A Father's Betrayal: The Marrow

Adrian stayed at the hospital, taking care of Mia the entire night. It wasn't until dawn that the child finally fell into a deep sleep.

He let out a breath of relief and calmed Sophia down.

Only when he was about to leave did he take out his phone and see my message.

"Divorce?"

Adrian repeated the word to himself, convinced I must have lost my mind.

Without him, without the title of "Mrs. Foster," who else could possibly give me such a life of luxury?

And Nina's illness—how could I possibly find a matching bone marrow within two years on my own?

At that thought, it finally dawned on Adrian—the bone marrow that had taken so long to find had been reassigned by his own decision… to Sophia's daughter, Mia.

The car quickly filled with smoke.

Adrian slowly finished two or three cigarettes before getting out and heading back into the hospital, straight to the doctor's office.

The doctor in charge of both Nina and Mia was clearly surprised to see him.

"If my wife and I start trying for a baby now, and have one within a year, would the newborn's cord blood be guaranteed to help Nina?"

A fine layer of cold sweat formed on the doctor's forehead.

He had assumed Adrian came to reconsider—perhaps to return the bone marrow to his own daughter. Instead, it was something else entirely.

After careful consideration, the doctor answered cautiously, "We can only say the chances are relatively high. There are always risks. We also need to consider both your and your wife's physical condition, as well as possible complications during pregnancy—such as miscarriage due to excessive stress. None of this can be guaranteed."

"And besides…" The doctor adjusted his glasses, hesitating before continuing, "your wife had a very difficult delivery with Nina. Having another child could very likely mean going through all that suffering again."

Adrian froze slightly, only then recalling, in a haze, what I had gone through during childbirth.

The eczema had been so unbearable that I scratched until the skin on my stomach was left in a terrible state.

During delivery, it turned from a natural birth into an emergency C-section, and an amniotic fluid embolism nearly took my life.

The postpartum depression that followed, along with dealing with stretch marks and surgical scars, drained me completely.

"I understand." Leaning back against the sofa, Adrian picked up the coffee and drained it in one go. "Don't tell her about this."

The doctor nodded solemnly and respectfully saw him out.

When he returned to his desk, he couldn't help but sigh to himself—if Adrian's wife ever found out that her husband had given away their own daughter's life-saving bone marrow to someone else, she would never let it go.

The moment Adrian parked the car at home, he headed straight for the garden.

At this hour, I would usually be in the garden with Nina, tending to the plants and getting her to move around a bit.

But today, only a few scattered servants remained in the garden.

"Where are my wife and daughter?"

"Mrs. Foster left early this morning with luggage, along with Nina."

Adrian frowned slightly and went straight inside, heading to Nina's room.

Every time he came here, Nina would call out "Dad" loudly and drop everything to run into his arms.

But now, even her favorite toys were gone from the room.

He took out his phone and made several calls in a row, but none were answered.

Irritation surged through him.

"Before she left, did she say or do anything unusual?"

The sudden question left the butler puzzled.

Wasn't Adrian the one who never cared about what his wife did at home?

Still, he replied respectfully, "The maid who was cleaning noticed Mrs. Foster threw away quite a lot of things and asked about it. Mrs. Foster said something rather strange… that things which don't belong to her are meaningless to keep."

Adrian dismissed him with a wave. When he returned to the room, he found that all my clothes were gone from the walk-in closet.

On the vanity, only a few pieces of expensive jewelry remained—the ones he had given me to keep up appearances.

A sudden tightness gripped Adrian's chest. He loosened his tie and turned to issue an order to his assistant.

"Within ten minutes, get me all the transaction records for my secondary card this month."