Chapter 70 We Once Had a Child
Marcus understood why I suddenly fainted, and guilt consumed him.
He just wanted to teach Lucas a lesson—he never expected it would cut into the deepest wound in my heart.
I saw the regret in his eyes. I knew he did it for me, that he was loving me in his own way.
"Marcus." I lifted my hand, and Marcus immediately knelt beside the hospital bed, holding my hand with both of his in a reverent gesture.
I thought Marcus really didn't need to go this far, but I didn't tell him to get up. Instead, I asked him seriously, "You promised me before. Why did you go back on your word?"
"Going back on my word was wrong of me," Marcus admitted awkwardly. "But if I had to do it over again, I'd still do the same thing. Lucas actually kidnapped you—who knows what he put you through those few days? And Gale and Brian didn't even punish him properly. It makes me furious just thinking about it!"
"I understand now."
Marcus looked at me, confused. "Bella, what do you understand?"
I patted Marcus's arm, changing the subject. "I'm hungry."
Marcus jumped up. "I'll go get you something to eat!"
I watched Marcus's retreating figure, having made a decision in my heart.
After resting at home for a few days, I went to the hospital to see Lucas.
He'd been transferred to an expensive private hospital, with rooms booked on either side, taking up nearly half a floor.
Alfred was delighted to hear I'd come and warmly invited me into the room.
Lucas was leaning against the headboard, looking at his phone, his complexion better than I'd expected.
Hearing the commotion, he glanced up at me briefly, then frowned slightly. "I heard you fainted outside the operating room? Your health didn't use to be this bad."
"Right back at you," I joked, unusually. "You keep getting hurt, I keep getting sick—does this count as marital synchronicity?"
Lucas didn't laugh. He put down his phone and studied me calmly and carefully, as if checking on my health, but he looked at me for a long time, his eyes hiding a fierce possessiveness.
"A lot of people are wondering if you'll go crazy and kidnap me again," I said, tucking a few strands of hair behind my ear, making casual conversation.
"I've been taking my medication on time lately. My mental state is very stable. Those people are going to be disappointed," Lucas said, glancing at me sideways.
If I didn't know him so well, I would barely have caught that the first part of his sentence was deliberately meant for me to hear.
I lowered my eyes. "I won't disturb your rest any longer."
"Wait!" Lucas looked unhappy. "You're leaving after just a few minutes?"
"Make Marcus apologize to me!" Lucas raised his eyebrows in displeasure. "My left shoulder has an old injury—you haven't forgotten, have you? This time, if I hadn't been lucky, I might never have been able to hold a gun again."
"Is the act really necessary?" I interrupted Lucas.
Lucas was silent for two seconds. "What do you mean?"
"Between us, do you think you understand me better, or do I understand you better?" I asked him back.
Lucas said nothing.
"You instinctively protect your left shoulder in close combat, but when Marcus attacked you, you could have dodged or taken the hit with your right shoulder, but you didn't." I looked into his eyes. We were so close, yet we felt strange and distant from each other.
"You did it on purpose—got hurt on purpose, deliberately let me see Marcus hurting you," I concluded.
"You're still holding a grudge about what happened before. You don't think you did anything wrong at all! You wanted to create a rift between Marcus and me. You wanted to make me feel guilty toward you!" I smiled coldly. Lucas was using taking his medication on time to lower my defenses while scheming to make me resent my brothers. I never thought he'd be willing to put this much effort into manipulating me now!
Lucas's facade cracked, and his expression changed slightly.
I didn't give him a chance to explain, my tone growing colder. "Lucas, you really underestimate how well I know you."
Lucas's embarrassment turned to anger. "So what if I did?"
He no longer hid his hatred for my brothers. "You think Gale is some kind of good guy? He's been pushing me at every turn, stirring up all kinds of trouble on my turf. Brian's working with the tax department to cause me problems. I just wanted you to see their true colors!"
"I grew up with them. I know what kind of people they are better than you do." Watching him act so self-righteous, the last trace of attachment I had to this relationship completely vanished.
"I told you—every time you use my soft heart, use my feelings for you, you're just wearing away my love for you. I don't like idiots who only know how to hurt themselves!"
I paused. "I did love you very much once, but love isn't my whole life. I care more about my family."
Lucas didn't want to hear this. He urgently tried to interrupt me, but I pulled a medical record from my bag and handed it to him.
"What's this?" Lucas took it suspiciously.
"You've been wondering why I keep getting sick lately, right? The answer is, I was pregnant."
Lucas stared at me in shock, joy bursting in his eyes. He looked excitedly at my stomach and carefully reached out his hand, as if wanting to touch it.
I stepped back.
"Is it my child? Sit down. Alfred!" He wanted Alfred to come in and take care of me. I stopped him and gestured for him to look at the medical record.
Lucas opened it happily, but when he saw what was inside, his expression instantly froze.
His hands gripped the record tightly, crumpling the paper. He stared at me fiercely. "Where's the child?"
"Gone," I said, my voice cold and hard as ice. "If you count back, it would have been conceived the day you asked me for a divorce."
"Impossible." Lucas denied it, throwing the medical record on the floor. "You're lying to me!"
He grabbed my shoulders hard. "You got rid of our child? What gives you the right to do that! That was my child!"
"With parents like us, this child wouldn't have been happy anyway." I couldn't bear the pain in my shoulders and broke free forcefully, backing toward the door.
Lucas desperately tried to grab me, but fell off the hospital bed instead. He looked up at me miserably, disappointment and pain intertwining in his eyes, finally transforming into rage.
The medical record was actually fake. The day Lucas asked for a divorce, I had taken emergency contraception. If I were to get accidentally pregnant, it would more likely have been during those days Lucas held me captive.
But I had lost a child—that was true.
Last year. When Lucas went to Dawnharbor to celebrate Amelia's birthday.
It was a very fragile little life. I knew Lucas longed for family warmth deep down, so when I miscarried, I didn't tell him. Of course, even if I had wanted to tell him, I couldn't reach him at the time.
My brothers all knew about this, which is why they opposed my relationship with Lucas.
This time, to completely sever my relationship with Lucas, I falsified the date on the medical record. Lucas's reaction was exactly as I predicted, but seeing the warmth in his eyes cool bit by bit, my heart felt like it was soaking in icy seawater, hurting so much I wanted to cry.
Perhaps from the very beginning, we should never have entered each other's lives.
"When you're discharged, find time to go to the courthouse to finalize the divorce," I said, quickly turning around, afraid that staying any longer would expose my act.
"Stop!" Lucas roared, his voice mixed with pain. "Isabella, you're not allowed to leave!"
I paused briefly but didn't turn back and left the hospital room.