She Blamed Me For Her Baby's Death

I sold my brand-new 300,000-dollar Bentley for cheap at a price of 30,000. Everyone thought I had gone crazy, but no one knew I had been reborn. In my last life, my mafia boyfriend, Clay Colton's childhood friend, Wendy Jeffords, was heavily pregnant when she experienced pain during the family's gathering. She grabbed my hand as tears streamed down her face. "Ciara, I'm begging you. I'm going into labor. Please take me to the hospital." I was in a panic, and I quickly drove her to the hospital in my new car. However, the baby suffocated from its umbilical cord wrapped around its neck, and the doctor was unable to save it despite doing his best. After Wendy was discharged, she came crying at my company's door while holding up a sign that read, 'Ciara Snow is a murderer! She killed my baby when she drove dangerously!' She told everyone she met that the ride in my car had been too bumpy, and it caused the umbilical cord to strangle her baby. Someone posted a clip of her online, and it trended right away. My pictures, house address, and phone number were revealed on the internet, and many strangers started cursing at me on my social media. I was fired by my company, and people started throwing rubbish at my door. My parents were too afraid of leaving the house due to harassment. My boyfriend, Clay, did not speak up for me when he was interviewed by the media and instead said, "Ciara loved showing off her new luxury car, and she only has herself to blame for everything that has happened." In the end, I jumped off a building. However, when I opened my eyes, I had returned to the day of the family gathering. Wendy was hugging her belly and looking pale as she approached me. "Ciara, I think I'm in labor. Please drive me to the hospital!" Chapter 1 Wendy Jeffords was hugging her belly, looking deathly pale. She stumbled toward me and grabbed me by the arm. "I think I'm about to go into labor… Please, Ciara, take me to the hospital. It hurts so much…" The look on her face, the tone of her voice, and even the forceful grip on my arm were exactly the same as they were in my past life. My mind went momentarily blank. In my past life, she had approached me the same way, crying about how she was not able to get a cab and how only I could help her give birth to her baby safely. I believed her, so I drove her to the hospital in my new car, speeding all the way in an anxious state. I took a shortcut to get to the hospital faster, but after two hours of surgery, the doctor walked out of the surgery room with a pained look on his face. "The baby suffocated because its umbilical cord was wrapped around its neck. We weren't able to save it." My knees went weak, and before I knew it, Wendy started wailing from the hospital room, "This is all your fault! Why did you have to take that shortcut? There were bumps throughout that road, and you killed my baby for driving through there!" All I could do was apologize because I did not know better, but Wendy refused to let this go. On the day she was discharged, she appeared in front of my office, holding a white sign painted with red words that read, 'Ciara Snow is a murderer! She killed my baby when she drove dangerously!' Wendy had grown up with my mafia boyfriend, Clay Colton, and she begged him to use his contacts in the local media to help her. Before noon, clips of Wendy protesting outside my office started trending online. The article with the headline, 'Female Bentley driver murdered baby!', garnered 40 million views, and pictures of me were splashed all over the internet. [Is she allowed to murder just because she's rich?! This case needs a retrial!] [People like her don't deserve to live in this world.] [That woman lost a baby. How can a murderer like her still go to work like nothing had happened?] That afternoon, my superiors called me into the office for a meeting. "This has caused our company's reputation to suffer tremendously. You don't need to come to work anymore." My employee card was blocked before I even left the building. The next morning, Clay came over to my house with Wendy. "You killed Wendy's baby, Ciara. It was a major blow to her, and she's emotionally damaged." He held the crying Wendy in his arms tenderly and said to me, "You have to redeem yourself by being responsible for her." That was how I became a free maid for Wendy for a month. I would go to her house at 6:00 am every day to cook, clean, and do her laundry, while she stayed in bed to cry, scream, or curse at me. "Give me back my son! Why weren't you the one who died? You owe me everything!" After suffering for a month, I finally went home, only to find that my parents had been harassed and hurt during this period, and ended up being admitted to the hospital. My relatives refused to pick up any of our calls, and my friends cut off contact with me. Despite being found innocent by the court, everyone treated me like a criminal. I eventually suffered from depression and jumped off a building. I snapped out of it when Wendy's fingernails dug hard into my flesh. She was still looking pitiful while looking like she was trying to hold back her pain, just like how she was in my past life. I slowly pried her fingers off my arm, one by one. After that, I took a step away from her. "Call an ambulance if you're about to go into labor," I said calmly. "What does this have to do with me?" Chapter 2 Wendy froze. She looked like a puppet that