Abandoned by All I Took It All Back novel Chapter 266

The woman smiled as she accepted the bag from Kenneth, making a polite clicking sound with her tongue. "Oh, you didn't have to bring anything! Please, come in, have a seat."

They entered and sat on the sofa. As the woman turned to go to the kitchen, Kenneth called out to her back.

"Ma'am, please, come sit with us. We don't need any drink; we had some on the way here."

She had been going to make some coffee, as it was the polite thing to do for guests.

Hearing Kenneth's request, she abandoned the idea and sat down across from them.

"So, what is it you wanted to know? I'll tell you everything I can."

As they got down to business, the mood turned serious. Kenneth glanced at Janina, signaling for her to begin.

Janina understood and got straight to the point. "I'd like to ask you about your experience giving birth at New Vista Medical Center."

Sensing the woman's confusion, Janina clarified, "From your prenatal checkups to the doctors and nurses—any detail you can remember would be helpful."

The woman didn't understand why Janina needed to know all this.

Kenneth had only told her they wanted to ask about her delivery, and that he would pay her five hundred dollars for her time.

She hadn't thought it was a big deal—five hundred dollars was two days' wages for her, so she'd agreed without a second thought.

But now, it felt like something more was going on.

Noticing her hesitation, Kenneth explained with a friendly smile.

"Please don't misunderstand, Mrs. Thorne. We're just conducting a survey." He gestured vaguely upward. "The hospital is doing performance reviews for all its doctors, so we have to do some private investigating. It's just part of the job."

As he spoke, Kenneth flashed a badge.

At this point, tears welled up in Mrs. Thorne's eyes. She choked back a sob and forced herself to continue.

"The doctors just said it was a boy. I never even got to see his face before he was gone. They said he died of an infection that led to organ failure."

Mrs. Thorne broke down, sobbing. The loss of that child was a wound that had never healed.

"Mrs. Thorne, did your husband get to see the baby? And how was... the body handled in the end?" Janina asked, her voice gentle. She sympathized deeply with the woman but had to reopen the wound to get to the truth.

Mrs. Thorne wiped her tears with a tissue and shook her head.

"No. He died less than an hour after he was born. The nurses said they didn't want to upset us, so we signed the release forms, and the hospital would handle the disposal of the body directly."

Hearing her answer, Janina's suspicions grew stronger.