A Love Long Gone

There is a medical dispute at the hospital.

A patient's family member comes at us swinging a knife. Without hesitating, I push my husband, Maxwell Conner, out of the way.

But then, he grabs my hand and pulls me in front of his beloved junior, Karina Burton.

The knife plunges straight into my abdomen, killing the baby I had just conceived.

As my horrified colleagues cry and rush me toward the ICU, Maxwell violently pulls me off the gurney. He barks, "Save Karina first! If anything happens to her, I'll fire every last one of you!"

The doctors are stunned and furious.

"Maxwell, have you lost your mind? Karina only suffered a minor injury. Your wife is the one in critical condition!"

Clutching my bleeding abdomen, I nod slowly. "It's fine. Just forget it."

Maxwell, I owe you nothing after this.

My compromise was met with nothing but Maxwell Conner's cold mockery.

"Natalie Shepard, stop playing the victim. You know perfectly well whether your injuries are serious or not!"

As soon as he said that, he grabbed me by the collar and flung me to the floor. He completely ignored that the knife was still lodged in my abdomen.

Feeling the wound tear further, I cried out in pain. Warm blood poured down, soaking through my clothes and taking away the tiny life inside me.

Meanwhile, he gently picked up his junior, Karina Burton, and placed her on the hospital bed.

"Don't be scared, Karina. I'm here. You're going to be okay."

There was only a shallow cut on her arm, yet she was sobbing as if her heart was breaking.

"Max, it hurts so bad. What if I can't hold a scalpel anymore because a nerve might be damaged?"

Maxwell's face twisted with heartbreak. "You silly girl. If that ever happens, I'll take care of you. I swear, I'll make whoever hurt you pay."

The deputy director, Jake Pratt, stood nearby.

He frowned and said, "Dr. Conner, Mrs. Conner is still carrying your child. The stab wound is quite deep. If we don't save her now, you might lose both her and the baby."

Maxwell cast a disgusted glance at me.

"She's just faking it. She must have stuffed cotton and blood bags under her clothes. She's been scheming with that attacker to put on a show to deceive me. How could I possibly fall for it?"

The doctors around us stared in shock. None of them could believe those words came from the mouth of a hospital director—the man who had been my husband for seven years.

Maxwell sneered and kicked me in the stomach twice.

"Natalie, you're quite cunning, aren't you? You even bribed the doctors in my hospital. Women from the impoverished countryside are indeed ruthless. You'd stoop this low just to win my affection. I never should've listened to Grandma and married you."

Hearing this, I instinctively looked toward Karina on the hospital bed.

Sure enough, I caught the smug glint in her eyes.

Earlier, when the attacker had lunged at us with the knife, she whispered, "Natalie, do you dare to make a bet? Max only cares about me. Even if you die in front of him, he won't waver."

Maxwell clearly believed every word she said.

Jake couldn't take it anymore and tried to speak up for me again.

I shook my head, cutting him off. "Never mind. Save her."

Clutching my intensely throbbing stomach, I wanted to stand up and leave. The moment I put weight on my legs, the pain forced me to my knees again. Gritting my teeth, I crawled out of the ICU sideways, one agonizing step at a time.

Behind me trailed a long, dark line of blood.

Maxwell watched it all coldly, unmoved.

"Natalie, stop acting. Go home, change into clean clothes, and come back to apologize to Karina. She's only hurt because of your nonsense."

In the past, I'd have desperately tried to explain myself in light of the misunderstanding and bias toward Karina.

But this time, I wouldn't.

Collapsing at the ward door, I looked back and saw Maxwell's and Karina's hands intertwined. I took off my wedding ring and threw it into the trash.

When the police arrived and subdued the attacker, they found me collapsed in a pool of blood just outside the consultation room.

One officer shouted in panic, "Where's the doctor? A pregnant woman is bleeding out here. Why isn't anyone helping her?"

At that moment, I was freezing cold and teetering on the edge of death.

Hearing the commotion, Maxwell stepped out of the room and declared self-righteously, "Officer, don't bother with her. She's just faking it to gain sympathy. Otherwise, why would she collapse just in front of me?"

The police officer's eyes widened in disbelief, as if looking at an idiot.

"I'm a professional detective. She's bleeding greatly. Do you really think I can't tell the difference between real blood and fake blood?"

His voice was loud. More people started gathering in the corridor.

Maxwell hated being the center of gossip. He lifted his foot and kicked my stomach, which had long since gone numb from pain.

"Natalie, the police are here! Aren't you embarrassed? How long are you going to keep up this act?"

I had no strength left from the blood loss. But the moment someone touched my stomach, I instinctively wrapped my arms around it to protect it.

In my blurred consciousness, I could no longer remember that I'd taken that knife for Karina, and the baby was surely already gone. I slumped to one side and fell to the ground.

Someone helped me up, covering their mouth in disbelief. "Oh my! Isn't this Dr. Shepard? Someone help her! Dr. Conner, she's your wife!"

Maxwell remained unmoved and scoffed. "Natalie, you've hired quite a few extras, haven't you? Do you think you can waste the Conner family's money just like that?"

Leaning against the cold wall, I closed my eyes in despair.

Did Maxwell even realize that our baby was gone?

If I survived this, I'd never want to see him again in this lifetime.

The police kept urging him to save me, but Maxwell continued to refuse. He even mocked the police, saying I'd bribed them too.

Infuriated, the officer pulled out his phone to call another hospital for an ambulance.

Just then, Karina walked out.

"Natalie, you're wasting medical resources and police manpower. Aren't you even a little ashamed? Just get up. I won't hold you responsible anymore.

Maxwell's gaze softened with affection. "Karina, you're still too kind. You don't need to reason with someone like her."

Then his face darkened as he barked an order, "Security, drag this troublemaker to the storage room. No one opens that door without my permission!"

The officer was shocked. "You can't do that! That's illegal detention!"

Maxwell didn't care. "She's my wife. How is it detention? She's gotten too out of hand. It's time she learned a lesson."

At his command, two security guards came over and roughly yanked me up.

The pain from the gaping wound made me scream.

That was when Molly Kent, my best friend, rushed in after getting the police call. The moment she saw the knife stuck in my abdomen, tears instantly streamed down her face.

"Maxwell, are you out of your damn mind? You're just going to watch her die? Are you trying to kill her?'"

Molly was also a doctor and worked at a different hospital.

After quickly assessing my condition, she immediately signaled others to lift me onto a gurney. As I finally let out a sigh of relief, Maxwell blocked our path again.

"You're not taking her anywhere. She hasn't even apologized to Karina for hurting her."

Molly glanced at Karina, whose cheeks were rosy and looked completely unharmed.

She immediately lost her temper. The two started shouting at each other.

Lying on the gurney, I found that my heart was already too numb from pain.

Maxwell, we'd been married for seven years. Couldn't we just part peacefully? Did I have to lose our child and my life too?

Suddenly, his shadow loomed over me.

He strode forward and said, "Alright, since none of you believe me, let's find out whether the knife pierced her stomach or a fake blood pack!"

He gave me a mocking smile. "Natalie, I gave you plenty of chances. You're the one who threw them away."

With that, he reached out, gripped the knife handle, and prepared to pull it out.