I Woke Up Seven Years Later And Left My Cheating Husband Chapter 04
Claire froze, an ominous feeling flashing through her chest.
Sure enough, in the next second, Mia stepped in front of her and blocked her path, the soaked baby in her arms and her eyes filled with grief and outrage.
“Mrs. Ford, I know you don’t like him, but he’s still a newborn. He’s at his most fragile right now. Putting him in wet clothes could kill him!”
Claire was so furious she almost laughed. “He was perfectly fine when I left. This has nothing to do with me.”
She turned to leave.
But Mia reached out and clamped a hand around her wrist, digging her nails so hard into Claire’s skin that they bit into her flesh.
The pain made Claire instinctively try to pull her hand back. But Mia used the motion to stagger, and the baby went falling hard toward the floor.
“Leo!” Mia screamed, her eyes widening in horror. “Mrs. Ford, how could you push the baby?”
Claire jolted, her ears roaring.
She did not like this child, but he was still a living, breathing human being. She did not want to see him truly hurt.
She reached out to catch him so quickly that she did not even notice when her hand slammed into the wall and broke a nail. But another large hand moved faster than hers, pulling the baby safely into his arms.
The baby burst into loud sobs, his face turning red.
Bennett, who had just rushed over, immediately went cold.
Mia spoke in a panic. “Mr. Ford, what do we do? Leo seems to have a fever!”
“He may have been frightened too, after Mrs. Ford pushed him just now.”
Claire could not listen anymore and cut her off.
“I said I didn’t do it.”
“Even just now, when the baby nearly fell, you staged the whole thing yourself to frame me.”
Mia’s face went pale. “Mrs. Ford, how could you say that about me? I’ve cared for this child since birth. How could I ever bear to…”
She clutched Bennett’s shirt with an aggrieved expression.
Finally, Bennett lifted his eyes. His patience was completely gone as he snapped in a low voice.
Enough
A flicker of triumph flashed through Mia’s eyes.
But in the next second, Bennett reached out and took Claire’s hand.
“Does it hurt?”
He sighed.
You just had your nails done yesterday, and now one is already broken.”
Mia stared at Bennett in disbelief. In her urgency, she lost all sense of propriety.
“Bennett, Leo has a fever because of Mrs. Ford.”
Bennett’s gaze darkened. “What did you call me? Who gave you permission to address me that way?”
Mia’s face instantly turned white. She became flustered and uneasy. “I…”
“Claire said she didn’t do it, so I believe her.” Bennett looked down at Mia, his eyes full of warning. “Mia, you are only a nanny. The lady of this house is Claire. Remember your place.”
With that, Bennett strode away with the baby in his arms.
“Take the baby to the hospital first.”
Claire stared at his fading back, her eyes drifting out of focus.
Did he really believe her?
An hour later, the baby’s test results came back. He had pneumonia.
If he did not improve tonight, it could develop into severe pneumonia.
Mia could not help crying as she spoke in a cautious, trembling voice. “It was all because of those wet clothes.
Bennett visibly grew irritated. He lit a cigarette but did not smoke it, only staring at the glowing ember as it continued to burn.
After hesitating for a moment, Claire still walked over to explain. “Bennett, there’s a nursery camera in the baby’s room. I really wasn’t the one who got his clothes wet.”
But this time, Bennett did not speak. His gaze settled on the blessed medal hanging against Claire’s chest “I know you said you believed me, but I still want to make it clear. I really didn’t hurt that child.”
“I remember you once said this blessed medal was powerful and had gotten you through more than one close call,” Bennett finally said, reaching out to take the medal resting against her chest. “Let Leo borrow it for tonight.”
Claire went rigid. “No! My mom had it blessed especially for me.”
In the final days of her life, Claire’s mother had been wheeled into St. Anne’s Chapel to have this medal blessed for her.
What mattered was not whether it could truly protect Claire from danger, but that it was her mother’s final blessing.
Claire gripped the cord tightly, her gaze turning cold. “Bennett, you know exactly how much this means to
- How can you ask me for it?”
But Bennett’s expression darkened. Without another word, he tore the cord from Claire’s neck.
The cord scraped a bloody ring around her throat.
Pain made Claire’s brows tighten, and she instinctively covered the wound.
But Bennett did not seem to notice at all. He only held the blessed medal and quickly walked toward Leo, his movements urgent and his voice tense.
“He’s only wearing it for one night. Consider it your atonement.”
Had he just called it atonement?
A roar exploded in Claire’s ears, and all the color drained from her face.
By saying “atonement,” he had admitted that deep down, he had already decided she was the one who had put Leo in those wet clothes.
He believed she was guilty.
He claimed he believed her, but in his heart, he had never believed her at all.