Crossroads

"Wait, just a moment..."

Stephanie abruptly halted the taxi, but soon, a tinge of embarrassment crossed her face as she said, "Never mind, please continue."

"Miss, you seem a bit pale," the taxi driver remarked, casting a concerned glance her way.

Phanie offered a strained smile and assured him, "I'm alright."

Her gaze drifted to the left window of the car, her expression tinged with disappointment.

A fleeting uncertainty gripped her, 'Was it him, or was it not?"

"Why am I even concerning myself with him?" she murmured, her head bowed in frustration.

Upon returning to her suite in Royal Park Hotel, Stephanie checked the time. It was already eight in the evening.

Restless, she suddenly recalled something and rushed to the bed, grabbing the hotel phone to dial the internal line. "Hello, has anyone visited me during my absence?"

Despite the polite response from the hotel staff, her disappointment deepened. "Oh, I see. Thank you."

She was even worried that he might miss her while she was out at the milkshake shop and had rushed back for him.

"Wait, why would I be worried that he missed to catch me here?" she thought.

An inexplicable stir of emotions coursed through her, leaving her bewildered.

"What is he so busy with?" Stephanie pondered, perched at the bed's edge, eyeing her suitcase hesitantly. "Should I wait for him to return to Havencrest with me?"

Finally, after washing her face in the bathroom, she made a resolve. If Dominick failed to contact her tonight, she'd secure a flight back to Havencrest the next morning.

"Is it work or another's company that consumes him?"

Knowing Dominick's demanding schedule and the weight of responsibilities atop his shoulders, Stephanie couldn't help but empathize with him. She often saw him working late into the night in his study She was his wife, but it she grappled with expressing ssing her concern for him amidst his hectic life.

Lying on the bed, Stephanie scrolled through her phone, hesitating with something. "Would I disturb him now if I called him?"

Suddenly, a sharp pang gwracked her abdomen, causing her to double over and drop her phone.

"Ouch, it hurts..." Stephanie winced, her complexion drained as she clutched her midsection.

Labored breaths escaped her as the pain intensified.

Beads of cold sweat dotted her forehead as trembling overtook her frame, thwarting her attempts to rise Stephanie gasped, grappling with the agony. Perplexed by the sudden onset of discomfort despite her normalcy throughout the day, she mumbled, "Why is this happening

10:37 Sat Chapter 55

With a pale complexion, she turned her blurred vision toward her phone on the ground.

Dominick...

Fear and helplessness gripped her heart, yet his name echoed relentlessly in her mind.

With her eyes welling with tears and jaw clenched, she struggled to crawl towards the edge of the bed, using her elbows for support. Her trembling hand reached out for the phone on the floor.

She needed to reach Dominick Her breaths came in disarray, her body weakened. With a sudden twist on the bed, she tumbled to the floor.

Ignoring the pain from her scraped back, the disheveled hair clinging to her forehead, and her lips that were now bleeding from being bitten, she crawled forward in a frenzy, finally reaching for her phone. Her trembling fingers swiped the screen several times before she managed to dial his number.

"Dom... Dominick..." Her voice, weak and trembling, called out his name as if grasping for a lifeline.

"Dominick, come to the Royal Park Hotel. I'm not feeling well. Please come..."

"Where to?" The call connected, but it was a woman who answered.

The woman's voice, sweet and flirtatious, carried a hint of intimacy. "Dominick is busy with me right now, and we're quite occupied. He's spending the night with me.Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

"Stephanie, he doesn't have time for you right now. Is there anything you need me to tell him?"

The call was hung up.

Stephanie, unable to utter a word, felt something choking her throat, making it hard to breathe.

Tears streamed from the corners of her eyes as she lay in a frantic heap on the floor, clutching the phone tightly in her right hand, feeling utterly hopeless and humiliated. With another wave of pain in her stomach, she wailed in agony again. When she looked down, her face turned ghostly white, her eyes widening in terror.

Holding her breath, unable to suppress the frantic thumping of her heart, she was met with a horrifying sight-a dark red pool gushing from between her legs.

There was only one thought echoing in her mind, and it was her baby.

Trembling, her pale lips quivered as she uttered incoherent whispers. She was overwhelmed with fear, forgetting the pain in her body as a greater terror engulfed her, Was she losing her child to a miscarriage?

She reached for the phone again, and even her breaths became uneven. Panic seized her, clouding her mind as she continued to call out Dominick's name.

"Save me, save my child..."

