Chapter 3
When Sadie woke up, the smell of disinfectant filled her nose.
She heard a nurse sobbing nearby. "Dr. Brooks, after so many miscarriages and IVF attempts, your uterus was already so weak.
"This time, because the miscarriage wasn't treated right away, you lost too much blood. We couldn't save it. You lost your uterus."
Sadie had spent her whole life helping other women keep their babies, but when it came to her own, she couldn't save it. Now, she'd never have the chance to be a mother. What bitter irony.
"What did she lose?" Just then, Stephen walked into the ward.
The nurse looked ready to curse him out, but Sadie shot her a warning glance. Left with no choice, the nurse left, grumbling under her breath.
Stephen sat down next to Sadie, took her hand, and kissed it, guilt written all over his face. "Sadie, how are you feeling? I'm really sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean to force you into that. But Jessica couldn't wait.
"Sadie, there's something I need to come clean about."
With that, he bowed, remorse etched all over his face. "My parents kept pressuring me, and I couldn't handle it anymore. I went behind your back and got a vasectomy reversal, and ended up having two kids with Jessica.
"But I swear to you, Sadie, that's all there is. There was nothing else between us, I promise.
"Sadie, it's all my fault. Go ahead and hit me. Do whatever you want, as long as you can forgive me. I swear, I won't fight back no matter what."
His eyes rimmed red, Stephen grabbed her hand and made her slap him again and again.
Sadie jerked her hand away, disgust twisting in her gut. "Whatever happens to you is none of my business."
A few more days, and she'd be divorced from Stephen.
After that, he'd be nothing but a stranger to her.
Stephen froze, his eyes going bloodshot with desperation. "Sadie, we're married. You're my wife. How could anything about me ever be none of your business?"
He grew frantic, grabbing her shoulders and turning her to face him. "I told you I have two kids with Jessica. Sadie, I lied to you, I betrayed you. Does it mean nothing to you?"
Sadie almost laughed in bitter irony.
He was the one who lied to her, the one who made her lose her baby, the one who started a whole new family with another woman behind her back.
He was the one who forced her into the operating room for his pregnant mistress, and because of him, she lost her baby and any chance of ever being a mother again.
Sadie yanked her hand away. "Stephen, whoever you have kids with, and if you want to build a whole new family with someone else, it has absolutely nothing to do with me. If I could, I'd divorce you right this second."
"Divorce?" Stephen grabbed Sadie's chin, his eyes burning with rage. "Listen up, Sadie. Don't think about leaving me. As long as I'm alive, you'll never get away from me.
"Don't forget, everything you have comes from me. Without me, you're nobody. If I ever hear you talk like that again, you'll regret it."
The next second, Stephen leaned in and kissed her, his voice trembling with wounded pleading. "Sadie, I was only with Jessica to have kids for the Hawthorne family, nothing more.
"You're the only one I've ever loved. You can't leave me, please."
Sadie was so sickened that she didn't want to waste another word on him.
Stephen couldn't explain it, but seeing her like this made his skin crawl with irritation.
As Stephen was about to say something, a frantic shout rang out from the doorway. "Mr. Hawthorne, bad news. Ms. Sutton is having a massive hemorrhage."
Stephen's face instantly drained of color, and he rushed out of the room.
Less than thirty seconds later, Stephen stormed back in, his face dark with rage as he grabbed Sadie by the neck. "Sadie, you actually left a blade inside Jessica's stomach?"