The very next second, Matthew rushed over to instinctively kick my stomach before gingerly helping Rose up. She leaned in his embrace and pretended to be strong, despite her bruised calf.

“I’m fine, Matthew. Rose might have misunderstood our relationship. Things will be fine after she hits me to vent it out.”

Matthew shielded Rose before glaring at me coldly.

“Wendy, Rose already has a hard time being a single mother, and you’re still bullying her?! How could you be so evil?!”

I crashed to the floor and felt as if someone had driven a spike into my stomach. Blood gushed to my throat. When the medical staff heard the commission, some of them ran over to help me up.

“Take care of Rose first!” Matthew snapped at the medical staff.

“But Mr. Foster, your wife is coughing up blood—”

“Let her suffer! She just hurt Rose. This is her punishment!”

I curled up on the hospital’s cold floor while sweat pearled over my forehead. My stomach clenched in pain, and it was getting worse by the second.

“It hurts… Help…” I struggled to cry out for help.

As my vision grew increasingly blurry, all I could see at the end was Matthew’s indifferent gaze as well as him leaving with Rose without hesitation.

When I woke up next, it was already the next day.

“Miss Lane, due to you overworking and having a poor eating and resting schedule, you have terminal-stage stomach cancer. You only have one month left now.”

Feeling drained, I leaned against the headrest and mumbled to myself as tears slid down my cheeks.

“Wendy!”

When Matthew opened the door, he saw me crying, and he patiently defended himself, “Rose’s husband saved me on the battlefield all those years ago, and I promised that I’d take care of his family. Zack did well at his SATs and is almost one of the top scorers. From now on, I’ll keep you and Henry company, alright?”

I stared at Matthew blankly. “Do you know about Henry’s SAT scores?”

Matthew was surprised. “Henry sat for his SATs this year too? Don’t worry. Even though his marks aren’t as good as Zack’s, I can still think of a way for him to get into an Ivy League university.”

“You won’t have that chance.”

“What? What do you mean?”

Matthew’s gaze turned dark. He could sense that something was off and was about to continue demanding answers when Rose called.

“Matthew, a lot of police officers came into Zack’s ward. You have to come here…”

Matthew hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he still left. He did say this before leaving, though. “Rest. Once I’m done with Rose, I’ll pick both you and Henry up, and then you’ll live good lives.”

Then, I watched Matthew leave before shaking my head in agony. I could no longer remember how many times Matthew had left me behind, but this time, I was not going to wait for him anymore.

I bought the earliest plane ticket out of the country and caressed Henry’s photo before forcing a broken smile onto my lips.

“One month… Don’t be scared, Henry. I’ll keep you company very soon.”

…

When Matthew arrived at Zack’s ward, two police officers were about to arrest him.

“Zack Xavier, you’re under suspicion for a hit-and-run. Please come with us to the police station.”

Matthew immediately stopped them. “He just killed someone. Zack is still young and immature. Who’s the deceased? I’ll compensate his family.”

The police officers cast a glance at Matthew and stayed silent for a while before saying, “The deceased is Henry Foster, one of the top scorers of this year’s SATs.”