"What happened? Why are you bleeding all of a sudden?" Sage was frightened. For pregnant women,
bleeding was considered a bad sign as it usually denoted miscarriage. Because of that, she hurried to
find Zac.
At that time, Zac was in Essie's studio goofing around. His goal was to distract Essie to the point that
she was unable to concentrate on drawing her designs.
It had been said that a man would be obscene after being fed. Essie thought it particularly suited Zac.
Their little fun, however, was disrupted when Sage burst into the room. After hearing what she had to
say, Zac ran out of the studio in a hurry. Essie followed him closely.
Valery was crying her heart out as she sat in the backseat of the speeding car. More than the pain she
was feeling, she was scared that she would have a miscarriage and lose her child.
Essie was on another car right behind the one Valery was in.
Something about the whole situation was not sitting right with her. 'As far as I know,' she thought, her
eyebrows tightly knitted, 'Valery hasn't been showing any signs that she was having troubles with her
pregnancy—until today. How could this happen if she has multiple midwives taking care of her around
the clock?' She thought about this for a while, but then she ultimately decided that now is not the time
to reflect on such inconsistencies.
The moment their convoy arrived at hospital, a team of medical professionals welcomed them, one of
whom was an authoritative expert in obstetrics and gynecology. As soon as Valery got out of the car,
she was sent to the emergency room.
After hours upon hours of waiting for laboratory tests, the doctor informed them that Valery and the
baby inside her tummy were safe. Everyone made a collective sigh of relief.
Both Elizabeth and Mary rushed to the hospital as soon as they got the phone call from Sage.
Though worried, the moment Elizabeth saw that Essie was at the hospital as well, she immediately felt
angry and annoyed.
'Is this bitch just here to bear witness to Valery's misfortune?' she suspiciously thought, her eyes
narrowing. 'Because for all I know, she's cursing Valery's child in her head right now and is silently
hoping they both die!' Elizabeth could feel fury filling up her chest. 'Fortunately, God was on Valery's
side—He kept her and her child safe! I knew he wouldn't let Essie have the last laugh!'
After giving Essie one last stink eye, Elizabeth approached Sage with a stern look on her face. "Sage,"
she called out emotionlessly. "How did this happen? Didn't you say all of Valery's past prenatal
checkups have gone well? Why did she bleed? How have you been taking care of her?" A
disapproving frown slowly formed on her lips. This child was her daughter's last chance, and if she lost
it somehow, she knew that the both of them would be doomed forever.
"I know," Sage responded in a shaky voice. "Trust me, she was fine this morning! But then when I
accompanied her for a walk after we had lunch, her belly started aching. I don't know what happened!"
She explained at once because she was afraid that Elizabeth would pin the blame on her.
Mary, who had been silent all this time, asked in a low voice, "What did you eat for lunch?"
"S-spicy crab, ma'am," Sage sheepishly replied. "Miss Valery likes the dish very much. I think she ate a
lot of it, actually."
"You dumb bitch!" Elizabeth hit one of Sage's shoulder hard. "Crabs are of cold nature! If a pregnant
woman eats them, her risk of having a miscarriage becomes higher!"
This new information shed light as to why Valery started bleeding seemingly out of nowhere.
"Oh my God!" Sage exclaimed, her eyes wide with fear. "I didn't know that, Mrs. Elizabeth! Trust me, I
didn't!" Her breath suddenly became labored, as if she was having a major panic attack.
"Haven't you ever been pregnant before?" Elizabeth bellowed at her angrily.
"I... I didn't buy any c-crabs when I was p-pregnant..." Sage replied, stuttering and averting her eyes
from Elizabeth's gaze out of fear. All of a sudden, however, she raised her head and shot an
accusatory glace at Essie. Coldly, she said, "Mrs. Elizabeth, I just remembered: she was the one who
let the chef make spicy crabs today! She must have done it on purpose! She must have wanted Miss
Valery to lose her child!" Now that Sage had found a scapegoat in Essie, she would do everything to
shift the blame to her.
