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Chapter 5

作者: Sweet Tea Nini
"She's your daughter too!" I shot back. "You know Annie better than anyone. Do you really think she'd hurt someone for no reason?"

We'd known Annie was a little angel long before she was born.

Jenna never suffered a single bout of morning sickness during her pregnancy. And after Annie came into the world, she was the easiest baby anyone could ask for.

She hardly ever cried. Even when she was hungry or needed changing, she'd do no more than let out the tiniest little whimper.

The nurses at the hospital all doted on her, saying she'd been such a gentle, well-behaved baby that it made their hearts ache.

Yet, one carefully planted remark from Zach was all it took for Jenna to decide that Annie was a disobedient, ill-mannered child.

Ignoring my attempts to stop her, she dragged Annie over to Zach. "Apologize to him."

Annie was sobbing so hard she could barely breathe. "Mommy… I didn't push Mr. Corey. I really didn't! He pinched me first. It hurt. I told him to stop, but he yelled at me… and said I deserved it."

"And you're still making excuses?"

Jenna was shaking with rage. She paced the living room until someone, eager to please her, quietly placed a wooden cane in her hand.

"Stop!" My voice cracked as I rushed toward them, tears starting to burn my eyes.

But Jenna acted as though she hadn't heard a word. The cane came down, again and again. Every blow landed on Annie's tiny body.

Her cries grew fainter with each strike. Her little body shook uncontrollably, yet she stubbornly refused to change her story.

"I… I really didn't push Mr. Corey… Mommy… Please believe me…"

"You still won't admit what you did?" Jenna's furious shout echoed through the room as she swung the cane down even harder.

I fought with everything I had, struggling to break free from the Birches' grip. But there were simply too many of them. I thrashed against their grip, but I couldn't wrench myself free.

It wasn't until Zach had seen enough of the spectacle that Jenna finally stopped. She tossed the cane aside, helped Zach to his feet, and hurried him to the hospital. Not once did she spare a glance for Annie, who was barely clinging to life.

The rest of the Birch family didn't care either. To them, Annie was little more than an afterthought.

They released me without another word and rushed after Zach, surrounding him with concern and fussing over injuries he didn't even have.

The difference couldn't have been more obvious. One was showered with attention, while the other lay abandoned on the floor.

I cradled Annie against my chest.

"I'll take you home," I whispered.

Annie forced a tiny smile. Even now, she was still trying to comfort me. "I'm okay, Daddy. Don't cry…"

I bit down hard on my lip, but the tears wouldn't stop. They fell silently onto the floor, one after another.

Fortunately, we got Annie to the hospital in time. Her wounds looked far worse than they actually were. They were all superficial—painful, but thankfully, none of her bones had been broken.

She didn't make a sound as the nurse cleaned and dressed her wounds. She never once complained that it hurt.

I gently stroked her hair, my heart aching, yet I couldn't find a single word that might comfort her.

Jenna never came to see Annie. Not once during her entire stay in the hospital.

Zach's Instagram, on the other hand, was full of updates. Every post seemed designed to show off how devoted Jenna was to him. Each one felt like another knife to the heart.

By the time we returned to the Birch estate to collect our belongings, Annie stood quietly by the front door.

The bruise from Jenna's slap still darkened her left cheek. On her right cheek were two angry red welts where Zach had pinched her hard enough to break the skin.

I placed the medical report detailing her injuries on the console table in the foyer. Then, I took Annie's hand. Together, we headed for the airport.

Before we boarded, my phone kept buzzing with breaking news alerts. Every media outlet was celebrating Jenna and Zach's wedding.

Even after I dismissed the notifications, every page I opened seemed to lead straight to a live broadcast of the so-called wedding of the century.

I exited the stream and sent Jenna one final message. Without waiting to see whether she'd reply, I pulled the SIM card from my phone and dropped it into the nearest trash can.

From this day forward, Jenna and I were strangers.

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  • It's Never a Good Idea to Share a Wife   Chapter 11

    What Jenna had done to Annie and me was unforgivable. But there was still one last thing she owed us.I brought Annie home. When she woke up, I placed a rolling pin in her hands."Go on," I said quietly. "Hit her. Make her pay for what she did to you that night." But what harm could a little girl possibly do?Annie was just too kind. She never lifted the rolling pin.Instead, she looked quietly at Jenna, her eyes brimming with tears. "Mommy, you promised you'd come to my kindergarten with me. But you went to be with Mr. Corey instead. You hit me so hard that day.""I thought… if you just hugged me, I'd forgive you. But you never came to see me. Not even when I was in the hospital. That's when I realized you weren't my mommy anymore. "My mommy loves me. She'd never hurt me. Ms. Birch… I hate you."Jenna's shoulders slumped under the weight of Annie's words. Tears spilled down her face as she opened her mouth, desperate to explain.But there was nothing she could say.In the

