Chapter 4
Before Adam left the hospital room, he added, "I'll come pick you up and take you home tonight."
I did not answer.
He took my silence as agreement, as he had so many times before.
He assumed that if he gave me a way to back down, I would take it on my own.
But this time, I did not.
That afternoon, I checked myself out of the hospital.
The doctor recommended that I stay another two days for observation.
But I did not want to remain in that hospital.
It was a private hospital Adam had invested in.
My payment records were automatically synced to his family account as well.
The ridiculous part was that he still did not know I had miscarried.
In his system, my medical alert had been classified as: [Routine pregnancy-related fluctuation.]
I asked my lawyer to pick me up from the hospital.
She looked at my pale face and asked, "Ms. Lane, are you sure you want to go back and pack now?"
I nodded. "I'm sure."
I no longer wanted to live in a house filled with AI monitoring and constant priority assessments.
When I returned home, the smart screen in the living room lit up automatically.
[Welcome home, Ms. Lane.
[Physical weakness detected. Would you like to activate Health Care Mode?]
I looked at those words and suddenly laughed.
The night before, I had lain on the bathroom floor in a pool of blood, and it had shown me no care at all.
Now it knew I was physically weak.
I walked to the central control screen and entered the administrator password.
Adam had given me that password during the first year of our marriage.
He had said, "You're the lady of this house. Of course you have the same access as I do."
Only later did I learn that "the same" still came with a hierarchy.
Adam Grant was the Primary Administrator.
Chloe Rivers was a Special Emergency Contact.
And I, his wife, was only an ordinary Household Member.
I opened the permissions list.
[Adam Grant: Primary Administrator.]
[Summer Lane: Household Member.]
[Chloe Rivers: Top-Priority Contact; forced wake-up access; Do Not Disturb exemption.]
I stared at that line for a long time.
She did not live in this house, yet she had more authority to wake my husband than I did.
I deleted my own Household Member access.
A confirmation window immediately appeared: [Are you sure you want to leave the home network?]
[After leaving, you will no longer have access to home security, health care, emergency calling, and other services.]
I tapped Confirm.
The screen flickered.
The mechanical voice remained as gentle as ever: [Ms. Lane, you have left the home system for The Grant Residence.
[We wish you a pleasant life.]
How nice.
At least it knew to wish me happiness.
I went back to the bedroom to pack.
I owned very little.
I packed a few clothes.
I took a few books.
I also packed an emerald bracelet my mother had left me.
I took the prenatal examination report from the drawer as well.
The report read: [Intrauterine pregnancy, ten weeks.]
I held it and stared at it for a long time.
Then I placed it in a document envelope with the hospital's miscarriage report, emergency records, and AI interception logs.
The divorce agreement went inside as well.
I left the envelope in front of the smart screen in the living room.
After a moment's thought, I took off my wedding ring and placed it on top.
The ring landed on the glass table with a faint click.
Like the final period at the end of our marriage.
It was nine in the evening when Adam came home.
I was already gone.
My lawyer later told me that the first thing he said after entering was, "Where is Summer Lane?"
The SmartHome Assistant replied, [Ms. Lane is not currently detected in the residence.
[Notice: Ms. Lane has left the home network.]
Adam was silent for several seconds.
Then he gave a cold laugh. "She really knows how to make a scene."
He walked into the living room and saw the document envelope and ring in front of the smart screen.
His expression darkened immediately. "Pull up Summer Lane's call records from last night."
The SmartHome Assistant responded at once: [Call and voice records from 22:13 to 23:02 last night have been retrieved.]
The first entry.
[22:13 - Incoming call from Summer Lane.]
[Rapid breathing, crying, and abnormal speech rate detected.]
[System assessment: Emotional fluctuation detected in partner.]
[Action taken: Call automatically blocked.]
The second entry.
[22:18 - Incoming call from Summer Lane.]
[Keywords: pain, bleeding, baby.]
[System assessment: Elevated emotional risk.]
[Action taken: Cooldown Protection Mode activated.]
The third entry.
[22:27 - Voice request from Summer Lane.]
[Original message: Adam Grant, I'm pregnant. I'm bleeding. We might lose the baby.]
[System assessment: Escalating partner conflict.]
[Action taken: Deep-breathing exercises recommended. Mr. Grant was not notified.]
The color slowly drained from Adam's face.