The moment Cora screamed those words, time in the hallway seemed to stop completely.
Herbert froze in his tracks. "What did you just say?"
Valery let out a horrified shriek and scrambled forward so frantically that her high heels slipped right off her feet.
It was the first time in her life she had ever looked so utterly unhinged.
But given the situation, she couldn't care less about appearances.
She reached Herbert's side and slapped Cora hard on the shoulder. "What kind of nonsense are you spouting?!" She immediately looked at Herbert. "Herbert, your sister is just talking nonsense! She's terrified of needles and lost her mind!"
"I didn't!" Cora's brain was consumed by the terrifying reality that Miles was about to die. "Miles is my son! I gave birth to him! I am his real mother! I can't give him my blood, he'll die!"
"Cora!" Valery shrieked at the top of her lungs, smacking Cora over and over again. "Stop talking! Shut your mouth right now!"
But Cora had completely shattered. She didn't care about anything anymore. She shoved Valery away and lunged straight at Hulda, grabbing her by the arms like a madwoman. "Hulda, Miles is my child, not yours! You don't have any blood relation to him! You aren't his mother! You can save him! Go save him! Go give him your blood!"
"You..." Hulda stared at Cora blankly. Everything was happening too fast for her brain to process. "What are you talking about? Why wouldn't I be his mother... I am his mother... I gave birth to him..."
When she had Miles, she had suffered a severe amniotic fluid embolism and nearly died on the operating table. She barely survived bringing that child into the world. How could he not be hers?
"No! No! No!" Cora shook her head frantically. "You're not! Miles isn't your child, I gave birth to him! I swapped your baby! I swapped them!"
"What did you say?"
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