The pain ripped a scream from my throat. "Victor, are you dead?! Do something!"

Victor didn't move. He didn't even try to stop them. He just spread his hands and looked at me with that helpless expression, as if none of this had anything to do with him.

"Babe, giving the assets to Sunny is just giving him some security. We're all family. Why do you have to be so petty about it?"

"Just sign it like a good girl, and you won't have to suffer anymore."

It felt like someone had punched a hole straight through my heart. Cold seeped in from every direction.

Theresa raised a thick wooden stick and brought it down hard across my lower back. "Are you going to sign or not?" she snarled. "If you don't, the next one goes straight to your belly!"

I screamed. White-hot pain radiated through my back, and a dull, dragging ache bloomed deep in my abdomen.

Terror seized me. I squeezed my eyes shut in despair.

"I'll sign..."

My hands shook as I pressed my fingerprint to the paper, tears streaming down my face.

The moment my print appeared clearly on the asset-transfer agreement, all three of them exhaled at once.

"See? Would've been a lot easier if you'd just cooperated from the start. Saved me the trouble." Jeanette blew on the still-wet ink, then folded the agreement with a satisfied smile and tucked it away.

Only then did Victor come over, reaching out to help me up.

"Babe, you're so good. What do you want to eat? I'll make you anything."

My stomach clenched in waves of cramping pain. My face twisted.

"My stomach hurts. Take me to the hospital."

Victor's eyes went wide with panic. "It's okay, babe. I'll take you right now. We'll save our babies, I promise."

He was helping me toward the door when Theresa's voice stopped us cold.

"Hold on. You just signed everything over to Sunny. Where are you going to get money for a hospital visit?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Have you been hiding money from us? Unlock your phone. Let me see how much she's got stashed away."

Theresa snatched my phone and marched over. Her open palm cracked across my face.

"What's the passcode?"

My already swollen cheek exploded with fresh pain. Blood seeped from the corner of my mouth.

"This is all I have left," I choked out. "I need it for the delivery..."

"Delivery?" Theresa scoffed. "You're Sunny's adoptive mother now. Everything revolves around Sunny. The babies aren't even born yet and you're already thinking about your own kids? Whatever you have belongs to Sunny. Hand it all over."

I looked at Victor, desperate, pleading.

He shifted uncomfortably. "Babe, just give it to her. Don't make Mom angry."

I shook my head, stubborn despite everything. "No. That money is for me and my babies. It's our lifeline. You're not getting it."

Thud.

A foot slammed into my stomach. My back crashed against the door with a sickening thump.

Searing pain tore through my lower abdomen, and a rush of warmth flooded between my legs.

"Not talking, huh?"

Theresa grabbed a fistful of my hair and smashed my head against the door.

"Then you can forget about keeping those babies!"

My vision went black around the edges. A ragged, desperate scream clawed its way out of my throat. "Victor..."

Victor grabbed his mother's wrist.

"Mom, stop. She's still carrying my children."

I slumped against the door, every ounce of strength drained from my body. Blood ran down from my forehead, smearing across my face.

Victor gripped my chin. For one fleeting second, I thought he was checking my injuries.

But he held my phone up to my face instead.

I thrashed, trying to pull away, but I had nothing left.

The facial recognition unlocked without resistance.

He opened my banking app. His eyes grew wider with every digit.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven..."

Jeanette and Theresa crowded in behind him. When they saw the string of zeros in the balance, their voices trembled.

"Two million dollars!"

Theresa seized my hair again.

"You conniving little tramp! You've been hiding this much money behind Victor's back? Tell me, how much more are you keeping from us?"

Victor's eyes gleamed, but his voice dripped with wounded outrage.

"You had this much money all along? We're husband and wife, and you've been hiding assets from me?"

"I told you, that's my emergency fund—"

A searing cramp ripped through my lower abdomen. Wave after wave of warmth gushed out, and the air turned thick with the metallic stench of blood.

I looked down. My white shoes were soaked red.

"Victor, take me to the hospital. The babies—"

"Hospital? Nobody's going anywhere!"

Theresa shoved me to the ground and stomped on my stomach twice, hard.

"You need a lesson in how this family works. You think you can hide money behind our backs and still have those babies? Forget it!"

She grabbed my hand and opened the transfer screen on my phone.

"Every last cent of that two million goes to my son. Enter the password!"

The pain in my abdomen was getting worse. My vision flickered between black and white, consciousness slipping so far I could barely keep my eyes open.

I reached out and clutched Victor's hand, my voice cracking into something close to begging.

"Victor, take me to the hospital. I can't hold on—"

He peeled my fingers off one by one and pressed the phone into my palm.

"Babe, just be good and enter the password. The second the money hits, I'll take you to the hospital."

"You already gave up tens of millions. This is nothing compared to that. Think of it as buying your babies' lives. That's a bargain."

He smiled at me, but there was nothing behind his eyes.

My heart went completely cold.

I nodded in despair.

"Fine. I'll transfer it."

Ding. Transfer complete.

Victor stared at the extra two million in his account, his face lighting up.

He turned to his mother. "Mom, the money went through. Let me take Edith to the hospital."

But Theresa grabbed his arm and said coolly, "Wait a little longer. Let her learn her lesson. See if she dares try this again."

I was drenched in cold sweat from the pain, my voice barely a whisper.

"Victor, these are your only children. Are you really not going to save them?"

Victor moved to stand, but his mother yanked him back.

"There's no rush."

I slumped on the floor, sitting in a spreading pool of my own blood.

Victor's face went pale.

"Mom, we really should take Edith to the hospital. She's lost so much blood. It's terrifying. What if the babies don't make it—"

Jeanette hauled him back by the arm.

"Hospital for what? If she loses them, she loses them. As long as she never has kids of her own, she'll have no choice but to devote herself to Sunny."

Victor shot me a guilty glance. "Babe, just hang on a little longer. Once the babies are gone, I'll take you to the hospital."

Every inch of my body felt like it had been plunged into ice water. I used the last of my strength to speak.

"Victor, don't... you'll regret this..."

He looked away. Just then, his phone buzzed with a text.

He tapped it open casually, and the color drained from his face.

"Mom, we need to get Edith to the hospital NOW!"