Shattered by His Own Hand

After my father-in-law, Oswald Leyton, is diagnosed with a complicated form of heart disease, I rush to Germasia for an intensive training on the most advanced medical technique just so that I can operate on him and treat his condition.

When I return home after the training three months later, I gleefully find my husband, Nicholas Leyton, to tell him about the good news that I have mastered the technique.

The plane lands. However, the luxury car that should have come for me turns out to be a broken-down van instead.

Someone throws a sack over my head, and I can hear Nicholas' cold laughter next to me.

"Did you have lots of fun with your boytoy overseas for the last three months, Victoria Rosewood?"

After he and a few other men force themselves on me multiple times, Nicholas slides open the door, planning to abandon me in the wilderness.

"Nicholas! You can't do this to me! I'm pregnant…"

I try to explain myself, throwing myself at him despite all the cuts and bruises on my body. However, Nicholas gets even angrier after hearing that and forcefully shoves me aside.

I feel an excruciating pain coming from my lower abdomen. Warm, sticky blood starts flowing down my thighs.

Then, my vision blacks out, and I lose consciousness altogether.

When I woke up again, I realized that I was in a hospital bed.

My abdomen was still in great pain, the agony crashing onto me like a tidal wave, telling me that my baby was no longer alive.

My husband, Nicholas Leyton, leaned against the chair while tapping his leather shoes against the floor every once in a while.

"You're such a bitch, Victoria Rosewood! How dare you bring back some random bastard's baby after your three months of 'intensive courses' overseas?"

I gripped my sheets tightly until my knuckles turned white.

"This was our child! You knew that I went to Germasia for an intensive course on the latest cardiac surgery technique—"

"Intensive course?"

Nicholas suddenly yanked my hair and flung his phone in my face.

The screen displayed a photo of me and my medical assistant, Dean Houston. The photo had been taken from the back, so only our backs were visible.

"You lived with him for three months! Did you think I was blind?"

Evelyn Richardson, who was standing by the window, began fanning the fire.

"Nick, did you know? When I video-called her the last time, I even saw her assistant drape his coat over her shoulders."

I felt cold dread coursing through my body. Dean had only covered me with my doctor's coat because I had nearly fainted on the floor after a gruelling surgery for a patient who was already knocking on death's door.

Nicholas then slapped the hospital bills in my face and said, "That assistant of yours was also present in your sick father's room the entire time before he died! I see that he's behaving even more like your husband than I