Divorce Papers in My Baby’s Gift Box? Fine—I Signed Them! Chapter 04

Divorce Papers in My Baby’s Gift Box? Fine—I Signed Them! Chapter 04

In the middle of the night, I finally managed to coax Emma to sleep.

I had just closed my eyes when laughter from a man and a woman drifted in from the next hospital room.

The hospital walls were absurdly thin.

“You know I get upset when I don’t see you for half a day, so why did you pick a fight with me on purpose?”

Maddie let out a sugary little laugh.

“Who told you to defend that ugly woman? You forgot all about your boys because of that drama queen.”

“I was wrong, okay?”

“What were you wrong about?”

“I was wrong for letting you go half a day without seeing me?”

“That’s it?”

“Then what kind of apology do you want?”

“Ryan, I’m not as easy to placate as the one you have at home.”

“How about this? Satisfied?”

“Ah! Are you a dog or what? Be gentle. If you leave a mark, I swear I’ll make you pay.”

“…”

The man who kept saying, “Maddie and I are just buddies,” seemed to be pouring out every bit of pent-up frustration and desire at that moment.

The sound of the bed frame hitting the wall, his heavy breathing, and her screams came through one after another, pounding into my ears.

At the same time, an unknown number texted me a photo.

In the image, Ryan had his face buried in the curve of Maddie’s neck.

A bare shoulder in the shot was covered in taunting scratch marks.

I gripped my phone until my knuckles turned white.

I saved every recording and every chat screenshot, one by one.

Ryan was always saying they were just buddies, so I decided to save him a little keepsake of that precious buddy bond.

…

The next morning, Emma’s heart-wrenching cries jolted me awake.

I shot upright.

Maddie was standing by the crib with something in her hand, trying to shove it into Emma’s mouth.

Emma’s little face had turned bright red, and white foam covered the corners of her mouth.

I almost lost my mind on the spot.

I rushed over and yanked Maddie away.

She stumbled to the floor and immediately screamed. I climbed on top of her and slapped her again and again.

“You bitch! What did you do to her?”

The next second, a powerful shove threw me off her.

When my back hit the floor, I could almost hear the dull crack of bone.

“Nora, what the hell is wrong with you now?”

Ryan stood in front of Maddie, looking at me as if I were some unforgivable criminal.

“Maddie was kind enough to help feed Emma. Why did you hit her?”

I braced myself against the bed and stood up with a humorless laugh.

“Are you sure she was feeding her and not hurting her?”

“Did you forget she put a dead rat in our daughter’s blanket last time?”

“Or did sleeping with her last night make you decide you didn’t need your daughter anymore?”

Before the words had even settled, a hard slap landed across my face.

“You’re completely unreasonable!”

“What did Maddie ever do to you? Why are you so determined to slander her?”

I stared at the man in front of me in disbelief. It felt as if someone had carved a hole straight through my chest.

There was truly nothing left to say.

Gritting my teeth, I picked up Emma and turned to leave.

Half an hour later, after comforting Maddie, the man searched the entire hospital and still couldn’t find my daughter or me.

Only when his patience ran out did he send me a text.

Ryan: [I don’t have time to play hide-and-seek with you. Maddie’s birthday is in two days. Come apologize to her, and we’ll let everything else go.]

I didn’t reply. I boarded the plane with my daughter in my arms.

Two days later, Ryan reserved an entire floor of a restaurant and threw Maddie an extravagant birthday party.

“Ryan, is Nora still mad at me? Is that why she won’t even come to my birthday?”

Maddie stood there in high heels, casually brushing her long leg against Ryan every now and then.

“She wouldn’t dare. She was just some girl selling flowers. Does she really think marrying into the Whitmore family makes her one of us?”

“Ryan, we agreed today. Nora has to apologize to Maddie in front of everyone.”

“What happened at Emma’s birthday party and at the hospital can’t just be brushed off like that!”

As Ryan stared at the message that showed as read with no reply, he frowned and started typing one final warning to me.

Ryan: [Nora, my patience has limits…]

But before he could finish typing, his phone and everyone else’s phones rang.

Everyone instinctively tapped their screens.

Then everyone’s expression changed at once.

“What… what is this?”