Chapter 4
Right after that, Sophie sent me a set of photos.
The first showed her and Charles at the registry office, holding their marriage license.
The second was Charles slipping the Goodwin family's heirloom wedding ring onto her finger.
The third was the two of them in bed together at a hotel, Charles asleep beside her.
There was also a short video, over ten seconds long.
In the video, Charles lowered his head and kissed her.
He once told me I was the only one he'd ever kissed.
Sophie sent me a voice message. "Charles doesn't know I took these pictures. He thinks tonight is about seeing whether you're after the Goodwin family's money.
"But I'm already his wife. Why should I give up my spot for you? Emily, as long as your baby is alive, I won't sleep easy."
I called her back right away.
Sophie picked up, but didn't say a word.
I heard Charles nearby, asking her who was calling.
She answered with a smile, "Oh, it's someone from the hotel calling to confirm our honeymoon suite for tomorrow."
Then she moved to a quieter spot, her voice turning icy cold. "Got anything else to say, Ms. Mistress?"
"Give me back my passport," I said.
"First, post another statement online. Admit that everything you said tonight was your own choice, and the Goodwin family didn't force you to say any of it."
"I don't have the strength to type right now."
"Then record a video."
I looked down at my hair and skirt, both soaked through by the rain. "Sophie, I'm bleeding. If anything happens to the baby, you'll be the one going to jail."
She paused for a second, then let out a mocking laugh. "Who can prove I am behind all this. Everyone saw you leave the Goodwin house by yourself on the live stream.
"You said yourself that the baby isn't Charles's. So if some nobody's bastard gets hurt, what does that have to do with the Goodwin family?"
Right before she hung up, I heard Charles calling her again.
She softened her tone right away. "Coming, honey."
That one word made it clearer to me than any pain in my belly ever could.
The man who'd been by my side through seven years of hardship, who promised to give our baby a home; he was never really mine.
I slumped against the roadside billboard, sinking into the puddle.
It turned out that tonight wasn't about being accepted by the Goodwin family after all.
It was all a test for seven years of struggling in poverty.
Even twelve years of friendship with Sophie was nothing but a test, too.
They all knew the truth. I was the only fool left in the dark.
I didn't have it in me to ask any more questions.
I sent Sophie one final text. [You win. Please, can you get Charles to send a car? The baby's really coming.]
She read the message, but she didn't reply.
Blood had already soaked the hem of my skirt.
A street cleaner spotted me.
She took off her raincoat and covered me with it, then used her own phone to call for an ambulance again. "Miss, where's your family?"
I opened my mouth. But I couldn't think of a single name to say.
The man I loved for seven years acted like I was nothing to him.
The best friend I'd trusted for twelve years wanted my baby gone.
The home I thought I'd finally have was never real.
By the time the ambulance arrived, I was already half-unconscious from losing so much blood.
The doctor said I had a placental abruption. The baby was suffocating. They rushed me straight onto the emergency fast track.
The hospital didn't stop trying to save us because I had no money.
But I was brought in way too late.
The nurse dialed Charles, since he was listed as my emergency contact in the prenatal files.
Sophie picked up the first call.
She claimed it was a wrong number and immediately hung up.
On the second call, Charles picked up himself.
The doctor told him I was suffering from severe blood loss and needed an emergency C-section, and that he needed to come to the hospital immediately.
But all Charles did was ask, "She was perfectly fine at the party now. How could she suddenly be in critical condition? Tell her to stop using the baby to threaten me."
The doctor cursed at him in anger and immediately started the emergency surgery.
Before being wheeled into the operating room, I briefly regained consciousness.
I grabbed the nurse's sleeve. "If you can only save one, save the baby."
The nurse comforted me, her eyes red with tears. "We'll try to save you both."
I shook my head gently. "He already lost his father. He can't lose his life, too."
At 1:17 a.m., the baby boy was delivered.
He didn't cry.
The doctors worked on him for twenty-six minutes before finally stopping.
At 2:09 a.m., my heart stopped after I went into hemorrhagic shock and developed disseminated intravascular coagulation.
On the last page of my medical record, words were written. [Both mother and child died despite all efforts to save them.]
After all this time, Charles finally got the answer he'd been searching for.