Love's New Bloom by Simone Hastings

Chapter 178 Stealing Her Child A week later, Erin felt immensely drowsy after finishing breakfast one day. Hence, she decided to lie down and rest. Although her body was thinner than before, her belly was large. She was approaching her due date. Erin slowly fell asleep while rubbing her belly in her drowsy state. Less than ten minutes later, Tessa, who had seen Erin passing out from the surveillance, arrived at the cell. Jack was also there. He was put in charge of carrying Erin into the operating room. Jack added a sedative to Erin’s breakfast that morning to make her sleepy. The mushroom soup he served that day was creamy and flavorful, so Erin didn’t detect anything was off with her meal. “You don’t need to come into the operating room later. I can handle it myself,” Tessa stated impassively. Jack had just bent down to pick Erin up in his arms. He looked up at Tessa and said, “I know the surgery won’t pose a challenge for you, but won’t you be overwhelmed doing it alone? Let me help you.” Tessa frowned and gave him a displeased look. “Is that what you’ve been aiming for? Seeing Erin’s naked body?” Her words effectively angered Jack for the first time ever. He asked with a cold gaze, “Is that what you think of me? Tessa, have you forgotten what I’ve done for you? Do you even care if I see Erin’s body?” “Of course, I remember everything you’ve done for me, but I just don’t like you seeing her body. I’m jealous, ok?” Tessa retorted irritably. Jack sighed. “Falling in love with you will be the death of me. Here’s the deal. After you’ve changed Erin into the surgical gown and gotten. everything ready, let me know and I’ll come into the operating room to assist you. We’ve put in so much effort; I don’t want anything to happen to our son.” Tessa pondered for a moment and finally compromised. “Fine, but you have to promise me. When the surgery starts, don’t look anywhere you shouldn’t. I know this body of Erin’s has a deadly allure to men, I’m quite fascinated by it too-” Jack shook his head helplessly. “Let’s go.” Not long after, Tessa and Jack entered the makeshift operating room that had been prepared in advance. Although it wasn’t as professional and tidy as the ones in a large hospital, it had everything that was necessary and wasn’t lacking in any way. If it hadn’t been for Erin’s pregnancy being close to the due date. Tessa wouldn’t have easily decided on a cesarean section. After all babies born prematurely were prone to illness and would have to be put in an incubator to ensure their survival. Twenty minutes later, Erin was dressed in a light blue surgical gown. Tessa made sure to cover all the necessary parts; only her nose was unobstructed for breathing purposes. Meanwhile, her heavily pregnant belly was completely exposed. After Tessa injected anesthesia into Erin, she allowed Jack to enter the operating room. The whole process was quick, and it only took Tessa an hour to remove Erin’s baby from her body. “Jack, look! Our child!” Tessa exclaimed excitedly as she held the bloody baby. Jack, fully decked in surgical room attire, quickly took the child from Tessa and began the task of cleaning away the blood from the baby’s body. He also reminded Tessa, “I’ll take care of this. You should suture Erin quick.” Due to her professionalism, Tessa couldn’t allow any imperfections to be present in a surgery she was carrying out. After calming herself down, she immediately began suturing Erin. She chose to do a transverse incision on Erin, so the wound was small. Tessa even used cosmetic needles to ensure there would be almost no scarring in the future. However, this didn’t mean that Tessa intended to spare Erin. Now that the child had been safely delivered, Erin had lost all value of existence. Tessa urged Jack to leave quickly, not wanting the child to stay in the operating room. She wanted the baby to be sent to the nursery. Jack looked at the beautiful baby, who was now clean, in his arms, happiness evident in his eyes. Without giving it a second thought, he left joyfully with the child. After he left. Tessa gazed at Erin, who was still passed out on the operating table, with deep jealousy. What If Chandler still loved Erin after she returned? Did that mean they would get to live happily ever after? And would they go on to have another child? Tessa couldn’t allow it! She’d sworn that she would never let Chandler find happiness. If Erin was Chandler’s happiness, then she would destroy Erin. However, Tessa felt deeply conflicted. Three months ago, she’d personally promised Jack that she would let Erin go. She didn’t want to break her promise to him, so she came up with a plan to send Erin oll. She swiftly picked up a syringe and injected another dose of anesthesia into Erin’s hand. Although this dosage wouldn’t kill her, it would prolong Erin’s state of unconsciousness. Before leaving the operating room, Tessa glanced at Erin one last time and said, “Erin, don’t say I didn’t give you a chance. You should be grateful I didn’t use an excessive amount of anesthesia to kill you off. Your fate is in your own hands now.” With a determined expression. Tessa took out a remote control from her pocket and pressed a button, activating a safety device that controlled the entire operating room’s circuit. The moment the button was pressed, the lights in the operating room went out, and sparks erupted from several instruments as the wiring inside burned. Several electrical boxes throughout the underground bunker started to break out in fires of various degrees. Just as Tessa had planned, a few remote locations caught fire right away. The rapidly rising smoke triggered the fire alarm, and the red warning lights flickered on in the monitoring station. Jack immediately rushed out of the nursery. He’d taken around a dozen steps before he turned back. He didn’t feel safe leaving the baby where he was. Therefore, with the child in his harms, he exited the nursery. Before he managed to locate Tessa, she’d already taken off her surgical gown and walked out of the storage room with a large backpack on her back. With only ten minutes left for their safe evacuation, Tessa barked. “Jack, let’s leave this place quickly! I think the wiring here is too old. There was likely a short circuit that led to this fire. If we don’t leave now, we won’t be able to get out!” Jack asked, “What about Erin? Should we take her with us? Is she awake?” “She hasn’t woken up! Even if she did, how do we bring her along? She just had surgery, so she doesn’t have the strength to travel with us. We’re not going on a vacation after we leave! We’ll be on the run! Don’t forget that once we return to the real world, there’ll be many people looking for us! It’s already dangerous enough for us with this child around!” Tessa grabbed Jack’s arm, eager to leave. It could be due to his conscience, or because he’d made Erin a promise, Jack was hesitant to leave Erin for death. “If she hasn’t woken up, I’ll carry her on my back!” Just as Jack handed the child to Tessa, the baby suddenly started crying loudly. The crying tugged at their heartstrings, softening the hearts of these two merciless murderers. “Don’t be foolish! We kept Erin locked up here for a full eight months! And now we’ve stolen her child! Do you think she’ll be grateful if we release her? No! She’ll do everything in her power to pay us back in kind and take the child away from us!” Tessa yelled exasperatedly. She glanced at the child and said, “So, do you want the child and me? Or do you insist on saving Erin? You decide for yourself. If you’re not leaving, then I am!” Without looking back, Tessa left with the child in her arms. Jack watched as Tessa’s figure disappear from his field of vision instantly, feeling torn inside. When he thought of Erin’s expression that was filled with intense hatred and how she cursed that both he and Tessa would meet a terrible end, he ultimately chose to leave.. “Erin, I hope you have better luck in your next life,” Jack lamented internally with a sigh