Chapter 6

The room fell silent, and Miranda suddenly heard a phone ringing in the next room. It was the ringtone Jerome had set just for her. Her heart suddenly felt as if it had been grabbed and yanked straight down, sinking violently in her chest. She heard Madison's breathy voice from the other side. "Rome… your phone… it's ringing…" Jerome's voice wavered. "Don't worry about it… It's nothing important." Miranda stared in disbelief at the wall separating them from the next room. Today was Fred's funeral, yet Jerome didn't care at all. He indulged himself with Madison in the hotel beside the hospital. At that moment, Miranda's heart sank into an endless abyss, shattering completely. Vergil lunged at her with a cruel grin. "Behave, and let me enjoy you a little. I'll make it hurt less!" Miranda grabbed the desk lamp and smashed it over his head. She bolted toward the balcony, climbed over, and jumped down without hesitation. She fell from the third floor. A branch caught her briefly before she tumbled into a thicket, pain shooting through her entire body. But she didn't dare stop. She got up and ran, battered and bleeding. No sooner had she escaped than her phone rang. It was Jerome's assistant, Roderick Lawrence. "Mrs. Cooper, the appointed time has come, and Mr. Cooper cannot be reached…" Miranda gripped the phone tightly. "Proceed with the burial as scheduled. I'll be there immediately." She ignored her injuries and took a cab straight to the cemetery. But when she arrived, she found Fred's gravestone had been smashed in half. Flowers lay trampled across the ground, and blood splashed across the grass. On either side of the small portrait of Fred on his gravestone, two lines were scrawled in blood. "Whore's child deserved to die early." Miranda felt her blood run cold, her vision swimming in darkness. Other visitors at the cemetery pointed at her and whispered among themselves. "That must be Dr. Payne! That video of her messing around with the hospital department head went viral!" "Absolutely disgusting… so vile… and she even involved the child." "That poor child… cursed from birth, but at least he's gone before life got worse." Miranda's hands trembled as she grabbed her phone and opened a social media platform, only to see it flooded with videos and nude photos of her—images she had never taken. Online, there were even diagrams showing her relationships with different hospital department heads, along with countless fabricated stories. Some even claimed to be patients' parents, saying she seduced them and slept with them. Miranda trembled with rage, tears streaming uncontrollably down her face. She tried to find Jerome to uncover the truth, but before she could take a few steps, she fainted. When she woke up, she was already at home. Several maids were holding her down, and the family doctor was holding a syringe, preparing to inject her with something. Miranda struggled violently. "Let me go! What are you trying to inject me with?" "Don't move." Jerome appeared at the doorway, radiating a terrifying presence. "You're getting a preventive injection." "What preventive injection? What are you talking about?" The pain from the needle piercing her arm shot through her, leaving her hands and feet cold, her eyes filled with fear. She heard Jerome's cold voice. "That man, Vergil, is HIV-positive. You must take the preventive injection. It's for your own safety." His icy words struck Miranda like a thousand venomous needles, piercing her heart instantly. She froze, staring at Jerome in disbelief. After a long pause, she finally managed to force out, "Jerome… you don't believe me?" Through clenched teeth, she spat, "Even you believe all the lies online? You think I climbed to the top by sleeping with hospital department heads, don't you?"