Shattered by His Own Hand

After my father-in-law, Oswald Leyton, is diagnosed with a complicated form of heart disease, I rush to Germasia for an intensive training on the most advanced medical technique just so that I can operate on him and treat his condition.

When I return home after the training three months later, I gleefully find my husband, Nicholas Leyton, to tell him about the good news that I have mastered the technique.

The plane lands. However, the luxury car that should have come for me turns out to be a broken-down van instead.

Someone throws a sack over my head, and I can hear Nicholas' cold laughter next to me.

"Did you have lots of fun with your boytoy overseas for the last three months, Victoria Rosewood?"

After he and a few other men force themselves on me multiple times, Nicholas slides open the door, planning to abandon me in the wilderness.

"Nicholas! You can't do this to me! I'm pregnant…"

I try to explain myself, throwing myself at him despite all the cuts and bruises on my body. However, Nicholas gets even angrier after hearing that and forcefully shoves me aside.

I feel an excruciating pain coming from my lower abdomen. Warm, sticky blood starts flowing down my thighs.

Then, my vision blacks out, and I lose consciousness altogether.

When I woke up again, I realized that I was in a hospital bed.

My abdomen was still in great pain, the agony crashing onto me like a tidal wave, telling me that my baby was no longer alive.

My husband, Nicholas Leyton, leaned against the chair while tapping his leather shoes against the floor every once in a while.

"You're such a bitch, Victoria Rosewood! How dare you bring back some random bastard's baby after your three months of 'intensive courses' overseas?"

I gripped my sheets tightly until my knuckles turned white.

"This was our child! You knew that I went to Germasia for an intensive course on the latest cardiac surgery technique—"

"Intensive course?"

Nicholas suddenly yanked my hair and flung his phone in my face.

The screen displayed a photo of me and my medical assistant, Dean Houston. The photo had been taken from the back, so only our backs were visible.

"You lived with him for three months! Did you think I was blind?"

Evelyn Richardson, who was standing by the window, began fanning the fire.

"Nick, did you know? When I video-called her the last time, I even saw her assistant drape his coat over her shoulders."

I felt cold dread coursing through my body. Dean had only covered me with my doctor's coat because I had nearly fainted on the floor after a gruelling surgery for a patient who was already knocking on death's door.

Nicholas then slapped the hospital bills in my face and said, "That assistant of yours was also present in your sick father's room the entire time before he died! I see that he's behaving even more like your husband than I am!"

Evelyn pretended to defend me and said, "Don't get mad anymore, Nick. You'll get sick…"

My doctor suddenly coughed awkwardly as he knocked on the door before walking in. Then, he gave me a rather embarrassed look.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Rosewood. We understand that you are very passionate about your lover, but since you're also a doctor yourself, you should have been aware that having intimacy in the first trimester of your pregnancy would have caused a miscarriage. We've done all we could."

I felt my heart sink to the bottom of my stomach.

Yet, Evelyn just burst out in laughter.

"What a relief that it wasn't Nick's baby after all!"

That line spoke mass, and also packed a punch.

The doctor looked confused at first. Then, probably worried that he would soon hear some things he'd rather not know of, he quietly excused himself and left the ward.

Nicholas lost his temper with me when he saw that I was looking very upset.

"Victoria Rosewood! You should be happy and grateful that I got rid of that bastard's baby for you!"

I shake my head fervently with tears in my eyes. "No, you have to believe me. It was our baby! It wasn't—"

I kept wanting to defend myself, but Evelyn interrupted me first.

"You went behind your own husband's back and flew overseas for three months with a random guy. And yet, you're still hoping that Nick would forgive you? What kind of a delusion is that?"

There were still other patients in the shared ward. When they heard what Evelyn said, everyone immediately cast dirty, disdainful looks at me.

"If I were her husband, I'd have divorced her a long time ago."

"And to think that she's a doctor too! Why couldn't she have held herself back?"

"Exactly. What a shameless bitch."

I turn to look at Nicholas with beseeching eyes.

However, Nicholas killed all of my last hopes with a single cold, heartless line.

"You deserved to have lost the baby."

My heart throbbed in pain. Tears wouldn't stop streaming down my face. Yet, Evelyn got even more ecstatic when she watched me like this.

I shook my head weakly, still trying to deny it. "It's not like that. I really didn't—"

"You didn't? Then stay in the hospital for however long you want. Come back only after you've reflected on yourself and what you've just done!"

After that, Nicholas turned and left with Evelyn.

…

I returned home three days later. As soon as I stepped into the house, I saw Nicholas' father, Oswald Leyton, and Evelyn, both sitting on the couch.

When Oswald caught sight of me, the smile immediately stopped on his face. He then spoke in a sarcastic tone, "Done playing with your boytoys? Or did you finally remember that you had a family to come home to?"

Evelyn draped herself over Oswald's arm like she had a very close relationship with him, behaving as though she were the madam of the house.

"Didn't you know that, Oswald? She traveled overseas by herself with another man for three whole months!"

As soon as Oswald heard that, he flew into a huge rage and began yelling at me.