It was almost four o’clock. Wendy and Zess headed out to pick up the two children.

Wendy acted according to Michael’s plan. As they were nearing the school, she pretended to slip and fall on the ground, "Ah..."

"Wendy, what happened?" When she saw Wendy had fallen, Zess reached out her hand to help her up, "Are you feeling okay?"

"I..." Wendy pressed her hand to her stomach. She raised her voice, "My stomach hurts so badly..."

Then, Wendy took the opportunity to crush the blood bag she had prepared ahead of time. The blood immediately began seeping out of the bag. Wendy’s pants were slowly soaked through with blood.

Zess panicked. Her face paled when she saw all the blood. Her shaking hands supported Wendy as she stood up. There was a slight tremor in her voice as she spoke, "Wendy, what’s wrong? Don’t scare me. Why is there so much blood? I was only walking a few steps ahead of you. How could you have fallen?"

Zess kept blaming herself for Wendy’s accident. Why hadn’t she thought of walking with Wendy? Wendy wasn’t in the best condition anyway, and she was now pregnant. There was so much blood. What was she supposed to do?

"Can you endure the pain, just for a little? I’m going to call an ambulance right away." Zess quickly took out her phone. Her shaking hands found the dial pad on the phone, and she entered 911.

Wendy felt bad for Zess when she saw how anxious she was. She could have told Zess not to worry. Before Michael left, however, he had expressly told her not to let Zess in on the plan in case Christian’s spies saw through their entire scheme. It wasn’t that they didn’t trust Zess. It was just that if Zess was left unaware, her worrying and fear would seem all the more real. Besides, once Zess believed Wendy was actually having a miscarriage, Christian would be more likely to believe the same thing.

"Hello, is this 911? A pregnant woman just fell and she’s bleeding too much. Can you immediately send someone down here?" Zess spoke hurriedly, "The address... The address is Joy International Elementary School. We’re almost at the front of the school. When you arrive, you should see us."

When the call ended, Zess squatted down on the ground. As she watched the blood stream onto the ground, Zess began crying. "Wendy, just bear with it for a few moments. The ambulance is on its way." Zess wiped the tears off her face. She wanted to help Wendy up but was also afraid of causing her any more pain.

"My child, is it possible that my child..." Wendy bit her lip, trying to put on a pained and scared expression.

"It won’t, it won’t. It’s not going to happen." Zess rushed to comfort Wendy, saying, "The hospital is close by. It should only take the ambulance ten minutes to arrive.

You and your child will both be okay."

"Can you give Michael a call?" Wendy put on a pained expression as she spoke.

"Of course, of course, I will. I’ll give Mr. Lucas a call right away. How could I have forgotten?" In her panicked state, Zess had forgotten to call Michael. She took out her phone and dialed Michael’s number.

Michael had been waiting for the call all along. When he saw Zess’s number appear on his phone screen, he knew the plan was already in motion. He quickly picked up the call.

"Mr. Lucas, I have bad news. Wendy... she fell. She’s losing so much blood."

Zess sobbed.

"What? How could she have fallen? Where are you two? I’ll come over immediately!"

Michael asked anxiously.

... 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"We’re at the school. She fell on the way to pick up Leah and Jake." Zess wiped the tears from her eyes as she spoke.

"I’ll be over immediately. Please take care of Wendy. You can’t let anything bad happen, you hear me?" Michael told her.

"Yes, I know. I won’t let anything happen. I promise you." Although Zess was talking to Michael, the things she said were for herself as well. Once the call ended, Zess spoke to Wendy, "Mr. Lucas is on his way. Hold on Wendy."

Around this time, more parents were already on their way to pick up their children.

The passersby crowded around the scene when they noticed Wendy fallen on the ground in a pool of blood. A few kind onlookers even offered to help Wendy with any emergency treatment.

Wendy rejected them all out of fear. The ambulance finally arrived, otherwise, Wendy was nervous that some of the bystanders really would have decided to help her. That would just expose her act.

Once she was loaded into the ambulance, away from the public view, Wendy breathed a sigh of relief. At this time, Christian’s spies gave Christian a call.

When Christian heard the report from his spies, he jumped up from his seat in agitation, "Say that again!"

"I saw Wendy slip and fall. After that, she started bleeding. They just loaded her into the ambulance," the voice on the other end told him again.

"The universe must be on my side." Christian began laughing. He was worried that the opportunity to let Clement leave would never come. Wasn’t there a good opportunity at last?

"Sir, should we still kidnap Leah and Jake?" the voice asked him.

