I was nine months along and ready to give birth, but my husband, Sean Conner, had me locked in the basement storage room and told me to hold the baby in. He said it was because his late brother’s wife, Quinn Faber, was also due today.

Years ago, Sean and his brother had agreed that the first child born to the Conners would be raised as the heir and inherit the family inheritance.

“Quinn’s baby must come first,” Sean said as if it were nothing. “She lost her husband and has nothing. You already have my love. It’s only right that the inheritance goes to her child.”

The pain from the contractions folded me over, and I cried, begging him to take me to the hospital. He wiped my tears with a dangerously calm voice.

“Stop the act,” he snapped. “I always knew you didn’t love me. All you care about is money and status. You forced labor to happen early so you could steal my nephew’s place… How can you be so cruel?”

White-faced and shaking, I managed to whisper, “I can’t control when a baby comes. It’s a coincidence. I swear I don’t care about the inheritance. I love you!”

He let out a cold laugh. “If you loved me, you wouldn’t have pushed Quinn to sign that contract relinquishing her child’s inheritance. Fine. Once she has her baby, I’ll come back for you. After all, the child in your belly is my blood.”

Sean stayed outside Quinn’s delivery room. Only after the newborn arrived did he remember me. He ordered his secretary to take me to the hospital, but the secretary’s voice trembled as he said. “Madam… and the baby… They’re both gone…”

At that moment, Sean lost his mind.

When contractions blurred my vision and pain washed over me again and again, I woke up in a dim, freezing basement storage room.

The door slammed with a bang. If my foot hadn’t pulled back fast enough, my ankle would’ve been crushed. However, maybe I had moved too suddenly because all at once, I felt a hot rush of fluid between my legs. Immediately, I realized my water had broken.

Panic knotted my chest. I forced myself to calm down and tried to call for help, but I searched my body, and there was no phone. Sean had taken it away to make sure I couldn’t contact anyone.

The baby kicked wildly inside me. I was shaking from the cold and sweating from the pain. I strained my voice and called out for help, clinging to the smallest scrap of hope.

Finally, I heard footsteps outside.

“Please, somebody help me!” I screamed. “I’m locked in a basement! I’m about to give birth!” I kept shouting, thinking someone would come.

Instead, a triumphant voice answered, “Zoe, how does it feel to lie in a basement in the middle of winter? To me, Sean should’ve done this ages ago to teach you a lesson.”

It was Grace Conner, Sean’s sister.

I forced myself to breathe and tried to keep my voice steady. “Grace, please take me out. The baby’s coming. It’s going to be too late!”

Grace kicked the basement door hard and glared down at me.

“Let you out? In your dreams. You can’t stop Quinn from going into labor, huh? You must be panicking. I’m here on Sean’s orders. I won’t allow you to pull any stunts. He’s so busy with work; he doesn’t need your drama. Can’t you stop making trouble for others?” she sneered. “Quinn’s child will be the Conners’ heir, and nothing you do will change that.”

Another brutal contraction forced a groan from me. Between sobs, I said, “I don’t want the inheritance. I never wanted my child to be heir. I only want the baby to live. If Sean will just let me go to the hospital, I’ll do anything!”

My groans seemed to irritate Grace, who frowned and hissed, “You tramp! Are you making those noises to seduce someone? Gross. Keep it up, and I’ll shut your mouth for you.”

Then, she made a call to Sean.

The pain kept coming in waves. I bit my lower lip so hard I barely dared to breathe.

Grace said into the phone, “Yes, Sean, don’t worry. I’m watching her. There’s no way I’ll let her act up.”

When I heard Sean’s voice faintly through the line, a fragile thread of hope sparked in me. I screamed until my throat hurt, “Sean! The baby’s coming! Tell Grace to take me to the hospital. Please, I can’t hold on!”

I didn’t even have the strength to sit. I simply collapsed weakly to the floor.

Grace hesitated, then whispered into the phone, “Sean, I think she’s actually about to go into labor. She doesn’t look like she’s faking. Why don’t I take her to the hospital first? After all, she’s carrying your only child. If something happened–”

Sean paused for a few seconds, as if weighing it over.

