"No…!" Aria's face was pale. Her body, still weak after giving birth, had no strength left, yet she still struggled desperately to get off the bed and snatch her daughter back from Micheal's hands.
With just a glance from Micheal, the female guard stepped forward and pinned Aria down. She was completely immobilized, forced to watch with tears in her eyes. "Even a vicious tiger doesn't eat its cubs. She's your biological daughter. How could you be so cruel to her?"
Micheal cast a contemptuous glance at the baby and sneered. "Is she really mine?"
"She is, of course—"
Before Aria could finish, Micheal interrupted coldly, "Whether she is or not, I wouldn't dare keep a child born from a vicious woman like you!"
Hearing "vicious woman," Aria was momentarily stunned, then realized he was referring to the accusation that she had pushed his grandfather down the stairs.
She watched helplessly as her baby—so tiny, so fragile—barely had the strength to struggle anymore. Her cries were growing weaker and weaker. Aria's heart shattered. She hurried to explain, "I didn't push him! The child is yours, Micheal, you have to believe me!"
"I, Micheal, only believe in evidence." He glanced at the photos and reports he had thrown at Aria earlier.
Aria quickly picked them up, only to freeze when she saw the big bold words on the DNA report: No biological relation. Her eyes widened in disbelief. "How can this be? She's clearly yours! There must be some mistake…"
"I watched the doctor draw the blood myself. The test is accurate. This little bastard—she deserves to die." Micheal's eyes glinted with cruelty as he tightened the white cloth over the baby's face.
The baby's cries weakened further. What began as tiny kicks and struggling hands was now reduced to faint whimpers.
"No, don't…" Aria suddenly exploded in desperation, breaking free from the female guard in a frenzy. She fell to the ground with a thud and crawled to Micheal's feet. "Micheal, she really is yours! I beg you—please, just let her live…"
"You should have thought of that when you were cheating on me. When you pushed my grandfather. This is what you deserve." His voice was ice.
"No… no…" Aria tried to grab the baby, but suddenly, the infant's little leg twitched—then fell still. Her cries stopped altogether.
The room went silent.
Under the white cloth, the baby's tiny mouth, which had still been faintly breathing, no longer moved.
"Ah…" Aria stared at the child in horror.
But Micheal hadn't finished his cruelty.
He kicked Aria aside, then turned and tossed the dead baby to one of his men outside. "Throw her in the cage. Feed her to the Tibetan Mastiff."
A loud bark rang out from outside.
Aria's mind was filled with horrifying images of her baby being torn to shreds by the dogs. Her daughter—barely born—had been smothered by her own father.
And now… fed to the dogs…
Her body went limp, covered in blood, as she passed out.
Michael left the room and walked to the yard.
In the dog cage in the yard was just a doll in the shape of a baby. It was precisely the fake baby whom he had just tried to strangle in the room.
His assistant brought over a sleeping baby.
The assistant asked, "What should we do with Aria's child?"
Looking at the baby's cute appearance, Michael's face showed a look of fondness. He thought to himself how wonderful it would be if this child were his own.
After a long silence, he asked the assistant to send the baby to an orphanage and instructed that the little baby must be taken good care of.
—
When she woke, dawn had already arrived.
Aria lay on the floor of a bedroom. She struggled to lift her eyes and realized—this was the old master's room which is also Grandpa Michael's room.
A nurse was performing emergency treatment on the old man.
"I… I didn't push him… my baby…" Aria's voice trembled.
The image of her daughter being smothered and thrown to the dogs flashed through her mind. Her gaze turned hollow as she stared blankly at the bed.
"You're awake?" a woman's voice asked coldly as she walked over.
It was a nurse—one hired after the old man was paralyzed. Back then, Aria had already been sent to prison by Micheal.
"You… who are you…"
The woman strode over, then suddenly grabbed Aria's disheveled hair and yanked hard. "Who I am isn't your concern. But since you harmed Micheal's grandfather, you don't deserve to be his wife. Why haven't you agreed to the divorce yet?"
"Ah—it hurts…" Aria instinctively tried to pull away. Her scalp felt like it was about to be torn off.
"That hurts? Oh, there's worse coming." The woman sneered, pulling a thin needle from her pocket and driving it straight into Aria's arm…