The Video Call from Hell Chapter 02

The Video Call from Hell Chapter 02

I stood outside the house, looking through the window at the warm light filling the room.

My husband, who had supposedly died two years ago, was sitting in front of a birthday cake.

My best friend, who was supposed to be working overseas, placed a birthday crown on his head with her own hands.

My mother-in-law and my son, who were supposedly off traveling, clapped and sang “Happy Birthday.”

The four of them looked like a real family, wrapped in warmth.

And I stood there in the summer breeze, cold from head to toe.

That was the scene I had dreamed of day and night for the past two years.

Now it appeared before my eyes in the cruelest, most ironic way.

Ethan clasped his hands together, closed his eyes, and made a wish.

“May our family stay safe, healthy, and together every year.”

That shattered me.

My birthday had become the anniversary of his death.

On his birthday, I drowned myself in alcohol.

Both birthdays had become thorns lodged deep in my heart.

Yet here he was, celebrating and making wishes.

He wished for his family to be safe.

That family simply did not include me.

It felt as if a dark hand had seized my heart, squeezing so hard that even my breathing trembled.

Hayden took a bite of cake and said, “Dad, I want to fake my death like you did, so I can stay with Mommy Serena forever!”

Ethan’s mother snapped, “Absolutely not! Sweetheart, the Bradford family business is yours to inherit one day. We can’t let that woman Evelyn Carter benefit from it!”

Ethan frowned slightly.

“Mom, don’t talk about Evelyn like that.”

“For the past two years, she’s had to run the company and take care of both you and Hayden.”

“Fine, fine. I won’t say anything,” Ethan’s mother cut him off impatiently.

She had never liked me from the beginning.

After Ethan “died,” she hated me even more.

She blamed me for insisting on going to the island for my birthday.

She blamed me for killing Ethan.

Out of guilt and self-blame, I had let her hit me and curse me out every time.

In the end, she had been the best actress in this entire performance.

I took a deep breath and raised my hand to knock.

When Serena opened the door and saw me, her eyes went wide with shock.

Only then did I realize she was pregnant.

“Congratulations. You must be due any day now. Why didn’t you tell your dear best friend?”

Serena’s face turned deathly pale.

Her mouth opened several times, but no words came out.

I brushed past her and walked straight inside.

Everyone in the room looked at me as if they had seen a ghost.

I smiled and stared straight at the birthday boy.

“Happy birthday, honey.”

Ethan froze completely.

Then, without warning, I lifted the cake and smashed it hard onto the floor.

It landed right at Serena’s feet.

She flinched in fright.

Ethan rushed over nervously and held her steady.

Hayden kicked me in the foot, his eyes full of hatred.

“You bad woman! You’re hurting Mommy. Get out!”

I stared in a daze at the vicious little boy in front of me.

I could not understand how the child I had nearly died giving birth to, the child I had cherished like the most precious thing in the world, had become this.

Ethan frowned and barked, “Hayden Bradford, don’t you talk to your mother like that!”

Then he looked at me, a flicker of guilt passing through his eyes.

“Evelyn, I can explain.”

I slapped him hard across the face.

The next second, a slap whipped my head to the side, leaving my ears ringing.

Ethan’s mother shrieked, “Who do you think you are, hitting him?”

“You were the one who came between my son and Serena. You’re the homewrecker here!”

My eyes stung with tears, and I gave a bitter laugh.

“Am I?”

Ethan looked away.

He did not admit it.

He did not deny it, either.

The two keepsake copies of our marriage certificate I had arranged in a heart-shaped display turned out to be nothing but a joke.

Serena dropped to her knees, tears falling one after another.

“Evelyn, this is all my fault. I’m shameless. I betrayed our friendship.”

The more she cried, the more hysterical she became.

Suddenly, the stress set off contractions. She clutched her stomach and cried out in pain.

I instinctively reached out to help her, only to be shoved away.

I knocked over a potted plant and crashed hard onto the broken ceramic shards.

Ethan lifted Serena into his arms and left without once looking back.

His mother quickly dragged Hayden after him.

Before leaving, she pointed at me and spat, “If anything happens to my grandson, I’ll make you pay.”

I sat numbly in the pile of broken pottery, letting my blood flow as devastation spread through me.

My eyes locked on the glossy white-dress wedding portrait on the wall.

Back then, I had wanted a small garden ceremony.

Ethan had refused. His attitude had been firmer than anything I had ever seen from him.

Now I finally understood.

The white-dress, ballroom-wedding look had been Serena’s dream, not mine.

My heart hurt so badly I could barely breathe.

Just then, the thirty-two-year-old Ethan called me on video.

The moment the call connected, he roared at me.

“Evelyn, Serena and I had our baby too early!”

“What the hell did you do to make Serena go into premature labor?”

“Just because you can’t have children anymore, did you have to make Serena end up like you?”