When the Contract Marriage Ended, He Stayed

### Chapter 11: I Can Grant Your Wish

In the spirit of humanitarianism, Hazel Hawthorne felt utterly helpless. It was this, combined with pity for a fellow woman, that made her send Dylan Miller to the hospital, despite being disgusted by the other woman’s clumsy performance and her willingness to sacrifice a child for public sympathy.

When the ambulance arrived, a crowd of reporters blocked the intersection, terrified of missing any juicy news.

Dylan Miller, her face pale, stared at the expressionless Hazel Hawthorne, unable to guess what she was thinking. She shifted her gaze toward the media.

Hazel Hawthorne’s lips curved into a slight sneer. "Don’t look at them," she said faintly. "I’m taking you to the hospital now to save your and Aiden Xavier’s child."

Dylan Miller had intended to use a miscarriage to trap Hazel Hawthorne in a storm of public opinion. Now, she could only stare at Hazel, speechless.

Hazel Hawthorne retorted with extreme composure, "What, you don’t want to save the child?"

Back when Hazel Hawthorne had questioned whether the child was truly Aiden Xavier’s, Dylan Miller’s evasive gaze had already betrayed her guilty conscience.

Only after this clash did Dylan Miller realize that Hazel Hawthorne was nothing like she had imagined, nor like the rumors described her.

Hazel was clearly shrewd, and her methods were anything but ordinary.

She avoided Hazel Hawthorne’s gaze. "You’ll really save my and Aiden’s child?"

"If you don’t want to save it, I can grant your wish."

Dylan Miller was so infuriated by Hazel Hawthorne that she nearly had a heart attack.

As soon as they arrived at the hospital and a doctor appeared, Dylan Miller grabbed his hand, desperately begging him to save her child.

"Doctor, you have to save my baby! He’s my and Aiden Xavier’s only child. If you can’t save him, Aiden will never let you off!" Dylan Miller’s harsh words sounded like she was trying to intimidate someone.

Hazel Hawthorne saw right through the act but didn’t expose it. Remaining perfectly composed, she said, "Doctor, please do everything you can."

Hazel Hawthorne was Aiden Xavier’s wife and had long been exposed to the media’s cameras. Anyone who followed entertainment news had seen her before.

The doctor stared at Hazel Hawthorne as if she were a monster. In all his years of practice, he had never seen a wife bring her husband’s mistress to the hospital to save the mistress’s child.

"Mrs. Xavier, please rest assured. We will do everything in our power to save the child."

The title "Mrs. Xavier" made Hazel Hawthorne pause for a moment. ’Well... that’s unexpected,’ she thought. ’I never realized I was so famous that even doctors in the hospital know who I am.’

’It seems my reputation as Mrs. Xavier is quite renowned.’

Dylan Miller was wheeled into the operating room. Hazel Hawthorne sat outside, bored, fiddling with her phone. She hadn’t realized the extent of it until she went online and was immediately hit by a tidal wave of news claiming she had caused Dylan Miller’s miscarriage and sent her to the hospital.

Netizens were in an uproar.

The media sensationalized the story.

Hazel Hawthorne was pushed to the forefront of the storm. As she scanned the comments, she saw that not a single one was aimed at Aiden Xavier. Most of them were directed at her.

One netizen fumed, "We’re all women, so why must women make things hard for other women? Hazel Hawthorne has been married to Aiden Xavier for over three years and hasn’t had a child. It’s her own failure, and now she won’t even let another woman bear his child."

"This is what happens in the battles of the rich. If Hazel Hawthorne were so kind, why have all the other women who got pregnant with Aiden Xavier’s child disappeared without a trace? She probably had them killed."

"She has a pretty face but a venomous heart. As long as Hazel Hawthorne stays by Aiden Xavier’s side, he can forget about ever having a son."

...

Hazel Hawthorne was speechless. Why was she always the one taking the fall for the romantic messes Aiden Xavier created?

’Was I the one who encouraged these women to go after Aiden Xavier?’

The comments were a monolithic flood of curses against her, sympathy for Dylan Miller, and prayers for Dylan’s recovery. As for Aiden Xavier, in the eyes of the netizens, he had become the innocent party.

