ログインWhen a DNA test reveals her husband isn’t her daughter’s father, Arabella Hart discovers that the billionaire who just saved her child’s life is and that the fertility clinic "mistake" that created her family was no accident. Arabella Hart thought she had it all: a thriving inheritance, a loving fiancé, and the promise of a family. But everything she believed was a lie. Her marriage was a con, her pregnancy was manipulated without her consent, and the man she trusted most had betrayed her. The only way forward is to reclaim her life, protect her child, and uncover the conspiracy that nearly destroyed her future. Adrian Palmer never expected to become a father or to be drawn back into the life of the woman whose child unknowingly carries his blood. As secrets unravel and enemies manipulate every move, their lives collide in a storm of deception, passion, and a love neither of them can deny. In a world where betrayal runs deep and trust is rare, Arabella and Adrian must fight for what truly matters: family, love, and justice.
もっと見るArabella’s eyelids felt unbearably heavy.
When she finally opened them, a sterile white hospital ceiling came into focus. Her head throbbed. Her body ached all over, but none of it mattered. Her hands moved instinctively to her stomach. A weak smile tugged at her lips as realization slowly dawned on her. She had finally given birth. Everett must have been so happy when he heard the news. After all, this was what they had been waiting for for the past three years. She tried to sit up, wincing at the sharp pull of stitches, and glanced around the room. Her smile faltered when she found it empty. She had expected the room to be noisy. Everett holding her hand. Their baby resting peacefully in a bassinet beside her. But there was nothing. No laughter. No warmth. No sign of him. Was he with the baby? He was probably out there holding their son or daughter. Arabella could not contain her smile anymore. Her heart fluttered with excitement as she imagined his voice, the way he would beam with pride. She reached for her phone on the bedside table, fingers trembling with exhaustion and joy. She needed to know if their baby had his eyes or hers. The screen lit up. One notification. Everett Quinn posted two hours ago. Her smile widened. “He posted something,” she whispered. “He probably couldn’t wait to announce it.” She tapped the notification, already imagining the photo. Everett holding their tiny bundle, a caption like Best day of my life or She’s here and she’s perfect. Then the image loaded, Arabella’s smile froze and crumbled. In the photo, red roses scattered across polished marble. A man on one knee, and an opened ring box in his hand. A woman’s delicate hand stretched toward the diamond. And Everett, looking up at the woman like she was his entire world. The phone slipped from Arabella’s fingers and clattered against the metal bed rail. “No,” she whispered. “No… that can’t be real.” Her hands shook violently as she snatched the phone back up, zooming in as if the image might change. But It didn't. It was sill the same Everett, the same man whose child she had just pushed out of her body. The same man who had promised her forever. Her husband. She had just given birth to their baby, and he was out there proposing to another woman. No, there has to be some kind of mistake somewhere. Maybe a bad edit from someone who wanted to destroy her marriage. She looked at the photo again, trying to notice for any small flaw— but there wasn't any. It was perfect. Real. Tears gathered in her eyes as she struggled to make sense of the image. Her heart tugged painfully as she studied the way he looked at the woman. In their 3 years of marriage, Everett had never looked her like that. She used to think it was just him. He would tell her he was just incapable of showing his emotions. But looking at the photo in her phone, Arabella could read every emotion that was plastered on his face. He adores this woman. And that's when she saw it. She recognised this woman. It was Lilian. The same one Everett had once introduced as his distant cousin. According to him, she was an actress, always busy on set whenever Arabella asked why she never visited. So that was just a lie he used to bring his mistress home. She felt foolish to have believed him in the first place. She should have seen it. The way his eyes lingered on her when he thought no one was watching. Oh God! How could you do this to me Everett?! “No! No!” She whispered as years flowed for her eyes. She just couldn't believe it. Even though the picture starred right at her, the glow of their laughter burned right through her head. A bitter, broken laugh escaped her lips as she stared at the timestamp. While she was here giving birth to their child, her husband was proposing to another