My Wedding Dress Triggered the Fall of a Giant - Chapter 36: Chapter 36

With trembling hands, he plugged it in and opened the file.
The first video played full footage of my induced abortion—the brutal truth. The baby he had depended on to save another was crushed and extracted from my body.
Then came a second video. I appeared on screen, my face was calm but cold.
“What a shame, right?” I said, my voice laced with bitterness. “Your beloved Henry just lost his living organ bank. If he falls ill again, there’s no one left to save him.”
“Ethan, do you remember the day Grace was born?”
“You were crying. Your hands shook, and you didn’t even dare to hold her. That day, you swore to the god you believed in that you would protect her with your life.”
“But I never imagined that in the end… it was you who killed her.”
I stared into the camera, my voice sharp with grief and fury.
“Ethan, aren’t you afraid of retribution? Aren’t you afraid that Grace—your daughter—will never forgive you, even in death?”
“She loved you deeply and trusted you with all her heart. On the very day she was buried, the award for the essay competition arrived at our house. The title she chose was ‘My Dad.’”
I didn’t cry. I just stared blankly into the camera, my face expressionless.
Ethan had completely lost his grip on reality.
He couldn’t tell if it was Henry lying unconscious in the emergency room or the woman in front of him—shattered, numb, and cold—that pushed him to the brink of madness.
The memories he had worked so hard to bury began to resurface, ripping open like old wounds.
He once cherished Samantha and their daughter, Grace, more than anything. They had been the light of his life.
So, when did things start to fall apart?
He remembered the day, long ago, when he stood up for Samantha by leading a group of boys to block Ruth in an alley.
The girl had looked so frail, her face pale and ghostly. Her lips trembled, and she mumbled softly,
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I won’t do it again…”
He recalled how her hair got stuck in her mouth, and how he instinctively reached out to help brush it away.
But she had shut her eyes tightly, frozen with fear.
Her eyelashes were long, curled like feathers, and soaked with tears.
Years later, he ran into her again at a business banquet.
Women lined up in miniskirts, holding trays of drinks, faces blank and rehearsed. Among them, he spotted a familiar one—hers.
Ruth tugged nervously at the hem of her skirt, keeping her head low. He chose her without hesitation, not even knowing why.
They spent the night together. He was in high spirits. He didn’t question how she ended up there.
“I just want to earn enough money,” she had whispered, eyes flickering with pain. “I want to go abroad, escape this place forever.”
He didn’t doubt her for a second.
He knew that Samantha’s mother had always looked down on Ruth and never gave her a decent life.
Seeing her so pitiful awakened something in him—pity, guilt, maybe even desire.
That same night, Grace had a high fever.
But when Samantha called, she couldn’t reach him.
That moment was the turning point. Everything spiraled from there.
After Samantha’s mother passed away, he began to lose control.
And when Ruth gave birth to Henry, his heart completely shifted.
The video kept playing.
Samantha’s voice remained icy and emotionless:
“Ethan, if I had a choice, I would’ve chosen to never meet you in this life.”
“Grace will never come back. There’s nothing left between us but hatred.
I sincerely hope you rot in the eighteenth level of hell and never reincarnate again.”
As the screen faded to black, Ethan sat in silence, numb and breathless.
He hadn’t even looked at the abortion report tucked beneath the divorce papers.
Hands trembling, he hesitated for a long time before finally sending a message to Samantha:
“Can we meet… just once? One last time. After that, I’ll agree to anything you want.”
“Ruth nearly died giving birth to Henry. Her life has been nothing but tragedy. Henry is the only thing she has left.”
“I swear, this time, we only need the umbilical cord blood. I won’t hurt the child. Please, Samantha… for the years we’ve spent together. For your shared blood with Ruth. Help us.”
“I’ll divorce you. I’ll leave the house with nothing. Just say the word.”
He stared at the screen, hands cold and unsteady, waiting like a criminal awaiting sentencing.
But no reply ever came.
He didn’t know that far away, in another place, I had changed my SIM card—cutting myself off completely from the world and the past that had betrayed me.
Still waiting in despair, Ethan noticed another sheet of paper beneath the divorce agreement.
He reached for it slowly, hands shaking.
And then he saw it—and the last shred of his sanity crumbled.
“Samantha… how could you be so ruthless? You knew. You knew this baby could’ve saved Henry. But you still chose to abort him… You’d rather kill your own child than give him a chance to live.”