  • It's Never a Good Idea to Share a Wife   Chapter 10

    A crowd quickly gathered around us. Many of them were parents of Annie's classmates."Hey! What do you think you're doing?" one of them shouted. "You can't just snatch someone else's child in broad daylight!""Exactly!" another chimed in. "Everyone knows Annie's mother has passed away. Who do you think you're fooling?"The parents quickly stepped in, forming a barrier between Jenna and us."Go," one of them urged. "We'll handle this."I nodded my thanks, took Annie's hand, and left.…I'd underestimated how persistent Jenna could be.By the time I'd finished making dinner, the doorbell rang. When I opened the door, Jenna was standing outside, her face bruised and swollen. "Can we talk?" she asked."Give me half an hour."Without waiting for a response, I closed the door.Annie looked up from her dinner. "Daddy, who was at the door?""Just a stranger," I said.She simply nodded and went back to eating.After dinner, I settled Annie in her room and put on a cartoon for he

  • It's Never a Good Idea to Share a Wife   Chapter 9

    The orphanage was right next to a kindergarten, with an elementary school just a short walk away.I decided to settle down there for good and enrolled Annie in the kindergarten. I used the money I'd managed to save before I got married to buy a small apartment so I could be closer to her.The deed was in my name. The moment I held the title deed in my hands, I realized I finally had a home again. A tiny home, less than 400 square feet. Just Annie and me.After graduating, I worked as a designer for a few years. When Jenna gave birth to Annie, she threw herself into work and barely had time for the baby.So, I quit my job and took over everything at home.I went to several job interviews in the county, but every one of them ended in rejection. Ironically, the offer I finally received came from the local branch of a publicly listed company.There was just one condition. During my three-month probation period, I'd have to deliver a proposal that proved I deserved the job.Compared

  • It's Never a Good Idea to Share a Wife   Chapter 8

    Jenna remembered how overwhelmed she'd been when she first became a mother.Annie had opened her eyes to Jenna's face first. And when she finally learned to talk, the very first word she uttered was "Mommy".But somewhere along the way, Jenna had thrown herself into establishing her company—chasing investors, chasing success—until she'd forgotten two people were waiting for her at home.After returning to the Birch family, she'd been consumed by thoughts of revenge against everyone who had once humiliated her.And when it came to Zach, he was nothing more than the foolish infatuation of youth. She'd mistaken something beneath her feet for something beyond her reach. Jenna stood frozen outside her front door, her hand refusing to reach for the doorknob.She pinned my chat back to the top before sending me a message, asking where Annie and I were. The message never went through.Panic gripped her. She shoved the front door open, only to find that the house was empty.As she bent

  • It's Never a Good Idea to Share a Wife   Chapter 7

    Zach was supposed to be the man Jenna had always wanted to marry. But at the very last moment, she hesitated. She couldn't remember what she'd ever loved about Zach.Once, she'd been nothing more than a stray—an unwanted bastard with no known father, someone everyone looked down on and kicked aside.When she finally learned who her biological father was, she'd rushed to find him, convinced she'd finally found where she belonged.Instead, he denied she was his daughter and couldn't wait to throw her out.Zach happened to be visiting the Birch family that day. With a casual smile, he'd said, "Keep her. She can stay around as a pet, if nothing else."Back then, Jenna had only heard the first part. She'd ignored the contempt dripping from the rest of his words.But just before they exchanged vows at the present, the memory came flooding back. Zach had never seen her as an equal—never even as a person. To him, she'd always been nothing more than a stray he could toy with whenever he

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    Meanwhile, Jenna glided through the hotel ballroom in an elegant designer gown, making the rounds among the business elite.The wedding itself was merely a means to an end. More than a celebration, it was an opportunity to strengthen connections and foster powerful allies.As for Zach… He was simply another symbol of her success.Just as she lifted her glass for another toast, her hand suddenly shook, splashing red wine across her gown.An inexplicable sense of unease gripped her. It was as if something important had slipped beyond her grasp.Jenna scanned the ballroom, her gaze sweeping across the crowd. Nothing seemed out of place.Then, her phone vibrated in her pocket. She took it out and opened her messages. Scrolling past the pinned conversations, her eyes landed on the latest message from me.It read, "Instead of spending a lifetime making each other miserable, let's forget each other while we still can. I hope you'll be happy. Annie and I will disappear from your lives f

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