"There’s no need. Since Wendy bled so much, I’m assuming that she probably lost the child. She just had a miscarriage. What’s the use in kidnapping those two children anymore? Michael’s going to be too busy worrying about Wendy these next few days." Christian said, "Why do something unnecessary?"

Kidnapping the two children was Christian’s last straw. As soon as he touched those two children, Michael would probably send people over to his office. There would be no turning back, once he took that step. If the situation got out of hand, the managers on the new project would open another investigation on him. The risk was too great. This new opportunity was like a sign from the universe. He didn’t have to take any risks.

When he hung up the call, Christian immediately called Clement, "The opportunity is here. Get ready. I’m about to send some people over to escort you to my helicopter pad."

Christian was still cautious. He didn’t plan on escorting Clement to the airport. His personal helicopter would fly Clement out of here. After all, his helicopter was on his territory. In case Michael discovered his plan, even if he left Wendy to chase after him, Christian would still be able to buy Clement sometime.

"Really?" Clement became excited. He had stayed in this rundown place for over a week. He would go mad if he didn’t leave. There were still a lot of things he needed to take care of before expanding the market in Zeilheim City. Zeilheim City was his cash cow. His organization attached a lot of importance to this opportunity.

"Really," Christian excitedly said, "to guarantee our success, I’ll send someone over to get you into disguise. You need to leave quietly so that nobody knows you’ve left."

This time, Clement gave his full cooperation.

After relaying his plan, Christian ended the call. Next, he called his assistant, coldly giving her instructions on what to do next.

...

When Michael arrived at the elementary school, Wendy had already left in the ambulance. Michael got back in his car and drove to the hospital. He had already notified the hospital about his plan. With Milo’s help, everything would run smoothly.

Wendy was checked into a private room when she arrived at the hospital. This was Milo’s turf, that’s why she wasn’t brought into the emergency room. Christian’s men wouldn’t be able to find out any details about her treatment. When she arrived at the hospital, her act didn’t have to continue.

Zess hadn’t left Wendy’s side. It was only when she saw Wendy being checked into a private room that she began to suspect something. She asked, "Why aren’t you taking her to the emergency room? You brought her over her... why did you bring her to a private room?"

"Zess..." Wendy pulled Zess along. She was lying on the gurney, but her voice no longer sounded as weak as before.

"Wendy..." Zess tightly squeezed Wendy’s hand. Tears kept streaming from her eyes, "Don’t be afraid, Wendy. Mr. Lucas will be here any minute and these doctors will take care of you. Mr. Lucas won’t forgive them."

Zess took out her phone as she was speaking, "I’ll give Mr. Lucas a call immediately."

"There’s nothing wrong, Zess. Don’t worry." Wendy couldn’t sit up from her position on the gurney.

Luckily, the gurney soon entered the private room. The head attendant said, "Mrs.

Lucas, it’s safe here. If you need anything, please let me know."

"Thank you." Wendy politely expressed her gratitude. Afterward, all the hospital attendants left the room. They even closed all the doors to the private room.

"Wendy, what’s happening?" Zess was thoroughly confused. She wiped the tears from her face.

"I’m sorry, Zess. I’m completely fine. This whole time I was just pretending." Wendy apologetically explained, "I didn’t tell you ahead of time because I knew that you would be worried and anxious if you didn’t know what was going on. This whole ruse would be a lot easier."

"That’s okay..." Zess carefully looked over Wendy. She saw that Wendy was indeed okay. Her complexion was rosy. It looked nothing like that of a woman who had just had a miscarriage. Zess’s eyes landed on Wendy’s bloody pants. The bloodstains were still obvious.

Wendy smiled as she patted her pants, "This is from a blood bag Michael had prepared ahead of time. Do you remember a person coming in the evening? He was delivering it to me."

Zess finally understood. That evening, somebody had indeed come to their home.

Wendy had even told her to let her know if anybody came over. So, that’s what happened.

"As long as you’re okay." Zess released a pent-up breath after she checked that Wendy was okay. She didn’t know what she would do if something had actually happened to Wendy.

"I’m sorry for not telling you ahead of time. I made you worry." Wendy’s tone was apologetic.

"As long as nothing has happened to you, it’s okay." Zess sighed. She knew that Wendy and Michael had their own reasons for doing this.

"Zess, you’re too good for me." Wendy embraced Zess.

At that moment, they heard a knock on the door. Wendy let go of Zess. She walked up to the door to take a look. It was Michael. She opened the door to let him in.

Michael immediately noticed the blood covering Wendy’s body. Even though he knew it wasn’t hers, but he couldn’t help the feeling of fear when he first saw the bloodstains.