<h4>Chapter 537: Encountering an Old Acquaintance</h4>


    Eric locked eyes with her, as if seriously analyzing whether she was joking or telling the truth.


    "In the end, I told a lie. I said I still had some footing left to lure Brandon closer. Then, I grabbed him and jumped off the balcony... Husband, do you know? That moment of falling was so painful, far worse than childbirth. So, for me, giving birth isn’t actually the most painful thing. The most painful thing is the feeling of falling to my death, and yet, you keep remembering that sensation."


    E lifted her face in a smile. Eric took a deep breath and tightly held her hand. "E, do you really need to joke like this? Your imagination is wild—you should write novels."


    E burst intoughter. "You really don’t believe me?"


    Eric shook his head and smirked mischievously. "I only believe in my wife, not the E from your story."


    E blinked. "What if I told you it was true? Would you be put off?"


    "Put off? How could I be? Whether it’s true or not, I love this version of you. I wouldn’t want anyone else." Eric helped her sit up. "Alright, stop lying around. Otherwise, you’ll starve our little princess."


    E huffed. This man really didn’t believe her.


    But who in the world would believe such an absurd thing? If it hadn’t happened to her, she wouldn’t have believed it either.


    She got out of bed as Eric personally went downstairs and brought back a big bowl of soup.


    His attentiveness never changed. Sitting on the balcony, basking in the sunlight while sipping her soup, E enjoyed the warmth of a man gently massaging her sore waist.


    At five months pregnant, Eric took her for a prenatal check-up. On the way, they encountered a car ident.


    Traffic on the southeastern road was at a standstill. E nced ahead and saw police officers carefully carrying an injured person out of a car.


    She averted her gaze, unwilling to watch, while Eric sat idly in the car. Many drivers had stepped out to watch themotion.


    Eric had no intention of getting out either—until his eyesnded on the injured woman’s face. His expression immediately darkened. Without a word, he unbuckled his seatbelt and jumped out of the car.


    His strange behavior made E frown slightly. What was going on? He had never been one to gawk at idents.


    She watched as Eric rushed toward the scene, shouting, "Samantha? Is that you?"


    E raised an eyebrow. That name was unfamiliar. How did Eric know her? And why was he so tense?


    She could no longer hear what was happening. Within five minutes, the injured person had been taken away in an ambnce. Eric quickly returned, his beige coat stained with small spots of blood.


    "What happened? You know that person?" E asked softly.


    Eric nodded. "E, when I was studying in Country W, I experienced my first assassination attempt... I was eighteen at the time. There was someone who shielded me from a bullet—that person was Samantha. Later... she didn’t survive. But just now, that woman looked exactly like her. And she even admitted she was Samantha!"


    E stared at Eric in confusion. "Samantha was your ssmate?"


    "Yes, my ssmate." Eric was still breathing slightly heavily as the cars ahead slowly began to move.


    The wrecked car was towed away, and the traffic jam was starting to clear.


    E felt a vague sense of unease. But thinking about Eric’s feelings for her, what did she have to fear?


    "Samantha... she passed away before, right? Did you see it with your own eyes?" E asked gently.


    "No, our ssmates told me. Later, I visited her home. Samantha was an S-national with Country W citizenship, so going there wasn’t difficult. Her grave is in a cemetery in Country W."


    Eric’s expression grew even darker. "Something about this is strange, though I doubt it has anything to do with me. But now that she’s appeared, I need to get to the bottom of it. And honey, don’t misunderstand—I had no special rtionship with Samantha. She just happened to be passing by and took a bullet for me. That’s all."


    So, Samantha was Eric’s benefactor?


    E nodded, indicating her understanding.


    Her trust in Eric was unwavering, but Samantha had once saved his life. No matter what, that made her someone to be grateful for.


    "After all, a living, breathing person... suddenly dying because of me—it was hard to ept. I avoided mentioning it because it was painful, so I never told you," Eric said with a trace of guilt.


    E understood. She didn’t me him for keeping this from her—after all, Samantha wasn’t an ex-girlfriend.


    Eric took E to the People’s Hospital. While Samantha was undergoing emergency treatment, he brought E for her prenatal check-up first.


    When the results came in, E finally breathed a sigh of relief. The baby was healthy, with noplications. However, this time, she was curious about the gender.


    Eric was well-acquainted with the doctors there, and when one of them informed him that E was carrying a baby girl, he was both surprised and overjoyed.


    He reveled in the happiness for a while before hurrying back with E to the emergency room.


    After about ten minutes, the doors finally opened, and the medical staff wheeled out the patients.


    Samantha was no longer in critical condition, and the man who had been in the car with her had only suffered minor injuries.


    However, Samantha’s thigh injury was severe and would take time to fully recover.


    She had juste out of surgery, still under anesthesia and unconscious. Concerned that the hospital environment might be stressful for E, Eric gently suggested, "E, why don’t you head home first? I’ll stay here. I need to find out the truth about what happened ten years ago."


    E understood and smiled softly, showing no sign of jealousy.


    "Alright. I’ll have the driver take me home and then send him back for you."


    Eric held her tenderly and kissed her. "You’re not jealous?"


    E couldn’t handle his affectionate teasing, especially in a public ce. "Jealous? Should I tie you up and drag you home right now so you can’t even see Miss Samantha? Would that make you happy?"


    Eric chuckled and ruffled her hair, as if she were still the same eighteen-year-old E he had once known.


    "I’d be more than happy to be kidnapped by you."


    "Stop joking around. I’m leaving now. I really don’t like hospitals." E raised an eyebrow, bid Eric farewell, and got into the car.


    After she arrived home, the bodyguard received a call from Eric instructing him to print out a document and deliver it to E.


    The bodyguard exined that this document had been stored by Grandma Carter, Ava, at an insurancepany for safekeeping.


    E immediately opened the file and scanned through it, her expression turning cold. Letting out a soft scoff, she murmured, "Karma... it really is karma. Grandma Carter did this just to nt doubt in Sean’s mind, making him go through all the trouble to find this file... Ha!"