.”

Below it was a photo.

In the picture, Cassian was half crouched in front of her, one hand braced on his knee, the other carefully wiping the cream from the corner of her lips.

His movements were gentle, as if he were touching something precious.

That man, so obsessed with cleanliness that he hesitated for three seconds before holding my hand, looked at her as if his gaze were melted with light.

As if the whole world held only her.

Less than a minute after the photo was posted, she sent me a private message.

“Thank you for always making room for me.”

In that instant, something inside me shattered completely.

So completely that even pain disappeared, leaving only emptiness.

I stood up in a daze. The harsh white lights of the ward stabbed at my eyes.

The last trace of my mother’s cold lingered in my palm, yet she was already gone forever.

I tried to lift my hand to wipe away my tears, but I could not move it.

A sudden wave of dizziness hit me.

“No… Mom…”

My voice was weak, as if it had been crushed inside my chest before being forced out.

The next second, my vision went black, and my body collapsed straight onto the cold floor.

The world lost all sound.

When I woke up again, the sharp smell of disinfectant filled my nose.

The ceiling slowly spun above me, as if someone wanted me to clearly see that nothing here could be undone.

I tried to move, but a nurse gently pressed me down. “Don’t move. You just woke up.”

A doctor walked in holding my chart, his brow tightly furrowed.

“You didn’t know you were pregnant before?”

I froze. My mind felt like it had been doused in ice water, instantly blank.

“W… what did you say?” My voice trembled, barely recognizable as my own.

The doctor sighed softly. “About five weeks pregnant.”

Five weeks.

I closed my eyes. It felt like a sharp blade twisted violently in my chest.

That was… the last cold intimacy between Cassian and me.

I never even had the chance to feel the joy of becoming a mother. I never got to tell anyone. I had not even accepted it myself, before it was sentenced to death.

The doctor’s tone grew heavier. “Your emotions fluctuated too severely. Your body was already exhausted, and you were exposed to the rain for too long. The baby couldn’t be saved.”

“You have… miscarried again.”

Again.

That word struck like a bolt of lightning from the void, tearing my soul to pieces.