woman. Her chest tightened painfully. She dialed his number, her heart racing uncontrollably. Tears blurred her vision. She needed to hear his voice before she lost her mind. Everett could not do this to her. He loved her. In three years of marriage, she could not remember ever offending him. So why would he do this? The phone rang once. Then twice. Voicemail. A sob tore from her throat. “Please…please just pick the call,” she whispered to no one in particular. Then, as if the universe was mocking her, the door to her hospital room opened. Everett walked in. Six feet tall. Sharp suit with a cold expression. When his gaze met hers, Arabella felt it instantly. The truth. His eyes were no longer the ones she had known for three years. There was no warmth. No love. Just cold indifference that crawled through her skin like sharp needles. “Ever—”she muttered as stried to get off the bed. But before she could, he was already standing in front of her. “Take this,” he said flatly, pulling an envelope from his jacket and tossing it onto the foot of the bed. Her brows rose in surprise wondering what what was in the envelope. With shaky hands, she pulled it to her and slowly opened it, her heard racing the entire time. “Wh– what? “ She gasped as she saw the huge bundles of cash that filled the envelope. “Why are you giving me this? I never asked for mon–” “That’s your payment due the service you've done for me,” he cut her off, his voice sharp like the lady thing he wanted was having this conversation with her. Her mind went blank. Service? What service? She looked up at him again, confusion lacing her face. “Everett what are you talking about?” “Stop asking questions and listen!” he snapped. His eyes held no emotion, as if he was tired of pretending. “There’s a check in there. More than generous for your time and trouble. Consider us even.” Her fingers clenched the hospital sheets, nails digging into the fabric. “I don’t understand,” she said, her voice breaking. Panic clawed up her throat. “We’re married. We just had a baby. Our baby. Where is my baby?” She forced herself to move, ignoring the pain screaming through her body. Her legs trembled as she slid off the bed, gripping the rail for balance. “Please,” she begged, reaching toward him. “Look at me. Talk to me. What’s happening? Did I do something wrong? I just gave birth to your child, Everett. Your child. Where is—” “Don’t touch him.” The voice sliced through the room. Click. Click. Click. Heels echoed against the tiled floor. Lilian walked in like she owned everything. Her designer dress flowed elegantly behind her, her hair styled in flawless waves. She moved to Everett’s side and slid her arm through his as if it belonged there. Arabella’s tears spilled freely now. “You two…” Her voice cracked as she stumbled back onto the bed, staring at them. Her gaze lifted to Everett’s hand wrapped possessively around Lilian. Then her eyes dropped to Lilian’s left hand. A ring. The same massive diamond engagement ring. It hadn't been a lie then. What are saw in the picture was true, and it seemed they had come to rub it off in her face. “Everett,” she whispered, shaking her head. “You’ve been lying to me?” Her voice rose, raw and broken. “She wasn’t your cousin, was she? I just gave birth to our child and you…” Her gaze fell to the envelope on the floor, then back to him. “Enough,” Everett snapped. She flinched as if he had struck her. He pointed at the envelope. “Take the money. Sign the NDA inside. And leave. Is that so hard to understand?” “NDA?” Arabella whispered, her entire body trembling. This could not be what she thought it was. “What are you saying?” she cried. “We’re married! We’re having a baby together! Where is my baby?!” “Our baby, actually,” Lilian corrected smoothly, her smile sharp and cruel. She stepped closer, her expensive perfume suffocating. “Not yours. Ours. Mine and Everett’s.” Arabella shook her head slowly, tears blinding her. “I don’t understand. Everett, please. Tell me this isn’t true.” "What's happening," Lilian purred, examining her nails like this was all terribly boring, "is that you've done your job. And now it's time for you to leave.” “My… job?” Arabella whispered, her heart shattering. Lilian laughed softly. “You really are slow, aren't you?. You were a surrogate, darling. A womb for hire.”She leaned closer, her smile vicious. “And you played your part beautifully.”While Arabella was confined to her hospital bed and Adrian was in the penthouse being present for his daughter, Raina, Nathan Pierce was in a place he never let the Whitmores see.He was standing in the bright hallway of the St. Jude’s Neurological Annex. In his hand was a folder of legal documents—the "smoking gun" evidence against the clinic that he had been sitting on for years.He stood at the entrance of Room 402, his tailored charcoal suit looking out of place against the pale green walls. Inside, Maya sat in a high-backed chair, her gaze fixed on a bird feeder outside the window. At thirty-four, she should have been in the prime of her life. Instead, her hands rested in her lap, fingers curling inward with the tremors she could no longer control.“She’s having a good day,” a voice whispered behind him.Nathan turned. Callie Vance stood there, clutching a leather briefcase. She was the woman Arabella had chosen to lead the foundation she wanted to begin to create awareness, a sh
