Chapter 1

Julia Lester was lying on the bed in the delivery room, drenched in cold sweat as she writhed around in unbearable pain.

Lexi Jones, the assistant to Julia's husband, Robert Stone, stood by the bed with an impassive expression.

"According to the agreement, your hospital and delivery expenses are part of the standard household expenses shared by both parties. Mr. Stone has agreed to pay for half of those costs. However, the epidural is an unplanned additional expense. You will have to cover the last thousand dollars yourself."

Julia clenched the bedsheet. She even had to gasp as she spoke.

"I've been in labor for a day now, and I'm only three centimeters dilated. The doctor said I won't be able to keep going without an epidural. But I… I really don't have any money left. Please call Robert. He won't be that heartless."

But Lexi didn't move. If Julia wanted to give her a task to do, Julia would have to pay for the added work.

Julia had no choice but to shakily climb off the delivery bed and kneel on the cold floor to call Robert herself.

"Robert, about the childbirth expenses—"

"Just stick to the terms of our agreement."

Suddenly, Julia felt a rush of warm liquid gushing out of her. She looked down and saw torrents of bloody fluid pouring from her, the red puddle rapidly spreading across the floor.

"Robert, I think I'm hemorrhaging!"

But the line went dead.

…

Julia let out a shriek as she jolted upright in bed. Her heart was pounding like a drum. Even though it'd been four years, just dreaming of that day was still enough to jolt her awake in terror.

She'd been married to Robert for seven years. During the first two years, his family had been so desperate for a grandchild that they forced her to take all kinds of supplements and bitter herbal concoctions.

At the time, Robert had treated her fairly well. He would often shield her from his family's critical stares and stand up for her in front of others.

However, on the day she found out she was finally pregnant and had gone to him to joyfully share the news, he handed her an agreement that stipulated how they were going to split all their expenses equally.

He didn't even bother saying a word to her. He simply handed her a list of merciless terms.

From then on, Robert treated Julia worse with each passing day. Still, she'd never imagined he'd be so cruel as to nickel-and-dime her even when she was giving birth.

Before the equal expense-sharing agreement, she'd spent years being pressured to focus on her health and conceive a child. She'd barely had the chance to pursue her own career. In the end, she had no choice but to work for Robert's company, Juventia.

Robert forbade everyone from giving her special treatment. She had to work an entry-level position while only earning an intern's salary.

Her income barely covered her share of their living expenses.

On the day she gave birth, she'd used up all her money after paying her half the medical bill. And all because of a thousand dollars, she'd nearly died while giving birth.

The sudden sound of a ringing phone shattered the heavy silence.

A face appeared on Julia's phone screen. "Mommy, where should Daddy go in the picture of our house?"

Julia looked at the painting her daughter, Emmy Lester, was holding. There were only two of them in it. Seeing that drew up a stir of thoughts.

As it was, Robert was completely unaware of Emmy's existence. At the time, unwilling to let even their child's upbringing be subjected to that cruel expense-sharing arrangement, Julia hadn't brought Emmy home with her.

Instead, she'd asked Isaac Wright, a doctor she knew, to raise Emmy for her. Emmy had a congenital condition, and staying with the doctor was a safer option than living with her.

When Julia came back from the hospital alone, the Stone family assumed the baby had died at birth. She hadn't bothered to correct them.

All these years, she'd borne the cost of Emmy's medical expenses alone.

She'd stubbornly insisted on trying to figure out why Robert had suddenly changed his attitude toward her. Perhaps fed up with her relentless questioning, he spent most of the past few years abroad.

However, after that horrific incident, she abruptly lost all desire to get an answer out of him. She'd devoted all her attention to Emmy and her condition, almost forgetting she still had a husband.

Now that Emmy was old enough to ask questions, she realized that she could no longer avoid questions from Emmy about her father.

Julia suddenly wondered whether she should tell Robert that he had a daughter who'd nearly been denied the chance to come into this world because of a thousand dollars.

Then she saw another incoming call, so she quickly ended her call with Emmy to take it.

Wyatt Lowry, a member of Skylight Rescue, said to her in an urgent voice, "Julia! We've got an emergency!"

When Julia arrived, Wyatt immediately waved at her from the roadside. A short distance away, a fashionably dressed woman stood beside a car, covering her face with her hands.

Wyatt pointed to a condom lying beneath the car, then leaned close to whisper in Julia's ear in a somewhat gossipy tone.

"Looks like the couple was busy having sex in the car. Their daughter woke up, slipped out through the back door, and disappeared."

Emmy had already experienced more than her share of hardships just to survive this long. What Julia abhorred the most was people who neglected their children.

Her anger bubbled up at once. "How could they fool around when their daughter was right there in the car with them? How ridic—"

The woman suddenly lifted her head, and the rest of Julia's words died in her throat. Her expression had stiffened as she blurted out, "Myra Swain?"

Myra was the wife of Andre Hurst, one of Robert's good friends. He'd died years ago, and as far as Julia was aware, Myra had never remarried.

With how haughty Myra had always been, what kind of man could make her so infatuated that she'd neglect her own child and go so far as to have sex in a car?

Nevertheless, this was an emergency, and besides, Myra's private affairs were none of her business.

Suppressing her curiosity, Julia turned away. "Let's find the child first."