had lost its strings. A woman next to me stepped in right away. "Are you serious, Ciara? She's about to go into labor." Another chimed in loudly, "I heard you bought a new Bentley. Can't you just drive Wendy to the hospital? How long will we need to wait if we call an ambulance now?" Wendy cried even harder now that she had people standing up for her. "I'm begging you, Ciara. It would be faster if you just drove me to the hospital. It feels like my belly is being torn apart…" Her trembling voice and look of desperation in her eyes made her acting look even more realistic than it was in my past life. I looked at her and shrugged. "But I sold my car. How am I supposed to drive you?" The room turned silent, and no one spoke for at least two seconds. Even Wendy stopped crying. Her eyes widened as her voice went up an octave. "That brand-new Bentley? The one you bought for 300,000 dollars? You sold it? How is that possible?!" Several other people exchanged looks and laughed. "Stop kidding around, Ciara. Just say it if you're not willing to help Wendy." "You bought that car last week. No one would sell their brand-new car after driving it for only a few days." "I guess she doesn't want people like us hitching a ride in her car. She's now a snob for buying a Bentley." Everyone started talking about this as they stared maliciously back at me. Wendy gave the most exaggerated reaction. She had one hand pressed on her belly as she leaned weakly against the wall with tears streaming down her face. "I understand if you refuse to help me. I won't force you into anything, but you don't need to lie about selling your car. I'm really in a lot of pain, and all I'm asking for is a little help…" Her knees suddenly went weak as she spoke, and she looked like she was about to fall. That was when the door opened, and my boyfriend, Clay, walked in, looking tired and in a rush. Wendy cried even louder at the sight of him, and she struggled to reach out to him. "Clay… You're here… It hurts so bad…" Clay looked alarmed as he dashed to her side to hold her by the shoulders. "What's going on?" Wendy's friend, Eve Samson, glared at me. "You should ask your girlfriend that question. Wendy is about to go into labor and can hardly stand, but Ciara's giving all sorts of excuses not to drive her to the hospital." Clay looked up at me sharply. "Why won't you drive her when you have a car, Ciara? How can you be so cold-blooded when she's pregnant with a baby?" It hurt me to hear his words, and I looked back at him. It was just the same back in my past life. He would always take Wendy's side, while always looking at me with disappointment, as if I were the unforgivable sinner. Wendy grabbed his sleeve, looking teary-eyed and choking back a sob. "Don't be mad at Ciara, Clay. Maybe she really did sell her car. I shouldn't even be troubling her…" She nuzzled deeper into Clay's arms as she spoke and trembled slightly. Clay held her tight, and he turned to me with a tired look on his face. He said with great annoyance, "When did you turn this way, Ciara? A pregnant woman is about to go into labor, and you still refuse to drive her to the hospital." Another capo, Sean Geddot, shook his head. "It's not a great sacrifice for you to drive Wendy to the hospital." A socialite from the family took a sip of red wine and said sarcastically in a shrill tone, "How interesting. Some people enjoy showing off their brand-new luxury car, but when someone asks for help by begging for a ride…" Malicious whispers were heard all around me, slithering like a venomous snake among the crowd. Wendy picked the right moment to exclaim in pain, and Clay lowered his head to comfort her. When he looked up at me again, there was only coldness in his eyes. "If anything happens to Wendy, I won't ever forgive you, Ciara." I watched them quietly without saying a word. Back in my past life, Eve was the first person who shared the clip of Wendy accusing me of murdering her baby right after Wendy posted it, while Sean was the one who exposed my address to the public after the whole incident escalated, and Clay did not hesitate at all when he stood witness against me for Wendy's sake. Every one of them was responsible for destroying my life. However, I felt nothing. There was no anger, no shame, and no guilt inside of me, and I replied calmly, "I don't need to ask for anyone's permission to sell my car. There is no point in asking for my help when I no longer own a car." Wendy suddenly screamed. She looked extremely pale, and her forehead was covered in cold sweat. This time, she was not putting up an act. Everyone started to get anxious. "She's about to go into labor! Get an ambulance!" "Be careful! Don't bump into her tummy!" "Make way, everyone! We need to give Wendy some space…" Wendy fell limply in Clay's arms while hugging her belly tightly. She glared at me while she cried. It was difficult to ignore the clear hate she had in her eyes for me. I knew that she hated me for rejecting her. I learned a lot about pregnancies in my past life when I was 'working' as her free maid, and I wanted to find out if it was true that Wendy's baby died because of me. A baby's umbilical cord wrapping around its neck happened because of natural causes, and had nothing to do with a bumpy ride in a car, but everyone seemed to be convinced that it was my fault. One late night, I returned to Wendy's house because I had left my keys there, and I overheard a conversation