'Carlos left instead of waiting for me, ' Debbie thought, heartbroken and sad. She folded the papers, stuck them into her pocket, and reached out her hand. "Emmett, give me the car keys. I can drive myself home. You're free. Do whatever you want."

"I'm available now. Why not let me drive?" Emmett offered as he could tell something was not right with her.

"Thank you, but I'm good. Don't worry. I just need to go to the East City Villa first to fetch my luggage, and then head to the manor." Debbie took a deep breath, pretending to be calm.

Left with no choice, Emmett handed her the car keys. "Mr. Huo has the Emperor. This Mercedes-Benz belongs to the company. Just leave it in the manor, and I'll grab it later."

"Sure. Thank you, Emmett." Debbie took over the car keys and cranked the ignition. After hearing a satisfactory roar from the engine, she drove off.

Little did she know that Emmett walked into the hospital as soon as she was out of sight. He went straight to the obstetrics and gynecology department.

Several minutes later, Emmett called Carlos. "Mr. Huo, Mrs. Huo just drove herself back."

"Mmm." After a short pause, Carlos asked, "The test results?"

Recalling what the doctors had told him, Emmett swallowed before stammering, "Mr. Huo, the pills would harm a woman's health. The doctors suggested Mrs. Huo stop taking—"

Before he could finish, Carlos hung up the phone.

Emmett looked in the direction where Debbie left, and wondered, 'I thought Mr. and Mrs. Huo loved each other. Why take the pills?

What's more, everyone knows long-term use of birth control pills is harmful. Why did Mr. Huo allow his wife to take them?'

On her way, Debbie was absent-minded. She kept going over it in her head. What foods had she eaten recently? Could any of those foods cause the results to skew?

She had eaten a lot of seafood lately. And scientists had recently found contraceptive compounds in fish. Could the doctors be detecting that, instead?

Sometimes, she would pull over and think about whether there were the same steroidal compounds in seafood and what kind of seafood might have the same chemicals.

But she had to admit that she knew next to nothing about this.

When she arrived at East City Villa, she plugged her phone in to charge it, since the battery died. It was lunchtime; she ordered some food delivery on Meituan app. She sat down for a quick meal, then checked to make sure she had all her luggage, and drove towards the manor.

On her way to the manor, she kept thinking about what the doctors had told her. 'There must be something wrong with the two doctors. Is it possible that they were bribed? Maybe I can get a second opinion somewhere else.'

There was another large hospital not far away. Debbie decided to turn around and drive to the hospital.

She stopped at a red light.

That was when her phone rang. She saw the caller ID, and it was an unknown number.

She connected the Bluetooth and then answered, "Hello?"

"It's me." Megan's voice reverberated in the car.

"Why did you call?" Debbie asked in a cold voice. 'Is she in the manor with Carlos right now?' she mused.

"Ha!" Megan laughed out loud. "You know what? Uncle Carlos came to me after leaving the hospital. He told me I was the one he truly loved. Oh, it turns out you always take birth control pills. You don't want to have his baby, do you? I really feel sorry for him."

"So?" Debbie acted calm, but her long fingernails stuck into the leather steering wheel, leaving deep marks. 'So the thing he had to deal with was to be with Megan!'

"Debbie, I feel bad for you. Uncle Carlos told me that he would never leave me and that we'd be together forever." There was a trace of smugness in her voice.

The traffic lights turned green, but Debbie paid no attention to it. Not until the driver behind her honked at her did she come back to her senses and start the engine. "You're the daughter of the ones who saved his life. He's supposed to treat you like his own niece and take care of you. This has nothing to do with love. You understand?"

"Really? Then why did Uncle Carlos tell me that he would take care of me after sending you abroad? You did know you would be studying abroad soon?"

'No way! This is like a bad dream! I can't believe it, ' Debbie thought. "No, you got it wrong. My husband's going abroad with me, and will live with me while I'm studying there," she snapped back.

"Ha! Debbie Nian, you're so naive. I'm here, in Y City. Do you really think Uncle Carlos will leave me behind? Especially after I told him that you took birth control pills..."

"What?" Debbie interrupted her. "You're the one that told him about it?"

"Yep!" Megan answered in a cheerful voice. "I told Uncle Carlos that I saw you taking the pills all the time and that you didn't want his baby. And he believed it. He took you to the hospital to have an exam, didn't he?"

"Megan Lan! You—" Debbie was boiling over with rage. She guided her car over the bridge, the river surging madly under it. When she saw a car galloping at full speed towards her, she wrenched the wheel to the right.

It was a serious miscalculation. She lost control of her car, and the black Mercedes-Benz flew straight at the guardrail.

Bang! After a loud sound, the car crashed right through the guardrail and fell into the river. Bubbles rose for a bit, before the rapids once again reasserted themselves and the water covered the car like nothing had happened.

The cars on the bridge all stopped, and some drivers got out to see if they could help. A few of them called for an ambulance, hoping against hope that the driver would be alright. They hadn't seen much before the actual crash, and who knew if the currents had already carried the car far from where they saw it go off the bridge?

Hearing the loud bang coming from the other end of the line, Megan suddenly had a bad feeling about this. She heard a piercing scream and took the phone away from her ear. When she put her ear to the receiver again, she heard Debbie say in a calm voice, "Looks like you'll get your wish. I'm dying. Enjoy living with your uncle Carlos..." Debbie's voice trailed off. "Megan, if I'm not dead... ahem... I swear I'll kill you."

Silence ensued.

Not knowing what happened to Debbie, Megan was frightened. She pried the back off the phone, took out the SIM card and dumped it into the trash bin.

Under the water, Debbie tried to calm herself down. She had to save herself! She pried her white-knuckled hands off the steering wheel and covered her bleeding forehead. The water around the car was as black as ink. She picked up her phone, opened the flashlight app and looked for the lifesaving hammer with the light.

The posh car was well outfitted. In just a few minutes, she found just what she needed. Good thing, since the air inside the car was getting thinner. A sigh of relief escaped her chest as she lifted the hammer out of the box under the seat.

The cabin would soon be devoid of air. Debbie was winded and shaken. Her head wound was still bleeding, but she paid it little mind. 'Not much time left. Need to break the window.'

She held the hammer, and put a ding in the window. At this point, she might run out of air before she got through. But she swung the hammer, again and again, with strength born of desperation. It didn't take long before a crack formed. Then, a spiderweb of cracks. Finally, the window exploded inward as torrents of water gushed into the cabin.

Holding her breath, she swam out of the car and made her way upwards.

The water was deep, and she had to hurry up.

The lack of oxygen made her feel dizzy. Although she had escaped the car, she had no idea whether she could make it all the way to the surface.

How she wished she could call Carlos and listen to his voice. She wanted to tell him that she loved him and wanted to have his baby. But she couldn't right now.

The water was muddy, and she was unable to open her eyes. She only heard a honk coming from far away.

It was winter, and the water was freezing. Luckily, she had taken off her down jacket in the car. Her soaked sweater alone was so heavy.

She struggled to take it off, and then she felt lighter.

She kicked her legs hard and saw the blue sky.

But then, the rapids washed over her, and the currents dragged her under again, as she gulped a mouthful of water.

Myriad feelings gripped her—cold, hurt, terrified, sad... 'Carlos Huo... Save me...'

Although she could swim, she gradually lost consciousness after staying in the water for so long. She wasn't cold anymore. Instead, she felt comforting warmth embrace her. It was a fiction, though—she knew the end was near.

'No! I can't die here. I haven't had a baby with Carlos yet. I haven't found my brother. I haven't said goodbye to my friends...'

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