Then, his voice softened. “Fine. Take her to–”

A sweet voice cut in over the other end of the call. “Sean, I’m hungry. I want a little cake. The doctor said I need strength for childbirth, so I need to eat. Oh, Zoe, you’re about to go into labor, too? Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt at all. I could get up and dance right now. You’ll be fine.”

Quinn, of course, felt no pain. Sean had put her in a deluxe suite that cost thirty thousand dollars a day, where the nurses would swarm and give her a massage at the first whimper.

When he heard her, he snorted coldly and told Grace, “What could go wrong? Zoe is too scheming to let herself suffer. She’s just trying to trick you into letting her out. Don’t be so gullible.”

With that, he hung up.

Flushed from being scolded, Grace untied the dog chained by the door and let it inside.

“You worthless woman! Because of you, Sean chewed me out! I’ll make sure you pay for this. Why don’t you play with my dog for a while?”

The next second, heavy panting filled the dark room as a massive dog closed in on me. It shoved me down, its paws crushing my chest.

Terrified, I screamed, and my baby thrashed inside my belly in panic. When I tried to push the beast away, it sank its teeth into my hand.

I collapsed helplessly onto the freezing floor, tears slipping silently down my cheeks as the dog growled, low and threatening, beside my ear. My vision blurred, and I felt death itself reaching for me.

Just when I thought it was all over, Grace stormed back in. She yanked the dog off and barked my name, but I was too weak to answer. Panic flickered across her face as she stepped deeper into the pitch-black basement.

With no lights, she had to grab a fistful of my hair, jerking my head up just to see my face. Then, she gave a sharp, disdainful grunt and slammed my head back to the ground.

“My dog never bites anyone. Look at you, scared half to death. How pathetic!” she sneered. “What happened to that loud mouth you had when I was on the phone with Sean earlier?”

Her eyes burned with disgust.

“I get it now. This is just another one of your cheap tricks. Pretending to be half-dead, huh? Well, I’m warning you. No one here is falling for your act anymore!”

She stepped back and bent to pet the dog. However, when her hand came away wet, she pulled out her phone, shone its light, and saw the dog’s fur smeared with blood.

Before I could explain, Grace flew into a rage. She spun and kicked me in the stomach, hard.

“Zoe! Are you insane? How dare you hurt my dog? Its life is worth more than yours ever will be!” she shrieked. “If it dies because of you, I’ll make sure Sean divorces you! An evil woman like you will have a child just as vile, a character unworthy to be an heir! You think you can go into labor before Quinn? Dream on!”

She stormed off in fury, slamming the window shut on her way out. The air in the basement grew thinner, and my body shook uncontrollably.

In a haze, I thought I heard a baby’s cries. That small, fragile voice called me “Mommy,” begging me to save him.

I broke down in sobs. Today was supposed to be the day I held my child and kissed his soft little face. However, fate was cruel enough to snatch him away before I could even meet him.

Through tears, I cradled my belly and whispered, “Baby, if we get to meet again, I hope you’re born into a family filled with love and happiness…”

My breathing slowed, and my blood seemed to stop flowing.

Then, suddenly, the basement door creaked open. A beam of light cut across my blood-streaked face. The man who entered froze at the sight of me lying in a pool of red.

With the last of my strength, I reached toward him and whispered, “Help me…”

His voice shook with fear. “Who are you? What did you do to deserve punishment from Mr. Conner himself?”

“I’m… Sean’s wife,” I rasped, lifting my bloodied hand. My wedding ring still clung to my finger, now stained dark with blood.

“This is the custom wedding band Sean and I had made,” I added.

The man stepped closer and recognized it instantly. Still, before letting me out, he hesitated and called Sean.

“Mr. Conner, I found your wife in the basement. She’s badly injured and bleeding heavily. Should I take her to the hospital?”

Sean’s voice held a note of surprise. “Bleeding? Grace just complained to me that Zoe hurt her dog. I didn’t think it was that bad. No wonder Grace was angry.”

His tone hardened. “Don’t fall for her tricks. That blood isn’t even hers. She’s fine. She’s just scheming to give birth to the baby before Quinn. Leave her. I’ll handle it later.”