she had on the phone with Clay. A few weeks before she went into labor, the doctors warned her about the umbilical cord around her baby's neck, and they suggested that she have a cesarean section, but she rejected the idea. Wendy needed someone to take the fall for her dead fetus, and I was the target. The ambulance's siren could be heard loudly outside the window, and the paramedics rushed to the scene after a minute to help Wendy onto a stretcher. When they wheeled her past me, Wendy turned her head, and our eyes met. I smiled at her, but there was no warmth in my eyes. "Don't frame someone innocent this time, Wendy." Chapter 3 My phone started vibrating less than 30 minutes after Wendy was taken away in the ambulance. Wendy was thanking every single person in the family's group chat. [Thank you, Eve. Thank you, Sean. Thank you, Clay. Thank you to everyone who called the ambulance. You're all my heroes. I'm about to be wheeled into the delivery room at St. Gabriel Medical Center.] After that, her text took another tone. [My next words are for a certain someone who refused to help me. You'll suffer retribution for being such a cold-blooded person.] Eve replied right away: [I know what you mean. So what if that person is rich? Everyone would still hate that person if they are of questionable character.] Sean chimed in sarcastically: [Some people had been busy showing off their brand-new luxury car, but when it comes to helping others, well… Hah!] Everyone else in the group chat started asking questions. [Wait, what happened?] [Someone refused to help Wendy when she was about to go into labor?] [It was Ciara. She told us that she sold her car.] [Was she talking about the Bentley she bought last week?] [Who would believe that?] The texts came in so fast that I could barely keep up. Most of the people in the group chat were mad at me, but I did not reply a word. I stood up and headed to the underboss' office. When I pushed the door open, he was behind his desk with his phone. I could see the group chat displayed on his phone screen. The expression on his face changed slightly when he looked up and saw me. "Ciara." He pointed at the chair opposite. "Sit." However, I continued standing. "I want to leave this family." There was silence in the room. He put down the espresso cup in his hand slowly and frowned. "You've just won us a major deal. Do you have any idea how much money you'll be getting from it?" I knew very well how much I would get. It was close to 100,000 dollars, and if I left the family now, I would end up with nothing. "Are you really leaving over a few idle words in the group chat?" He sounded sincerely bewildered by my decision. "It's just idle gossip. Let them be." I shook my head. "This isn't as simple as it seems." The underboss sighed and pulled a drawer to take out a file. It contained the application papers for me to leave the family officially. He pushed the document over to me. "Think about it. Your current earnings are enough to make most Capos jealous. Once you sign this document, your profits will return to the family." I picked up the pen without hesitation and signed my name on the papers. "I understand what's at stake." When I was completely broken from all those accusations in my past life, no one in this family stood up for me. Some even helped to make things worse for me. That was when I understood how many people hated me for making a big profit. This time, I refused to allow them to target me. The underboss stood up and reached his hand out to shake mine. He sounded sincerely sorry about my departure. "You're one of the most outstanding subordinates to work under me. Give me a call anytime if you decide to return." I shook his hand. "Thank you." After that, I turned to leave his office. The lobby was filled with soldati, capos, and made men. When I walked past them, several of them looked up at me. "What was she doing in the underboss' office? Was she lodging a complaint?" "What a joke. No one is going to side with her." Eve rolled her eyes and said loudly, "She was probably asked to leave. I wouldn't have the gall to stay if it were me." I did not even give them a second glance as I returned to my desk. I removed the family's pass card and placed it next to the keyboard before leaving. I did not give a goodbye speech or explain myself. I did not even bother to bid farewell to anyone. When the elevator doors closed in front of me, I looked down and saw my palms covered in sweat. It was the first time since I was reborn that I felt freedom. When I walked out of the building, I called my cousin, Violet Crane, who worked in the gynaecology department at St. Gabriel Medical Center. She picked up my call after a few rings. "Hello, Ciara?" "I need you to check a patient for me." Violet sounded cautious right away. "Ciara, you know I can't reveal my patients' information." I clenched my teeth and lowered my voice. "But I suspect there's something wrong with the baby the patient is pregnant with. If something were to happen to the baby, it might implicate the hospital and even you. All you need to do is keep a copy of all her medical records and doctor's notes in a safe place. That doesn't go against any rules and regulations." She was silent for a while, and I waited for her answer with bated breath. Would she agree to my request? Would I be able to be free of the painful memories from my past life? I had no idea how long she had been silent before