Chapter 10
"You think I'm blind? I just came from over there and saw you push Sarah, and you're still making excuses."
Sarah sat on the ground, crying her heart out.
"William, Ava called me a homewrecker. It's all my fault. I shouldn't have come back to the country. The doctor said my condition can't handle any stress. Maybe I should go back to Lumaria tomorrow to recover. Ava doesn't seem to want me here."
Ava was pinned against the wall by William's hand around her throat, the medical reports in her hand scattering on the ground like snowflakes.
The cold from the wall behind her spread through her entire body. The softest place in her heart felt like it had been pierced with a huge hole, bleeding slowly, with cold wind cutting right through her. Just when she felt like she was going to die the next second, a warm flow slowly seeped out from below.
Through blurry tears, she silently prayed, 'My baby, please be okay.'
"William, please, let me go..."
Her vision blurred, and sounds became muffled.
She vaguely heard Sarah still crying,
"William, don't blame Ava. She only pushed me lightly. It was my own weak legs that couldn't hold me up."
William's eyes looked ice-cold. If looks could kill, Ava would have died a thousand times over.
"How can you be so cruel to bully your own sister? Don't you know she has a serious heart condition? You said such horrible things to upset her, and pushed her too. If anything happens to her, I won't let you off."
After leaving those harsh words, William let go, turned around, picked Sarah up from the ground, and rushed toward the examination room.
Ava watched his anxious figure carrying Sarah away, her heart gripped so tightly it hurt to breathe. If he wasn't worried about Sarah, he probably would have strangled her to death.
Feeling the wetness below, Ava clutched her lower abdomen and slowly crouched down. She picked up the scattered medical reports one by one. As she picked up the last one, a pair of shiny black leather shoes appeared beside her.
"Ava, what's wrong?"
Ava looked up to see Michael's gentle face, his voice as soft as a spring breeze.
Michael crouched down to help her gather the papers, his eyes lingering on the ultrasound report for a moment.
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through Ava's lower abdomen, cramping and twisting. She curled up and knelt on the ground, her face completely drained of color from the pain.
"Ava, where does it hurt?"
Ava was in too much pain to speak.
"Ava, don't be scared. I'll take you to find a doctor right now."
Ava felt like she was about to pass out. She only heard that sentence and rapid breathing. She felt weightless and heard the wind rushing past her ears—Michael was carrying her and running.
Her memory seemed to have a two-hour gap. Ava had no idea what happened afterward. When she woke up, she was already lying in a hospital bed with an IV in her hand.
A tall, upright figure stood by the window—broad shoulders, narrow waist, white shirt pressed without a single wrinkle.
That build was clearly the Morgan family genes.
"Michael?"
Ava called out tentatively. Michael turned around at the sound.
"Ava, how are you feeling? Do you want some water?"
Ava placed one hand on her lower abdomen. "Michael, I..."
Michael pulled over a chair and sat down.
"Don't worry, the baby is fine. And you need to be fine too, okay?"
Hearing that the baby was okay, Ava breathed a sigh of relief. She never expected that the first person to know about her pregnancy would be William's uncle.
She hadn't met Michael many times and couldn't really say they were close.
The first time she saw him was at the airport when she went to pick up Lucas. Lucas came running over excitedly to tell her,
"I just saw this super handsome, refined guy wearing rimless glasses. I'd love to go on a date with him."
When they left the airport, they saw him getting into William's car.
Later, Ava learned he was William's uncle.
Pulling her thoughts back, Ava didn't want William to know about the baby. She was afraid he would force her to have an abortion.
"Michael, can you keep this secret for me?"
Michael's lips curved slightly. "Why keep such good news a secret?"
"We're getting divorced. We've already signed the divorce papers."
Michael raised an eyebrow, staring straight at her. After a long silence, he nodded slightly.
"I can keep your secret."
Ava felt uncomfortable under his gaze. Somehow, she always felt there was something strange about the way Michael looked at her, yet his words and actions were perfectly proper, without a hint of impropriety.
"Thank you, Michael. But why were you at the hospital today?"
"I came to get some medicine. I happened to see you crouching on the ground picking things up. The doctor said you need bed rest for a week. You have a cold, and... threatened miscarriage. You must listen to the doctor, okay?"
Ava nodded.
"Sorry to trouble you, Michael. If you have things to do, you can go. You don't need to stay with me."
Michael glanced at the IV bag on the stand beside the bed—there was still about half left.
"I'll wait until it's finished. I've hired two caregivers waiting outside. Call me if you need anything. You don't have my contact info yet, right? Let me give it to you."
Ava picked up her phone and unlocked it, saved Michael's number, and they added each other on Facebook.
After the IV was finished and the nurse removed the needle, Michael actually left.
Ava stayed in the hospital for seven days and was discharged smoothly. During that time, Michael came every evening, stayed for about half an hour, watched her finish dinner, and then left.
When she was discharged, Lucas, who had returned from out of town, picked her up and took her straight to his place.
Lucas had his own studio doing custom haute couture.
Not very famous, he usually only got orders from small influencers and minor celebrities, but at least the work was flexible. He was used to being free-spirited and couldn't handle a nine-to-five job.
His place was decorated casually, too. The guest room on the second floor was always kept for Ava, though she had never stayed overnight before—William was quite controlling and didn't let her spend nights away from home.
The moment Ava stepped into Lucas's place, William got the news.
The Morgan Group CEO's office.
James: "Mr. Morgan, we finally found Mrs. Morgan. She just went to Lucas's place."
William rubbed his temples, the dark circles under his eyes obvious, looking like he was in a bad mood.
"Did you find out where she's been this past week?"
James answered weakly, "Mrs. Morgan disappeared like she vanished into thin air this week. We couldn't find her anywhere. Our people practically turned Emerald City upside down. The day you ran into Mrs. Morgan at the hospital, the hospital's surveillance system happened to be broken, and the street cameras nearby didn't catch any sign of her either."
William's four fingers habitually tapped on the desk.
"Can't even handle this simple task. What good are you as an assistant? The surveillance breaking was obviously deliberate. Why do you think the hospital has no record of her visit?"
James was too scared to respond. With his team's capabilities, they searched day and night for seven days and couldn't find a single clue. He couldn't figure out what kind of genius could hide Mrs. Morgan without leaving a trace.
William grabbed his suit jacket from the rack and headed out. James hurried to follow.
The car drove all the way to Lucas's building. As William went upstairs, he called back to James,
"You come too."
At that moment, Lucas was in the middle of badmouthing William.
The doorbell suddenly rang. "Your delivery!"