Arabella lay propped up on three pillows. She felt hollow, as if the hemorrhage hadn't just taken blood, but had drained the very essence of her energy. The monitor beside her bed was turned away so she couldn't see the numbers, but she could hear the heartbeat.Thump... thump... thump.It was steady now, but slower than it should be. Adrian sat in the chair beside her. He hadn’t showered. He hadn’t eaten. He looked like a man who had been carved out of stone, his eyes bloodshot and fixed on the door as if he expected a physical enemy to burst through at any moment."I’ve talked to the board," Adrian said, his voice a low, gravelly rasp. "I’m moving the entire security team to this floor. I’ve rented out the rooms on either side of yours. No one gets in without a retinal scan. And when you’re stable enough to move, I’ve found a facility in the Berkshires. It’s a private medical estate. We’ll move Raina there. We’ll bring the doctors. You’ll never have to see a stranger again."Arabell
The waiting room of the VIP surgical wing was quiet. Adrian sat in a very comfy chair, but it felt like a bed of nails.He hadn't moved since they took her. He was still wearing the white shirt from the morning—the shirt he had worn to face his mother. The sleeves were rolled up, his forearms stained with the drying, blood of the last hour. He stared at his hands, watching a small flake of dried blood peel away from his knuckle.Is it a boy? Tell me it’s a boy.Claudia’s voice echoed in his ear, a rasping, phantom whisper that he couldn't shake. He had gone to that prison to bury her, to prove he was free. Instead, he had breathed in her toxicity and brought it to the woman who was his only light.The double doors swung open with a soft puff of air. Adrian was on his feet before his brain even registered the movement. His knees buckled slightly, the adrenaline that had sustained the high-speed drive finally evaporating into a cold, hollow terror.Dr. Aris, the chief of obstetrics, wal
The Metropolitan Detention Center was a high, solid block of concrete that seemed to suck the light out of the sky. As the SUV pulled up to the curb, Arabella felt the familiar, cold dread settling in her stomach.Adrian sat beside her, his hands gripped so tightly on his knees that his knuckles were white. He hadn't spoken since they left the penthouse. He looked like a man heading toward the gallows, his jaw set."You don't have to do this for her," Arabella said softly, reaching over to cover his hand with hers. "You’re doing this for us. So she doesn't have a place in our heads anymore."Adrian turned to her, his eyes dark and hollow. "I just want to see if she’s still human or if it’s just more shadows.""I'll be right here," she promised. "I’m not moving from this spot."He leaned over, pressing his forehead against hers for a long, shaky second. Then, without a word, he climbed out of the car. Arabella watched through the tinted glass as he walked toward the heavy steel doors.
Everett Quinn woke up to white walls and the steady beep of machines.For a moment, he didn't remember. Didn't know where he was or how he'd gotten there. Then it came back in fragments; the pills, the whiskey, the apartment floor, the darkness closing in. He'd wanted it to end. The pain, the shame
Lilian Quinn sat in the back of a taxi, staring at her phone.The Instagram post was still there. Still viral and still destroying what little remained of her life.Comments now numbered in the tens of thousands. News outlets had picked it up. Her name was trending. Her secret, the one she’d guarde
The café Lilian had chosen was in Midtown—public, busy, the kind of place where no one paid attention to anyone else's conversations. Arabella arrived at 9:55 AM, five minutes early. Adrian came with her.Lilian was already there, sitting at a table near the back window. She looked terrible, no mak
That was all it took. One second of hesitation. One moment where he didn't immediately say no or of course not or you know everything.Just silence. And in that silence, Arabella felt something crack."Adrian." Her voice came out quieter than she intended. "I asked you a question.""I heard you.""












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