The man tried to explain, but Sean hung up on him.

He looked down at me with pity, and just when I thought he would walk away like everyone else, he stopped.

“You’re pregnant,” he said firmly, almost convincing himself. “I can’t abandon a woman carrying a child. My own wife is pregnant too. If she were in trouble, I’d want someone to help her. So I’ll save you.”

He lifted me onto his back, carried me out of that basement, and then called for an ambulance.

For the first time, I let out a shaky breath of relief. However, when we arrived at the hospital, there were no doctors, medicine, or equipment.

After several desperate calls, the paramedics discovered that this was the very hospital where Quinn was giving birth. Because Sean was so obsessed with her, he had diverted every medical resource in the building to her private ward.

My condition had turned critical, and the doctor knew I couldn’t wait any longer. Therefore, she quickly asked for Sean’s number and called him.

“Hello, Mr. Conner? The patient, Zoe Salvador, is in urgent condition. She’s about to deliver. Could you spare some surgical supplies for the delivery?”

On the other end, Sean’s voice flared with anger.

“Zoe! You’re smarter than I thought. Not only did you escape the basement, but you even found people to help you! Let me tell you, no matter what tricks you play, I won’t fall for them again. I know you. You can’t possibly be in real danger. I’ve told you countless times that I will never ignore my own child. Once Quinn delivers, it’ll be your turn. Why are you in such a hurry?”

The doctor pleaded with the other staff in the hospital, but Sean had issued a strict order: not even a single painkiller was to be given.

Through the thin wall, I heard his cold, cutting voice. “Quinn must be safe. No matter who else needs the supplies, they have to wait until she delivers her baby.”

Despair washed over me, and I slumped against the wall until my blurry gaze landed on a man standing at the door.

It was Sean’s secretary. His eyes widened in shock when he saw me, as if he couldn’t believe who I was. I tried to call out, but before I could, he rushed into the delivery room next door.

“Mr. Conner, there’s a pregnant woman next door, and she looks like your wife,” the secretary stammered.

Sean shot him a sharp glare. “That’s impossible. If she were in labor, she wouldn’t be quietly lying next door. She’d be storming in here demanding her child’s inheritance.”

The secretary hesitated, then pushed again. “But it really does look like Mrs. Conner. If it is her, she’s covered in blood, and the baby’s life is in danger.”

Sean waved him off impatiently. “I said it’s impossible! She’s obsessed with being clean. If there’s the slightest stain on her clothes, she changes immediately. How could she be covered in blood? You must’ve seen wrong.”

The doctor tried one last time, begging for just a roll of bandages, but Sean threatened her job. She returned to me helplessly, full of apology. I wanted to comfort her and say it wasn’t her fault, but my vision was already fading. I couldn’t see clearly anymore.

The medical staff’s voices blurred in and out.

“She’s experiencing severe blood loss… It’s critical…”

“The baby’s heartbeat is gone!”

“Hurry, resuscitate her!”

I wanted to pray and scream, but my throat produced no sound. All I could do was watch their shadowy figures rushing around me.

My hand dropped weakly onto my stomach, and a faint kick pressed against my palm.

A tear slid down my cheek.

“I’m sorry, baby. I couldn’t protect you.”

Then, the darkness swallowed me whole.

…

Meanwhile, Sean waited anxiously outside Quinn’s delivery room. The moment the door opened, he rushed in and scooped up the newborn.

“He looks exactly like you,” he said softly, gazing at the infant. “He’s so adorable.”

For a fleeting second, his mind wandered to how our baby would look. He thought, if it were a girl, she’d probably resemble me more, and she must be beautiful beyond words.

The thought passed quickly. After finishing the hospital paperwork, he stepped out of the room. Since Quinn had delivered safely, it was time to bring me over.

However, just as he walked out, he bumped into his secretary, who was standing rigidly by the door.

“Why are you still here?” Sean snapped. “Go home and get Zoe to the hospital.”

The secretary didn’t look up. His body trembled, frozen in place.

Sean’s patience thinned to nothing. That was when the secretary finally spoke, his voice breaking. “Madam… and the baby… They’re both gone.”