Chapter 3

To make sure I could hear everything, Dr. Weber put the call on speakerphone as soon as it connected. "Henry Cantrell, where the hell are you? Your wife's in critical condition. She's about to be rushed into surgery, so get back here immediately!" I had thought that hearing his superior's voice would at least make Henry stop and think. Little did I expect him to reply coldly, "Dr. Weber? Did Rachel Brandt make a scene in front of you? Don't believe a word she says. She's completely insane right now! "She's been arguing with me at home every day. I'm a doctor—I can't just ignore a suicide attempt just because she's jealous! If I'd gotten here even a minute later, the patient would've slit her wrists! She's currently still emotionally unstable. "Just have Rachel complete her admission for delivery. You can explain my situation to her while you're at it. And if she still doesn't get it, then she can believe whatever she wants!" Dr. Weber clearly did not expect Henry to be so callous. He clenched his jaw to keep himself from exploding right then and there. He was so mad his veins throbbed on his forehead. But before he could speak again, Madeline's frail voice came through the phone. "Is Rach calling? Are you going to leave? I'm going to be left alone again, aren't I? I guess that's how things should be. You're about to have your baby, yet I still can't let you go… I'm the problem…" As if afraid she had been heard, Henry abruptly ended the call. Right then, a wave of intense contractions hit me. My vision went dark, and I blacked out. Dr. Weber quickly rushed me into the operating room. In my unconscious state, my mind drifted back to my past life. The moment the crash happened in my previous life, I had called Henry for help. He was on his way to see Madeline, but upon hearing about my accident, he immediately turned around to come save me. He used all his strength to drag me out of the driver's seat before carrying my blood-soaked body into the emergency room. Only after I was out of danger did he finally allow himself to breathe. But since the trauma had caused complications, our child couldn't be delivered on time. By the time he brought me home and rushed to Madeline, all he found was her cold body in the bathtub. The wounds on her wrists were deep enough to expose bone. Without saying a single word, he took care of Madeline's funeral arrangements himself. Henry didn't appear before me again until two days later. Acting as if nothing was wrong, he calmly told me about what had happened to Madeline. When he saw the sorry look on my face, he simply shook his head indifferently. He said he didn't blame me and that he'd only realized how unpredictable life was after everything that had happened. Then, he told me he couldn't wait to hold a wedding ceremony for me to make up for the past. As I looked at his expression, which was no different from the past, I chose to believe him. But the night before the wedding, Henry knocked me out and dragged me to Madeline's home. He then tied up my limbs and put me into the very bathtub where Madeline had slit her wrists. There was no love or care left in his eyes as he gazed at me. Only burning hatred and bitter resentment remained. His twisted face looked like that of a man who had lost the love of his life and gone insane. The knife in his hand gleamed coldly under the light, sharpened to perfection. As I stared at him in terror and on the verge of breaking down, he slowly spoke. "Wasn't it a mere car accident? You weren't even going to die from that! But Maddie did die after losing me. "Do you know how deep her wounds were? Do you know how much blood she lost that day? She lay right where you are now, in that same position. The blood had even flowed all the way down to her calves. "I've studied medicine for years, yet it was that day that I learned just how much blood a human body holds. There was so much blood I couldn't see any other color… But it's okay if you're clueless, because you'll find out soon enough." After saying that, he placed Madeline's portrait at the head of the tub. He wanted to avenge her death right in front of her. The moment the blade pierced my skin, the pain was so excruciating I nearly blacked out. Yet, no matter how I cried or shook my head, he remained utterly indifferent. He cut me over and over again. Our child, who was just about to be born into this world, took his last breath the moment he was cut out of me. I had thought that would be the end of Henry's revenge, but it was only the beginning of his madness. He cut us repeatedly, his murmuring sounding like ghostly whispers or the deranged rambling of a lunatic. "It was this deep, and it was right here. This was how much blood she bled. Maddie must've been in so much pain. She must've really needed me then…" In the final seconds before death took me, I had counted exactly a thousand cuts. Henry had delivered one thousand cuts to me and our child. After I died, he dumped our corpses back into the bathtub. He then held the wedding with Madeline's ashes in his arms. At that time, my soul lingered nearby. As I watched him with a crazed obsession in his eyes, only then did I realize how foolish I had been. Alas, it was far too late. From the moment Madeline returned to the country on our wedding day seven years ago, and from the moment he got that call and left me standing alone at the altar, I should have known. I should have known that I never stood a chance against Madeline, even though he was the one who sought me out first after she had abandoned him. I endured a groomless wedding and a loveless marriage, all alone, for seven years. And in the end, it all ended in blood.