Chapter 3

When Damian returned to the hospital room, I had just ended the call.

He seemed to be stunned for a few seconds when he saw the smile still lingering on my lips.

How long had it been since I last smiled like that in front of him?

He stared at me with a kind of quiet greed. I knew he wanted to ask who I had been speaking to.

However, he could not. He knew he should not come any closer.

He should be singing lullabies to Serena’s unborn child instead.

Damian assumed the call was probably from some relative.

He picked up the files he needed and turned to leave, not even glancing back.

“There’s some family business I need to deal with. I’ll come see you tomorrow.”

However, Damian never showed up the next day, the day after, or the day after that.

Instead, I kept receiving video after video from the family members who thrived on gossip, each one showing Damian and Serena together.

It was as though he was trying to provoke me. He was taking her to every elite social event he could.

He went out of his way to introduce Serena to everyone, and she clung sweetly to his arm, smiling so brightly like she was the real wife.

The day I was discharged, Damian posted nine carefully edited photos on Instagram.

In them, he and Serena were riding a hot air balloon at sunset. Their fingers were interlocked, gazing out at the horizon.

He looked happy and free.

I left a comment: [May you have the perfect family, be blessed with both a handsome son and a beautiful daughter, and have a love that lasts forever.]

Ten minutes later, Damian called me repeatedly.

I did not pick up a single call.

Half an hour later, I checked myself out of the hospital. As I passed the OB-GYN department, I saw Damian and Serena.

I overheard a nurse say to her, “Miss Lane, you’re so lucky. Your husband takes such good care of you. He’s here for every appointment.

“He even has staff lay down blankets on the bed for ultrasounds so you won’t get cold, and he covers all the sharp corners in the room so you won’t bump into anything… He won’t even let you take a single step around here. He insists on carrying you himself.”

The other expectant mothers nearby all looked at her with envy.

I did not have the strength to correct them. All I wanted was to hold onto a shred of dignity and quietly walk away.

I tried to slip past them unnoticed—quietly, carefully.

However, Damian turned his head and narrowed his eyes.

“Claire? What are you doing here?”

What he really wanted to ask was why I ignored his calls and what my comment was supposed to mean.

Before he could say more, I instinctively lowered my head and explained, “I wasn’t following you. Just ran into you by coincidence, really. I’m sorry if I disturbed you. I’ll leave now.”

“Wait.”

The moment Damian furrowed his brows and said that, I saw a flicker of something dark flash across Serena’s eyes.

She clung tighter to Damian’s arm, but her face remained sweet.

“Claire, I’m really grateful you donated blood to me. If it weren’t for you, I’d probably still be dizzy right now.

“Please, can we bring Claire home with us? Just for a little while?”

Her tone was innocent.

However, her eyes were anything but.

Damian looked at me for a moment like he was trying to figure something out. Then, he simply said, “Whatever you say, Serena.”

I already planned to return home to pack my stuff. That was the only reason I did not reject Serena’s invitation.

Sitting in the back seat of Damian’s sleek black Ferrari, I kept my head turned toward the window. The city blurred by.

Then, I saw something under the seat.

It was a damp piece of lace lingerie. It was torn in half.

Serena covered her mouth, pretending to be shocked.

“Oh! I can’t believe that’s still here.”

“Damian, didn’t you say you already got rid of it?”

I took a deep breath. My nails were digging hard into my palms.

Serena snuggled into Damian’s chest, playfully hitting him with a shy smile.

Damian let out a low laugh, blaming himself while secretly watching my reaction.

However, I just happened to meet his gaze with a blank expression.

He looked away a second later, embarrassed. Even his attention to Serena became half-hearted.

It was as though the whole show had lost its audience, and without an audience, there was no point in performing.

Halfway through the drive, Damian finally spoke.

“Claire, you’ve been staring at your phone ever since you got in the car.”

In the rearview mirror, his eyes narrowed, and his tone was unfriendly.

“Are you talking to some family member or someone I don’t know?”