Chapter 118 Evidence of Breast Milk "Poisoning"
"Of course, I feel terrible! Of course, I feel guilty! But those are two separate issues!"
Arabella never could have imagined that before she'd even found an apartment or taken the first step toward divorce, something like this would happen!
All she could think about now was that if she lost her job, she wouldn't have money to rent a place and move out. When would she ever be able to get divorced?
"I don't care. If you can't handle this properly, then I will." Gabriel was determined not to give her any more chances.
Arabella exploded. "Gabriel, can you please be reasonable! I can handle my own affairs. Can you stop being so domineering and controlling? Besides, we're getting divorced anyway—you have no right to interfere in my life!"
"I never agreed to divorce you."
"But I've decided!"
Arabella practically growled those words, and silence fell between them.
In that silence, Gabriel's phone rang.
Frowning and suppressing his temper, he pulled out his phone. Seeing Dominic's name on the caller ID, he swiped to answer. "Hello, Dominic..."
"Gabriel, has Emily contacted you?" Dominic's tone was serious.
Gabriel's eyes sharpened, knowing something else had gone wrong. "No, did she run away from home again?"
"Yeah..." Dominic explained, "This morning, the doctor examined her and confirmed fetal demise. They recommended an immediate D&C procedure, but she refuses to believe the baby is gone and won't follow medical advice. While we weren't paying attention, she slipped out of the hospital. Now she's missing."
Gabriel's expression became indescribably complex.
The baby was ultimately lost, and he had to shoulder that responsibility.
"The doctor said that after fetal demise, there won't be a natural miscarriage, but there will be continuous bleeding. If the uterus isn't cleared promptly, embryonic tissue could cause adhesions leading to severe hemorrhaging—it could be very dangerous." Dominic was worried about this possibility, which was why he was calling everyone he could think of.
Gabriel gripped his phone, momentarily at a loss for how to respond.
Dominic said something else, but Gabriel wasn't really listening anymore. He just felt overwhelmed by all these problems converging at once, his mind in turmoil.
After hanging up, he remained silent.
Arabella stood across from him, watching his reaction, her heart growing cold again.
Clearly Emily had encountered some trouble again, leaving him so distracted, as if he'd suffered a major blow.
Sure enough, after a brief silence, Gabriel murmured quietly, "I need to go out for something."
Arabella couldn't help herself and said mockingly, "No matter when, as long as she has the slightest problem, you rush to her immediately. If that's the case, why keep dragging this out instead of getting divorced? Aren't you tired of being torn between her and me?"
Gabriel's gaze was as deep as thick ink as he looked at her, explaining, "She lost her baby, and now the situation is critical. She's missing, and if she doesn't get back to the hospital for surgery soon, the consequences could be severe."
Arabella was startled. "She lost her baby?"
This was something she hadn't expected.
But thinking it over, she figured that with Emily being so willful, she'd probably caused this outcome through her own recklessness.
"Yes, Dominic said this morning's examination showed fetal demise. The doctor recommended an immediate D&C, but she refused. This afternoon she snuck out of the hospital."
Gabriel normally wouldn't explain these things—he'd never been in the habit of justifying his actions to anyone. But considering their current situation, he felt he needed to clarify things or the misunderstanding would deepen.
"I bear undeniable responsibility for this, so now that she's missing, I need to go look for her. In her condition, if she hemorrhages, it could be very dangerous."
After hearing this, Arabella looked even more confused.
Emily had lost her baby—why was he the one taking responsibility?
Had something happened between him and Emily that caused her baby to die in the womb?
Questions swirled in her mind, but she didn't know how to voice them. Gabriel was worried about Emily and didn't have the presence of mind to explain further. He just said he'd try to get back early, then hurried away.
Arabella sat down stiffly, her heart feeling empty for a long while.
She couldn't tell if she felt heartbroken and disappointed, or relieved and vindicated—her emotions were just chaotic.
But through all the confusion, one fact remained undeniable, no matter what, Emily was an indelible presence in Gabriel's life. Whenever Emily needed him, he would drop everything without hesitation and rush to her side.
She couldn't share her husband with another woman, so the outcome still couldn't change.
After sitting in silence for a while, she remembered the breast milk incident and frowned, immediately going to find her phone.
She had to get to the bottom of this!
Even if it meant falling out with all her colleagues, she had to find the malicious perpetrator!
But having only recently joined the company, she didn't understand many of the rules and procedures yet, so she could only ask Ella first.
When Ella heard about it, she was shocked, "Are you sure? Someone secretly added things to your breast milk? Could it be that it wasn't stored properly and spoiled? That would also cause stomach upset in babies."
"The breast milk sample has already been tested, and it contained many additives commonly used in dairy products. It can be confirmed that someone tampered with it." Arabella said seriously, already having a few suspects in mind.
"Ella, are there security cameras in our department's break room? I didn't notice."
Ella said, "There aren't any in the break room itself, just one camera in the hallway leading to it. But that wouldn't show who opened the refrigerator and messed with your breast milk."
After all, employees from the entire department went in and out of the break room every day. Without knowing the specific time, there was no way to identify the perpetrator.
"That makes it a bit difficult." Arabella sighed in frustration.
Ella asked with concern, "How are the children? Is it serious?"
"They're vomiting and having diarrhea. Isabella's symptoms are more severe, Henry's are a bit milder. The doctor prescribed medication—it'll probably take three or four days for them to recover."
The main issue was that the babies were too young to talk and could only cry, which made the adults extremely anxious.
After hanging up, Arabella saw that both Isabella and Henry were temporarily asleep. Still thinking about her Medium article assignment, she could only set aside these messy problems for now and hurry to the study to work.
The article was about electronic smart locks. She'd been pondering it for two days and already had her approach figured out. After working for about an hour, she successfully completed it.
While doing her final review, looking at the fingerprint imagery in the copy suddenly gave her a flash of inspiration—she had a breakthrough!
The bag she used daily to carry her breast milk was a thermal insulated tote bag. When she left the office, she would also put a bottle of ice water in it so the breast milk would still be at a low temperature when she got home, ensuring maximum freshness.
If the person who tampered with her breast milk wasn't extremely careful, they might have left fingerprints on the bag!
Thinking of this, Arabella immediately got up and went downstairs, rushing to the entryway.
Looking at the green thermal tote bag, she was about to pick it up when she suddenly stopped, then turned to ask the help for a sealable evidence bag.
Mary watched her carefully fold the tote bag and place it in the evidence bag, asking in confusion, "Ma'am, what are you doing?"
Arabella said, "Collecting evidence, preserving fingerprints."