Elizabeth quickly recognized the opportunity Sage was presenting her.
One of her most treasured talents was feigning innocence and framing others for the bad deeds she
had done. Couple that with her utter hatred for Essie, it would be easy for her to make it look like Essie
herself had orchestrated everything that was happening to Valery.
"Wow, Mary!" she said in a shocked tone. "Did you hear that? Apparently, your daughter-in-law is the
one responsible for everything! What an extremely cunning bitch! She successfully got close to having
Valery's baby aborted without any of us suspecting anything!"
Mary's face was deathly white and her mouth was agape. She couldn't believe what she was hearing!
The moment she was about to question Essie about her involvement in the chaos, Zac quickly
interrupted her. "I was the one who ordered the chef to prepare the spicy crab," he said, his eyes
narrowed. "Why are you saying that my wife did it?"
"Bec... because she w-wanted to e-eat c-crabs, I g-guess," Sage murmured, cowering behind
Elizabeth. She feared that Zac would kick her again.
And it was true. Zac was trying his best to control his desire to kick Sage square in the face. If Valery
wasn't in such a dangerous condition, he would have assaulted Sage right then and there. 'You're lucky
I cannot send you directly to the morgue!' he thought.
He then took a deep breath and looked Sage in the eyes. "Aren't you the one who put crabs on Valery's
plate?" he asked, his tone pointed. "Well then—I think it's clear who wanted her baby aborted! It's you,
no doubt!" Anger was evident in his eyes as he spoke. "My wife has never gotten pregnant, so she
certainly doesn't know about such diet restrictions. But you, a woman who had already given birth to a
child, said that you are clueless about such things. How is that even possible? Make it make sense,
Sage!" 'Since it seems like you are hell-bent on pinning the blame on my wife, I will let you taste the
displeasure of being set up as a villain!' he thought, gritting his teeth.
Standing next to him, Essie didn't—couldn't—say a word. In her eyes, Zac was the perfect shield. All
she had to do was to hide behind him.
"I really didn't know! Please believe me!" Sage said as she hurriedly shook her head. "And besides,
how can I hurt my lady? Worse, her unborn child?"
"I know Sage very well," Elizabeth suddenly interjected. "If she said she didn't know it, then she must
truly be ignorant of it. What's more, she is only a servant. There was nothing she can do that will hurt
Valery like this!" With her target firmly locked on Essie, she had to defend Sage to carry on her plan.
"Please," Zac snorted, rolling his eyes. "You might know a person's face, but you will never know
what's in her heart. You know what I think? I think that Sage is still holding a grudge against me
because I kicked her last time. She knew she can't exact revenge on someone like me, and so she
planned to harm Valery's baby instead!" As he spoke, a murderous glint appeared in his eyes.
Sage was already trembling with fear. Everything Zac was saying was making sense, making her look
guiltier and guiltier.
"Stop, please!" she begged, tears rolling down on her cheeks. "I will never hurt Miss Valery's child!
Never! How can I hurt him when I am willing to put my life on the line for him?"
"Sage, don't worry," Elizabeth said as she pat her back, trying to be comforting. "I trust you." She then
turned to Zac and said, "Zac, why are you doing this? Why are you trying so hard to put the blame on
Sage? Are you hiding the real perpetrator of this heinous crime?"
Zac couldn't help but sneer. "Oh, Aunt Elizabeth, I think it is you who wants to protect person
responsible for this, not me. Now the bad seed is in the Rong family and not in the Xu family, and I do
not want to distort facts." His eyes bore into Elizabeth's. "The thing that I hate the most is when people
deliberately misrepresent what is right and what is wrong." As he was saying that, he took his
cellphone out of his pocket and dialed a number. After a while, he said, "I'll call Police Superintendent
Li to take Sage to the police station. I will request her to be detained for several days. I believe that the
truth will be revealed soon."
The moment Sage heard what Zac was planning to do, she felt her heart jump out of her chest. She felt
that she would have a blackout very soon because of how scared she was.
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