Because of what happened in my last life, I stayed on edge the entire time.

Sure enough, just before we reached the next stop, something happened to Dulcie.

She collapsed onto the floor and started crying out in pain, making it sound far worse than it seemed at first.

The train attendants all rushed over, but she kept calling my name.

“Haley! Haley! Help me! My baby!”

I stayed up on my berth and raised my voice. “Dulcie, since when were you pregnant?

“How did I not know?”

The older woman who had switched berths with me let out a cold snort. “If she knew she was pregnant, why was she climbing up and down like that?

“Well, now look what happened.”

Even though Dulcie had tried to set me up, the pain she was in now was clearly real.

She cried out at the top of her lungs, “Haley, hurry up and get down here!

“It hurts! It hurts so bad!”

The moment she said that, blood started seeping through her pants.

A lot of people backed away as soon as they saw it. The train attendants looked panicked too, shouting into their radios for help.

Only when the moment felt right did I slowly climb down from my berth.

“Dulcie, how are you miscarrying?

“When did you get pregnant? How did I not know?”

By then, she was drenched in sweat from the pain and could not say a word.

This time, without my help, Dulcie passed out cold.

Five minutes later, the train pulled into the station, and nurses and a doctor came aboard and carried her off.

Before I got off the train, I stopped the older woman.

“Ma’am, I need a favor.”

She looked at me in confusion. “What kind of favor?

“Just tell me. I’ll help if I can.”

I scratched my head awkwardly. “It’s like this.

“My friend just had a miscarriage, and you saw what happened.

“I honestly had no idea she was pregnant.”

She still looked puzzled. “And?”

I rubbed my hands together. “I want to ask you to come to the hospital with me and be my witness.”

“A witness?”

“To prove her miscarriage had nothing to do with me.”

The older woman gave an awkward laugh. “Come on, that can’t be necessary. You’re her friend. You didn’t even know she was pregnant.

“They can’t pin this on you.”

I gave a bitter smile and shook my head.

“Ma’am, if you come with me, I’ll give you four hundred dollars afterward.

“Would that be okay?”

The second she heard there was money involved, her eyes lit up.

She grabbed her luggage and got ready to get off the train with me.

“It’s not about the money. I just want to help clear your name.”

I quietly let out a breath, and my whole body finally relaxed a little.

We got off the train together and followed the ambulance to the hospital.

On the way there, I notified Wallace.

By the time the procedure was over, Dulcie was already awake.

Her lips were pale, and the look in her eyes made it seem like she wanted to kill me right then and there.

“Dulcie, how are you feeling?

“Are you okay?

“When did you get pregnant? How did I not know?”

But Dulcie had no intention of responding to me. She waved her hand impatiently.

“Can you leave?”

The older woman happened to see that and spat toward the hospital room.

“Sweetheart, don’t waste your time on someone like that.

“And this is supposed to be your friend?”

I kept up my weak, pitiful act, my eyes brimming with tears.

“She just lost her baby. I understand.”

We sat outside a little longer. When I spotted Wallace coming from a distance, I nudged the older woman beside me.

“Ma’am, I’m getting a little hungry. Could you please grab me a hot dog?

“Check your phone. I just sent you the money.”

As I said that, I sent her twenty dollars.

She grinned from ear to ear. “Sure. I’ll go get it for you. Just wait here.”

The moment she turned around, Wallace arrived, with Shane right behind him.

“Where’s Dulcie? How is she?”

I pointed toward the hospital room, and Wallace shoved the door open without another word.

A second later, Dulcie’s sobs rang out from inside.

“Honey, our baby’s gone. What are we going to do?”

Just as Shane was about to follow him in, I grabbed his arm.

“Why are you here?”

Caught off guard, he instantly looked uneasy.

He swallowed hard. “I...”

But before he could finish, Wallace came storming back toward me.

Without saying a word, he shoved me straight into the room.

“Haley Walker, you bitch!

“Do you have any idea you killed my baby?”

The force of it slammed me hard against the wall.

Dulcie was still lying in bed, crying like her heart was breaking.

“Haley, I trusted you. That’s why I agreed to go on this trip with you!

“But no matter how careful I was, I never imagined you’d hurt me like this!”

That one sentence lit Wallace up all over again. I could tell that with just one more push, he really might kill me.

“Dulcie, what are you talking about?

“I have no idea what you mean. How did I hurt you?”

Even with me pressing her face-to-face, Dulcie didn’t panic. She just kept sobbing as she spoke.

“I told you I was pregnant and asked to switch berths with you.

“But you refused. I had to keep climbing up and down, and then I lost my grip and fell.”

The second she finished, Shane jumped in.

“Haley Walker, I can’t believe you’d do something like this!

“What kind of person are you?

“You told me at home that you were jealous Dulcie was pregnant, but I never thought you’d actually go this far!”

With Shane backing her up, Wallace completely snapped.

“You bitch!

“Do you know how hard it was for Dulcie and me to get pregnant?

“Do you know how much we gave up for this baby?”

As he spoke, his hand went straight for my throat.

I cried out in panic, “Wait! I have a witness!”

Dulcie immediately started screaming too. “Wallace, it was her! She’s the reason our baby is gone!

“You can’t let her get away with this!”

Wallace already had a violent temper. Hearing Dulcie say that only pushed him over the edge.

He started shouting that he was going to kill me.

I hurriedly pulled out my phone. “Wait, I really do have a witness!

“Dulcie lost the baby because of her own actions!

“I have a wit...”

Before I could finish, a loud slap cracked through the room.

Everyone froze.

Even Wallace stood there stunned, one hand pressed to his face.

He looked nothing like the man who had been raging a second earlier.

I quickly grabbed the older woman. “Ma’am, please, calm down!”

I had asked her to come here as a witness, not to start hitting people in a hospital.

But she was even fiercer than I had expected. She shook off my hand and slapped Wallace across the face again.

This time, Wallace didn’t dare lose his temper. He actually looked a little wronged.

“Aunt Sarah... what are you doing here?”