Hazel Hawthorne’s face turned ashen with rage. She wanted to call Aiden Xavier and curse him to death.

The light above the operating room door went out, and the doctor emerged with a heavy expression. Hazel Hawthorne knew it wasn’t good news; she had known all along that Dylan Miller wouldn’t be able to keep the child in her belly.

"Mrs. Xavier, we did our best, but we couldn’t save the baby."

Hazel Hawthorne patted the doctor’s shoulder reassuringly. "You did your best. Some things are just fated."

Since Dylan Miller’s child was lost, Hazel Hawthorne had no obligation to stay and take care of her. Before leaving, she hired a private nurse for Dylan, considering it the full extent of her benevolence.

Hazel Hawthorne paid no mind to the online abuse. After all, she and Aiden Xavier weren’t a real couple anyway.

She had now laid down the law with Aiden Xavier and won the right to work. Naturally, she had to make good use of it and not let her sacrifice go to waste.

The moment she stepped out of the hospital, a black Bentley pulled up in front of her. The door opened, revealing Aiden Xavier’s handsome, exquisitely sculpted face.

His expression was indifferent as usual, and his gaze flickered quickly over her face.

"Get in."

Hazel Hawthorne frowned, glancing around. She didn’t see any reporters.

"What are you standing there for?" Aiden Xavier asked impatiently.

Hazel Hawthorne’s gaze instantly turned cold. She had just cleaned up Aiden Xavier’s mess, and before she could even catch her breath, she was being savaged by netizens. Now, with a belly full of fire and nowhere to vent it, she was met with his cold indifference.

’How could she possibly feel good about this?’

Hazel Hawthorne scoffed, deliberately keeping her distance from Aiden Xavier after getting into the car. "What are you doing at the hospital?"

"To pick you up."

Hazel Hawthorne was unconvinced. "Doesn’t your conscience bother you when you say that?"

"You don’t believe me?" A flash of surprise flickered in Aiden Xavier’s eyes before he quickly masked it.

"Coming from your mouth... search your heart and ask yourself, do you even believe it?"

If she didn’t know that Aiden Xavier’s heart belonged to Raina Lowell, she might have actually believed he would make a special trip to the hospital to pick her up.

Aiden Xavier’s lips pressed into a thin line. He ignored Hazel Hawthorne’s question and asked, "How’s Dylan Miller?"

"You mean, are you asking if the baby was saved?"

Hazel Hawthorne’s all-knowing expression, which screamed ’I see right through you, so don’t bother pretending,’ made Aiden Xavier feel as if a fishbone were stuck in his throat.

"I told you, Dylan Miller’s child isn’t mine. I never touched her."

"So what? It’s not like I care. I’ve already handled the situation for you, and I’ve taken the blame. What are you still worried about?" Hazel Hawthorne didn’t understand Aiden Xavier’s strange behavior. He’d been acting a bit odd ever since Raina Lowell came back.

Hazel Hawthorne subconsciously assumed that Aiden Xavier was just being extra cautious because he didn’t want Raina Lowell to find out about his tabloid scandals, so he needed to confirm that she had really cleaned up the mess.

’A wife as good as her, willing to take the fall for her husband, was truly a rare find.’

Hazel Hawthorne was starting to admire herself. She saw nothing wrong with her line of reasoning; it was perfectly logical.

With Raina Lowell absent from the house, Hazel Hawthorne felt the air was exceptionally fresh and sweet. She couldn’t help but take a few deep breaths after getting out of the car.

Aiden Xavier got out of the car after her. As he walked behind her, Hazel’s soft yet indifferent voice sounded slowly, "Shouldn’t you be with Raina Lowell? Why are you following me?"

Although she and Aiden Xavier had been married for three years, she lived in this house practically by herself. He rarely came back, let alone personally drove her home like this.

She had assumed that after dropping her off, Aiden Xavier would immediately leave to find his beloved Raina Lowell.

"This is my home, too."

Hazel Hawthorne froze in place, stopping abruptly. "Aiden Xavier, you’ve been acting very strange these past few days."

Aiden Xavier walked straight past her. Watching his tall, straight back, Hazel Hawthorne grew thoughtful. ’Could it be that he and Raina Lowell had a fight?’

*****