she finally said, "Alright." Chapter 4 Violet promised me that someone from the hospital would contact me the moment they hear anything about Wendy's delivery. At about 10:00 pm, the family group chat, which I had forgotten to leave, started getting rowdy as texts kept coming in. A soldato asked: [Is there any news about Wendy Jeffords?] Someone replied: [Nope. My wife said that the first baby usually takes longer to be delivered.] Several others joined in the conversation. [I bet that Clay Colton must be out of his mind right now.] [He probably hired the best gynaecologist in Charleston to help with the delivery.] [That baby will have a security team the moment it's born.] That text was followed by several laughing emojis. [The most important thing is that the baby is healthy.] [Wendy Jeffords is a good person. God will bless someone like her.] At this point, Clay suddenly tagged me. [Ciara, you should do something for Wendy after everything that has happened." Someone asked: [What do you mean?] [Ciara refused to help Wendy when she went into labor. She should at least visit Wendy with a bouquet, shouldn't she? Or at least help with the medical bills.] [You owe Wendy an apology, Ciara.] Eve immediately voiced her support: [That's right. Doesn't Ciara feel even a little guilty about this?] [I'm guessing she never sold her car. She just didn't want to help Wendy. How malicious of her.] Many others started to tag me, but I ignored everyone. These were the people in my last life who had been friendly with me, but backstabbed me at the first chance they got. This time, they were already turning their backs on me before anything happened to the baby, as they started to discuss how I should redeem myself for what I did to Wendy. My phone vibrated. It was a voice note from Violet. She sounded anxious. "Wendy Jeffords lost her baby, Ciara. The doctor confirmed that the baby suffocated from its umbilical cord wrapped around its neck. They suggested that Wendy have a cesarean a few hours ago, but Wendy Jeffords rejected the suggestion. They failed to save the baby." I was unable to snap out of it as I gripped my phone. This was when my nightmare started in my last life. I stayed vigil outside the ICU for hours back then, apologizing over and over for something that was never my fault, while Wendy cried her heart out in Clay's arms as he held her tight. Everyone in the hospital looked at me like I was a murderer. This time, I did not drive Wendy to the hospital, and I wanted to know how Wendy would play this out without me in the picture. The next morning, I was woken up by an emergency call. The underboss sounded exhausted. "You need to make a trip to the medical center. Wendy Jeffords has submitted a complaint to the family court." I sat up right away. "Who is the complaint directed at?" There was a bitter laugh on the other end of the call. "Everyone." At noon, the court's waiting area was filled with capos, consiglieri, lawyers, and fearful-looking mademen. The court was about to start when I arrived, and the atmosphere inside was so tense that it was suffocating. Wendy was seated in the middle of the room with a black veil covering half of her face. Her voice was trembling as she choked back a sob, "All of you are accomplices to the murder of my baby! Give my baby back to me! How can such a huge mafia family torture a pregnant woman?! Why do I have such a tragic life?!" Her accusations caused a huge commotion as everyone started to defend themselves. No one was willing to bear responsibility for the baby's death. Don Silvio Salvatore was seated in the main seat with a dark look on his face. He slammed his cane hard onto the ground. It sounded like a gunshot that shocked everyone into silence. "Who was with Wendy Jeffords on the day she was in labor?" Clay stood up. His eyes were filled with red veins, looking like he was still in a state of misery. "We were all present, but this shouldn't be our responsibility to bear. If Ciara Snow had driven Wendy to the hospital, the baby might have survived. Everyone knows that Ciara recently purchased a Bentley, and she would have gotten Wendy to the hospital faster than the ambulance." Eve nodded anxiously in agreement. "This is Ciara's fault. If she hadn't refused to help Wendy, none of this would have happened. Ciara is the real murderer here, Wendy. Don't point your fingers at the wrong people!" Everyone was relieved when someone mentioned my involvement in this. "They're right! Ciara abandoned a pregnant woman!" "She was the one who caused the baby's death!" "I would have driven Wendy right to the hospital if it were me." The accusations against me got louder and angrier. Silvio frowned and swept a cold look across everyone present. "Where is Ciara Snow?" The underboss wiped the sweat off his forehead and said in a small voice, "She left the family yesterday." There was another commotion, and Wendy cried even louder. "I knew it! Ciara left out of guilt! You have to catch her and bring her back, Don Salvatore! Why is she allowed to escape punishment when my baby died?!" That was when I spoke up from behind the crowd. "I'm right here, everyone." Dozens of heads turned to look at me as I strode forward with determination to face Wendy. I waved a folder in my hand. "All of you are blaming me for the baby's death because I refused to drive her to the hospital in time, but how was I supposed to drive her when I sold my car three days ago?"