Chapter 3
Owen saw the blood spreading beneath Aurora and, without thinking, rushed forward to lift her up.
Just then, Evelyn's voice cut in from the side. "Why is Aurora bleeding so much? Could it be a miscarriage?"
Owen's hand froze in midair.
'Miscarriage?' Owen thought. 'Is Aurora pregnant?'
It was like someone had dropped a bomb in his head, and he couldn't process it.
He and Aurora had been together for ten years, but they never crossed that line.
'Did she hook up with someone else while she was on the island?' Owen thought.
Owen's face turned cold, his voice sharp as he demanded, "Aurora, whose kid is it?"
Aurora stared at Owen, his face full of disbelief, and suddenly, she let out a bitter laugh.
He locked her in that car all day, almost killing her with the heat.
She finally smashed the window and crawled out, only for the glass to stab straight into her belly.
He didn't ask if she was hurting and didn't bother to see if she needed a doctor. But he thought she'd been with another man.
"Whether I'm pregnant or not, that's none of your business." Aurora didn't want to waste another word on him.
Owen's eyes suddenly hardened.
"Not my business, huh?" He grabbed Aurora's wrist and hauled her up off the ground.
His eyes fell on her pale face, and he gritted out through clenched teeth. "Aurora, we haven't broken up yet. And you went behind my back and hooked up with someone else."
He expected Aurora to back down and apologize like she always did whenever he got angry.
But instead, she pulled a wry smile and said calmly, "Then let's break up."
She wanted nothing more to do with Owen's so-called love.
Owen's face turned darker.
He grabbed her by the throat, his grip tightening with every word. "Break up? Aurora, you think after all that time on the island, you can do whatever you want, and I can't control you anymore?
"You mess around with some guy and end up pregnant, and you think a simple 'break up' is all it takes to get rid of me?"
Aurora was choking, struggling to breathe.
Evelyn stood nearby, pretending to be worried as she covered her mouth, but a smug glint flashed in her eyes. "Owen, Aurora's bleeding so much. Do you think she'll lose the baby?"
Evelyn's reminder made Owen's stare turn even colder.
He released Aurora's neck, his eyes showing nothing but cold disgust. There wasn't a shred of sympathy left in them.
"With me around, there's no way she's keeping this baby." With that, he hauled Aurora up in a rough bridal carry and marched straight into the hospital.
Aurora was crushed against him, the pain from her belly wound so intense that it made her whole body shake.
She tried to curl up and shield her injury, but she couldn't move at all.
Her blood soaked through Owen's military uniform.
"Owen, let me go." Aurora tried to fight him off, but she was so weak that she couldn't move.
Owen didn't look at her, carried her right through the ER, and straight to the OB/GYN ward.
He dumped Aurora onto a gurney outside the operating room, his tone icy and ruthless. "Abort the baby now."
The nurse froze, nervously glancing at Aurora before stammering, "S-She's lost a lot of blood. We really need to treat her wound and run some tests first."
"I said abort the baby. Are you deaf?" Owen shot her a look so cold and commanding that the nurse instantly went silent, intimidated by his presence.
Aurora lay on the gurney, wanting to tell them she wasn't pregnant, but when she tried to speak, nothing came out.
The nurse rushed to get the doctor and pushed her right into the OR.
The lights overhead were so bright that Aurora had to squeeze her eyes shut.
"Her blood pressure is too low. We need a family member's signature before we can give her anesthesia," the nurse called out as she pushed open the door.
Owen was standing right there. The nurse handed him the consent form. "Are you her family? We need your signature for the anesthesia."
Owen took the pen without thinking.
As he was about to sign, a woman's voice suddenly called out from down the hall. "Hey, Owen."
Evelyn came running over, her face full of worry. "Lily started throwing up. She's really sick, and she keeps crying for you. You need to go see her right now."
Owen's hand froze in midair.
He glanced at the consent form in his hand, then at Evelyn's anxious face. "Aurora..."
Before he could finish, Evelyn grabbed his arm, tears welling up in her eyes. "There are doctors with her. She'll be okay. But Lily's a little girl. What if something happens to her?"
"Fine." Owen paused for a second, then pushed the consent form back into the nurse's hands and walked off after Evelyn.
The nurse stood there, stunned, then rushed after him. "Sir, you haven't signed for the anesthesia yet. We can't start the surgery without it."
Owen never once looked back.
His silhouette receded, finally vanishing around the corner of the hallway.
The nurse let out a sigh and turned back toward the operating room.
The doctor came over, looked down at Aurora's belly wound, and said helplessly, "We can't wait any longer. We have to stitch her up right now. But without anesthesia, this is going to hurt like hell."
Aurora let out a bitter laugh.
She never thought Owen wouldn't spare a second to sign the form for her sake.
In his eyes, she'd never mattered at all.
Aurora closed her eyes, steeling herself. "Go ahead. I can handle it."
The nurse grabbed the disinfectant gear and began cleaning up her wound.
The cold iodine made Aurora wince, her brows knitting in pain.
The doctor picked up the suture needle and warned, "This is going to hurt."
Aurora nodded.
Even with all the pain, it couldn't compare to the heartbreak she was feeling right now.
But as the first needle pierced her flesh, her body went rigid from the agony.
With no anesthesia, she felt every agonizing stitch.
Aurora gripped the edge of the operating table so hard that her knuckles turned pale, veins standing out on the back of her hands.
But she clenched her teeth, not letting a single cry escape her lips.
By the time the last stitch was done, her forehead was beaded with sweat, dripping onto the operating table.
It wasn't until the nurse told her she was out of danger that Aurora finally dared to close her eyes and let herself slip into unconsciousness.