Chapter 9
Zachary furrowed his brow slightly as unease crept up his spine. He raised a hand to massage his temples, trying to shake off the strange discomfort gnawing at him.
“I can’t be late for the board meeting,” he eventually said.
Yasmin sat up with the sheets wrapped around her and began tracing circles on his back. “Then… come
home early tonight?”
Her flushed face still bore the afterglow of satisfaction, but a calculating glint flashed in her eyes.
The moment Zachary left, Yasmin grabbed her phone and called Susan to tell her the good news.
“I told you, didn’t I? Zachary isn’t over you,” Susan responded, her voice bubbling with excitement.
She continued, “Everything’s been taken care of at the hospital. The doctor who saw you before will admit it’s a misdiagnosis. Once you’re carrying his child, we’ll see what Melanie has to fight you with.”
Meanwhile, Zachary had arrived at the office.
As soon as he stepped into the conference room, he saw several board members gathered around a high- level executive, fussing over him with concern.
“Mr. Ziegler, please take care of yourself,” someone said.
Another added, “Next time, just join the meeting virtually.”
A weary smile crossed the man’s lips. “I’m running out of time. If I didn’t come now, I might never get the chance again.”
Zachary’s gaze fell on him. The man was Donald Ziegler, a key figure in the company, and a terminal cancer patient.
Since his diagnosis, Donald had wasted away before their eyes. Now, he was little more than skin and bones. The doctors had given him six months at most.
The meeting began shortly after.
Executives took turns presenting their reports, but Zachary’s eyes never left Donald.
Just like Yasmin, Donald was terminally ill.
Unlike Yasmin, however, he looked every bit the dying man. His eyes were lifeless, and there was a pallor to his complexion.
“Mr. Fuller, that concludes the marketing department’s report,” one of the executives said, pulling Zachary
out of his thoughts.
“Got it. Email me the files,” he replied coolly.
After the meeting, Zachary didn’t get back to work right away. Instead, he called Yasmin and asked her to
send over her medical records.
The moment he said that, alarm bells started ringing in her mind.
“Why are you suddenly asking for my records?” she countered.
“I found a good specialist. I just want a second opinion and see if there’s anything else that can be done,”
Zachary responded calmly, twirling a pen between his fingers.
Yasmin sighed. “Forget it. My doctor’s one of the best there is. If he says it’s untreatable, then it really is.”
The pen stilled between Zachary’s fingers. “You won’t even try?”
Yasmin caught the shift in his tone and quickly answered, “Of course I want to try. If there’s a better treatment out there, I’m all for it.”
“Then, send the files over.”
Five minutes later, Yasmin sent over her medical records.
Without delay, Zachary forwarded the file to his private doctor to check for anything out of the ordinary.
It wasn’t long before the doctor called back. “I’ve gone through the records, Mr. Fuller. Everything seems normal. But…”
“But what?” Zachary urged with a frown.
The doctor took a deep breath, then said, “I was attending a medical seminar at Mercy Hill Hospital, and I overheard some staff members talking about your wife.”
“You mean Melanie?”
“Yes. She asked the hospital to keep it from you. But I believe you have the right to know the truth as her husband.”
After the call ended, Zachary received a photo from the doctor. He clicked on the image and saw the words “7-weeks pregnant”.
In that instant, his blood ran cold.
Melanie was pregnant!
Zachary couldn’t believe his eyes. He kept checking it, but the result was the same.
He sprang to his feet, grabbed his car keys, and drove to Mercy Hill Hospital.
Fiona, the doctor who had performed Melanie’s abortion, met Zachary in her office.
With a grim expression, she said, “Yes, Ms. Lloyd was pregnant. She was barely alive when she got here. I tried calling her family. I even called you multiple times, but no one picked up.
“Mr. Fuller, I just don’t understand. She’s your wife. She was carrying your child. How could you be so
heartless?”
Zachary clenched his fists, his expression darkening by the second.
According to the records, Melanie had terminated her pregnancy on the very same day she had been
locked in that dark room after cursing Yasmin to death.
That day, she had been drenched in foul-smelling liquid. As Zachary turned to leave, she had begged him, saying she was miscarrying and needed to go to the hospital.
At the time, he had thought she was just putting on a show. He never imagined Melanie had really been
pregnant.
He was the one who had killed their child.
“Do you have any more questions, Mr. Fuller?” Fiona asked. Her voice was cold, and behind the glasses, her eyes were filled with contempt.
Zachary’s knuckles turned white as he clenched the crumpled report in his hand. He took a moment before forcing out his next words. “No. Thank you.”
As soon as he stormed out of Fiona’s line of sight, he drove his fist into the wall. But the pain shooting through his knuckles was nothing compared to the tidal wave of regret crashing over him.
Melanie had wanted a child more than anything. How deep had her despair been, lying in that stinking room as the life inside her slipped away?
Most importantly, she had always said she wanted to be a good person for her baby’s sake. Her only hope was to become someone her child could be proud of one day.
If she had really been pregnant, she would never have cursed Yasmin, let alone hurt her. After all, she had always believed in divine retribution.