Wyatt and Julia began searching the most likely routes the child would've taken, carefully checking every corner.

An hour later, they spotted a child's face peering out from an inconspicuous crevice between some rocks.

Several other team members from Skylight Rescue had already gathered around the area, but they were all men. Frightened, the child huddled on top of a massive boulder and refused to move, letting no one approach.

"Let Julia approach her," Wyatt suggested. "On our team, she's the best at calming kids down."

The little girl was perched more than six feet above the ground. It was a precarious spot, and she could fall at any given moment.

Without hesitation, Julia climbed onto the boulder. She spent quite some time coaxing the child in a gentle voice before the little one cautiously reached out a hand to her.

"Don't touch my daughter!"

Julia had just gathered the child into her arms when someone shoved her hard from behind. The back of her hand stung painfully as the girl was ripped out of her grip.

She stumbled down the boulder and would've hit the ground hard if Wyatt hadn't caught her in time.

Blood seeped out of the scratches left on her hand. She hissed in pain. When she looked up, she found herself face-to-face with Myra.

Myra's eyes were full of wary suspicion, as if she thought that Julia were a child trafficker.

"Julia was only trying to help. She just wanted to rescue the child," Wyatt explained.

Myra didn't apologize. Instead, she retreated several paces, putting as much distance between herself and Julia as possible.

Both her gaze and her actions were deeply insulting. She treated Julia as though she were something filthy and vile.

Julia lost her temper, too. In a cold voice, she said, "I was holding your daughter just now. What if she fell and got hurt because you shoved me?"

Myra couldn't stand Julia's reprimanding tone. Her brows drew together. But the next moment, her voice suddenly softened as she called out, "Robbie!"

Julia felt one of her eyelids twitch as she instinctively turned her head.

Robert, her husband, was striding toward them, his tall figure exuding an air of effortless elegance and privilege. Only the collar of his shirt was disheveled, looking completely at odds with his usual immaculate appearance.

It betrayed how hastily he'd rushed over.

Julia felt a prick in her heart, painful enough to make her tremble.

When she'd hemorrhaged while giving birth to Emmy, Robert hadn't spared her a second thought. He hadn't even had the patience to stay on the phone with her. Yet here he was, worried sick over a child who wasn't even related to him by blood!

"Daddy!"

The child in Myra's arms threw herself into Robert's embrace. She wrapped both arms around his neck, whimpering and crying as she clung to him. It looked like she'd done it a hundred times before.

Myra nudged Robert lightly before saying in a soft, coquettish voice, "It's all your fault! You just couldn't wait, and now look what happened…"

The rest of her words were too quiet to make out, but there was no need to hear anymore.

Julia's mind went blank. Suddenly, she understood why Myra had reacted so violently just now.

It also became clear to her that Robert's collar wasn't disheveled because he'd rushed over in a hurry. It was because he was the man Myra had been having sex with in the car.

Her husband and the widow of his good friend…

Unexpectedly, Julia's eyes met Robert's. His gaze was cool and indifferent. A split second later, he turned away without a word. Despite having been caught red-handed cheating on her, he didn't show any nervousness, nor did he attempt to explain himself.

He was completely unfazed by it, as if she were nothing more than an insignificant stranger to him.

"Let's go." Myra tugged on Robert's sleeve, her voice weak and plaintive. "Katie's frightened. She doesn't want to stay here."

"Alright."

The three of them left, with Robert holding the other two in his arms. Even as she departed, Myra didn't apologize to Julia.

Julia kept replaying the way Robert had spoken to Myra. His voice had been gentle, his demeanor patient. He'd shown her nothing but deep affection, ready to indulge her every whim.

It was the kind of treatment she'd dreamed of receiving but never got.

If the incident with the epidural had merely cooled her feelings for Robert, witnessing his infidelity with her own eyes had now made him dead to her for good.

By the time Julia and Wyatt went back to their starting spot, the car with the condom underneath it had already driven away.

"Well, I'll be damned! Just how eager were those two anyway? They just had to do it in the car, and they were so caught up in each other that they didn't even notice their kid had wandered off!" Wyatt couldn't resist exclaiming.

"Maybe they were having an affair." Julia lowered her head to inspect her injured hand. "Some men insist on splitting their marital expenses with their wives equally while happily fooling around with other women outside. They don't feel the need to honor their responsibility as husbands anyway."

Wyatt spat repeatedly in disgust. "If that's the kind of scumbag he is, then even if he's as handsome as that man just now, he's nothing but a piece of trash to me!"

Julia sighed. "You're right. He's disgusting."

All at once, a strange silence fell.

When Julia picked up on that, she finally realized that Robert hadn't left yet. He was standing right behind her, his gaze icy.

He must've heard what she said.

Julia felt a slight prickling at the back of her scalp, but she quickly got over it. She hadn't said anything untrue.

Since he'd done it, there was no reason why she couldn't say it.

However, Robert didn't even glance in her direction. Acting as though she were invisible, he turned to the person beside him and said, "I've prepared some tokens of appreciation for everyone who helped today. Please distribute them."

Then, still on the phone with someone, he walked right past Julia. The breeze made his sleeve brush against her skin. It felt just as cold as he was.

It took Julia a long while to compose herself and suppress the emotions surging in her chest.

She sent Emmy a message. "Sweetheart, your daddy's dead."