Chapter 7
653words
"I… it's nothing…"
Quentin's expression darkened, his gaze sharp as a blade. "Where's the locket I told you to keep? Take it out."
Her eyes dropped, guilty and evasive. "Quentin… it's just a locket. I—"
"I'll say this one last time. Take it out."
A storm gathered in his eyes as he stared at her.
Panic finally washed over Rita. She stumbled to her feet and backed away, the locket exposed at her ankle— It was the one he had bought.
Quentin lunged forward and yanked the locket off her ankle. His fingers dug tightly into his palm.
"Nurse… earlier you said Cammy was here?" His voice was strained.
Lily frowned.
"Cammy? Cammy Mason? Yes, she came by. I saw her leaving this room in the hallway—that's what prompted me to come here in the first place."
Rita shot her a glare, then quickly forced a sweet smile, reaching for Quentin's hand.
"Quentin… I fell asleep. I didn't know Cammy came."
But Quentin said nothing. He only stared at the locket in his hand—blank and shaken.
"Nurse," he asked, "how did my wife lose the baby?"
Lily glanced at the head nurse, and when she saw no objection, she answered, "Cammy lost the child due to blunt force trauma. I've never seen a husband like you—she was hospitalized for so long, and you never came once. A stranger had to bring your wife in after her miscarriage."
"When?" Quentin's head lifted abruptly. Bloodshot lines spread through his eyes like cracks.
"Wh… what—?" Lily trembled. The Quentin before her now was far more terrifying than when Rita was having her tantrum.
Quentin shoved Rita's hand away. "When did Cammy come to the hospital?"
His voice was soft, but it sounded as if he were already at the breaking point.
"Eleven days ago."
His mouth opened, but no sound came out. He had to summon every ounce of strength just to breathe.
He remembered.
Eleven days ago, I had gone to find him.
He remembered the moment Rita lost control and jumped in front of a moving bicycle. And how, in that frantic moment, he had shoved me aside—hard.
He remembered me on the ground, crying his name, saying my stomach hurt.
And what did he say to me?
"Cammy, you know perfectly well that Rita has depression. Why would you provoke her? If anything happens to her, I will never forgive you! Take this as a lesson. From now on, stay away from her."
That lesson… hurt too much.
Quentin staggered back two steps, agony flooding him like a tidal wave as he thought, 'I killed… my baby…'
His gaze dropped to the locket, and suddenly he understood everything.
He bolted out of the room like a madman.
He had only two words in his mind: Home. Cammy.
At that moment, he couldn't even remember Rita existed. His entire mind was filled with one thing—getting back to me. To apologize. To repent.
Rita's heart seized, as if something important had slipped completely out of her grasp. She tried to chase after him, but the head nurse blocked her path.
"You're not going anywhere."
…
Stopped in her tracks, Rita's face twisted with anger.
"Why can't I leave? This is a hospital, not a prison! Are you trying to illegally detain me?"
The head nurse let out a humorless smile.
"You really love throwing accusations around. You injured a nurse. Without compensation or an apology, you think you can just walk out? To be frank, I've already sent someone to call the police. So be a good girl and wait."
At the word police, panic flashed in Rita's eyes. She immediately shouted at the top of her lungs, "Quentin! Quentin!"
How familiar the scene was.
Eleven days ago, Quentin abandoned me for her.
Now, because of me, he ignored Rita's desperate cries completely.
