Chapter 30 Threatened Abortion
Sloane's POV
The irony, what absolute irony.
I couldn't help but laugh out loud.
In all their eyes, Keira acting pitiful was kindness, while my independence and clear-headedness was nothing but a bunch of flaws.
My laughter completely enraged her.
"How dare you laugh!"
Isabelle screamed, and without any hesitation, the glass in her hand came crashing down hard toward my left hand!
Sharp pain exploded instantly from the back of my hand. The glass shattered, its sharp fragments mixed with warm blood, digging deep into my flesh.
Just as Isabelle raised her hand, ready to strike a second time, the hospital room door was violently shoved open from outside.
Jared, carrying a thermos, took in the scene and immediately roared in fury.
"What the hell are you doing!"
He threw the thermos to the ground, warm porridge spilling everywhere.
He rushed over in a few quick steps and, without thinking, shoved Isabelle away hard.
Isabelle stumbled backward from the force, lost her balance, and fell to the ground in a heap.
Jared didn't even glance at her.
He rushed to my side, half-kneeling, carefully helping me up from the cold floor.
"Sloane..." He wanted to touch me, his hand reaching halfway, but seeing my left hand covered in blood and glass shards, it froze in mid-air.
He lifted me up and gently placed me back on the bed.
The piercing pain in my hand, mixed with the pain from my hair being pulled, made my whole body tremble.
But what terrified me more was the waves of cramping pain coming from deep in my lower abdomen.
"Jared..." I gripped his arm tightly, my face pale as paper, my voice breaking, "Get a doctor... my hand hurts so much, and my stomach... my stomach hurts too..."
"Doctor!" Jared's face went white instantly. He whipped around and let out a roar toward the doorway.
Soon, the sound of hurried footsteps approached. David and Lila were the first to rush in.
When they saw the mess in the room and me curled up on the bed covered in blood, both their faces changed.
"Quick, take her to the examination room!" David made an immediate decision, directing the nurses to bring a gurney.
I was carefully transferred to the gurney. Lila held my uninjured hand, her eyes red, "Sloane, don't be scared, you'll be okay."
David pushed the bed while quickly checking my condition.
As we passed Isabelle, still sitting dazed on the floor, Jared stopped.
He looked down at the woman with her ruined makeup, his voice cold as an ice-forged blade, "If anything happens to her, I'll make you all pay with your lives."
In the examination room, the lights were blindingly bright.
David was treating the wound on my left hand, removing the glass shards one by one, each movement pulling at my nerves.
I bit my teeth, not making a sound, but cold sweat soaked through the hospital gown on my back.
Lila held the ultrasound probe, gently moving it across my flat abdomen.
On the screen, blurry images flickered, but Lila's frown grew deeper and deeper.
Her expression gradually became grave and pale.
"How is it?" Watching her expression, my heart sank bit by bit.
Lila set down the probe and took a deep breath. She came to my side, leaned in close, and whispered, "Sloane, you're showing signs of threatened miscarriage."
My mind went completely blank with a boom.
"This matter..." Lila looked at the tall figure pacing anxiously back and forth in the hallway outside, and said hesitantly, "We have to tell Jared immediately. You're a high-risk pregnancy, we need his signature..."
"No!" I interrupted her almost immediately, without thinking.
I grabbed Lila's hand like it was my last lifeline, the vulnerability and pleading in my eyes almost overflowing, "Lila, please, don't tell him."
I couldn't let him know.
This child absolutely could not become the shackles binding me to his side again.
This marriage that had long since rotted and stunk, I didn't want to maintain it with an innocent life.
Lila looked at me, her eyes full of heartache and confusion, "Why? Sloane, he's the child's father, he has the right to know! And your current condition..."
"It's because of him that I'm like this now!" My emotions surged, and the cramping in my abdomen seemed even more pronounced.
David finished treating my hand injury and walked over, just in time to hear our conversation.
"What do you mean? That man isn't your brother, he's actually your husband? He doesn't know you're pregnant and he's still entangled with another woman?"
He looked at my pale face and the determination in my eyes, his brow furrowing tightly.
"Sloane, you're just too foolish." He sighed, his voice filled with suppressed anger, "You always carry everything alone, that's why people bully you to this extent."
He turned around, looking at the man outside, his gaze instantly turning cold, "He can't even protect his own wife, what right does he have to be a father? I'm going to settle this with him!"
With that, he lifted his foot to walk out.
"No!" I grabbed David's sleeve tightly, shaking my head with all my strength. The cramping in my abdomen made my vision go dark, "Don't go, David, I'm begging you, don't tell anyone."
David stopped, turned to look at me, his eyes full of heartache and frustration.
"Sloane, how long are you going to endure this? He's hurt you like this and you're still protecting him?"
Protecting him?
I laughed bitterly. I just didn't want to use an innocent child to maintain any connection with a man who didn't love me at all.
"Lila, David, this is my own business." I looked at them, the pleading in my eyes almost shattering, "This child... I want to decide its future myself. Please, help me this once."
My voice was broken. Lila looked at the determination in my eyes and finally softened. She pressed on David's shoulder and gently shook her head.
David clenched his fists, veins bulging on the back of his hands, his chest heaving violently. Finally, he loosened his fists in defeat and punched the wall beside him with a dull thud.
"Fine," Lila took a deep breath, wiping the cold sweat from my forehead, her voice strained, "We'll agree to this. But you must promise me, absolute bed rest, you can't move around at all."
I nodded weakly.
After treating my wounds and taking medication to prevent miscarriage, the terrifying cramping pain finally eased slightly.
I was sent back to the hospital room. Jared immediately came up to me, his face showing undisguised anxiety.
"How is she?" He grabbed Lila's arm, asking urgently.
Lila pulled back and switched to her professional voice. "The left hand is superficial. Glass is out, nothing serious. The right hand needs more time."
She didn't mention my threatened miscarriage at all.