Chapter 6

"Thirty days!"

"Susan, the doctor says you have thirty days left to live at most. With that broken body of yours, how do you plan to fight me?"

Thirty days?

The late-stage stomach cancer diagnosis had already prepared Susan for death, but this number still stabbed her heart like a sharp knife. During her last checkup, the doctor had said she had six months. She never expected the disease to progress so rapidly.

Nicole Capra watched Susan's pale face with satisfaction, her lips curling into a smirk.

"That bastard in your belly is already over three months old. The fetus has formed—it even has a heartbeat." Nicole leaned in closer. "How painful do you think it would be to crush it alive with forceps?"

"Oh, and it was a short-lived little girl. Too bad I fed her to the dogs." Nicole laughed, her body shaking with amusement. "Daniel Almond was already sickly and doomed to die young. Who knew your daughter would go even sooner? Andrew Lucas personally killed both your children!"

Fed to the dogs?!

Susan's blood turned to ice.

With strength she didn’t know she had, she lunged from the hospital bed and slapped Nicole hard across the face. Before Nicole could react, Susan grabbed her hair and slammed her head against the wall with a sickening thud.

"Susan, you're insane!" Nicole shrieked, struggling, but she was no match for Susan’s sudden surge of fury.

"You killed my daughter!" Susan’s eyes burned red as she pinned Nicole to the ground, raining down blows. "You destroyed Daniel’s only hope!"

Blood pooled on the floor. Susan yanked Nicole’s hair so hard that a chunk tore out. She wanted to tear this vile woman apart.

"Andrew, help me!"

Andrew Lucas burst through the door and shoved Susan away. "Susan! Have you lost your mind?!" He shielded Nicole in his arms, his gaze frigid.

Susan looked at the man she once loved, her heart twisting in agony. She remembered when she first got pregnant—how the usually cold and composed Andrew had held her, grinning like a fool. "Susan, we're going to have a daughter!"

"Why a daughter? It could be a son."

"No, it has to be a daughter." He kissed her hair. "Sons are ugly. I want a beautiful little princess just like you."

Now their little princess had come—only to be killed by her own father, her body desecrated...

Tears blurred Susan’s vision as she whispered, trembling, "Andrew... why did you kill our daughter?"