She cried out almost desperately, shouting into the phone, "Jessica, give the phone to Dominick! Give it to him! My child! Ask him to send someone over quickly...

"You don't want the baby, but I want, and I can raise my child by myself..." Her voice trembled in fear.

"I won't disturb your lives. Please, I beg you, save me..." She choked on tears as she pleaded in a trembling voice.

"Save me, save my child...

"The phone you have dialed is turned off."

The cold, automated voice repeated, each iteration plunging Stephanie's heart into the abyss, as if there was no hope of salvation.

"Save me...

Her hollow gaze fixed on the dark red pool between her legs as the heavy scent of blood filled the room. Was that the smell of death?

Her eyes blurred with tears as she gazed at the phone screen, her trembling fingers poised to dial 911, but suddenly, all sound ceased.

et the woman beside it remained motionless, her eyes tightly shut.

The phone screen illuminated the room, yet Silence enveloped the entire suite in an instant.

"Save my child..."

"What's wrong?"

At that moment in the hospital emergency room, a woman lay on the bed, her voice sweet as she addressed the man outside the ward window, sensing his distraction.

"I have something urgent to attend to."

Dominick grabbed his phone and glanced quickly, finding no missed calls. Yet, an inexplicable agitation gnawed at him.

"Dominick, don't leave me alone in the hospital. I'm scared."

Seeing him about to leave, she panicked. She scrambled from the bed without a care for the IV drip and threw herself at him. "Don't go....

"Ms. Carter, you've been in an accident and your body is weak. You must stay in the hospital for observation tonight, so you can't leave," the nurse said, rushing to her aid as she got up from the bed.

Despite the nurse's insistence, Jessica was adamant, clutching Dominick's right arm tightly, her voice faint with pleading, "Dominick, please don't leave."

Dominick glanced at her tear-stained face, his expression a mix of emotions.

The nurse interjected, "It's your duty to accompany your girlfriend. Sir, you should stay with her. Plus, you bear some responsibility for this traffic accident."

Just two hours earlier, Dominick had just left Elite High School when, by a twist of fate, his car collided with the one driven by Jessica at a turn while he was answering a call from Vincent.

"How is she?" He looked up at the approaching doctor.

The young doctor glanced at Jessica before meeting Dominick's stern gaze, calmly stating, "She's fine physically, with a minor concussion and a fractured right wrist. She shouldn't exert herself for a while."

"My filming just started. How could I rest?" Jessica tore up in anxiety. "What if the crew thinks I'm slowing them down and replaces me? What

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should I do?"

"Comfort your girlfriend," the doctor and nurse said casually before leaving.

Jessica was instructed to lie back on the bed for further treatment, but her anxious demeanor, coupled with her pitiful appearance, evoked Sympathy.

Dominick stood by the bedside, looking hesitant.

Lowering his gaze to his phone, he dialed a familiar number...

The phone rang repeatedly, but no one answered.

Irritation flashed across his face as he stared at his phone. 'She's deliberately not answering my calls!'

"Dominick, is something bothering you at the company?" Jessica lying on the hospital bed, grasped his hand weakly as she asked in a feeble

voice.

"It's nothing!" Dominick's face turned cold as he lightly touched the screen, ending the call.

"Stephaniel"

*Stephanie, how are you? Wake up! Don't scare me!"

Suddenly, the locked hotel suite was interrupted, and a strong ong smell of blood filled the air, making everyone tense. The phone on the floor continued to ring incessantly, then abruptly stopped.

All eyes turned to the woman on the big bed, as well as the horrifying dark red stain beneath her legs....

With anxiety overwhelming him, the man rushed over, squatting beside her and murmuring softly in her ear in an attempt to wake her up.

She wasn't responding...

ie Lay still with her eyes closed. Her face was pale, her skin cold to the touch, while sheingold touch, while she was lying in a heap on the floor motionless.

Stephanie lay "Stephanie, hold on!"

Tears welled up in his eyes as he caressed her cold skin. She looked so weak, as if she would leave this world the next moment and never up anymore.

wake

"Stephanie, you need to hold on! Do you hear me?" His eyes were bloodshot as he stared intensely at her while holding her wrist.

to her to the hospital.

The ambulance arrived quickly, and the man, along with the medical staff, lifted her onto a stretcher before rushing her to The ambulance siren blared, releasing a sound that always instilled a sense of anxiety.

Twenty minutes later, the ambulance arrived at the emergency room, where hospital staff rushed to assist.

"Take her to the operating room immediately!"

"We need to administer blood transfusions

"Where are the patient's family members?"