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Chapter 4

Author: Clear Spring
Hector shoved me aside and shielded Giselle behind him. My lower back slammed into the corner of the table. The pain was so intense that my vision went black, but all he cared about was checking Giselle's hand.

"Giselle, are you hurt?"

Giselle shook her head and tearfully said, "This is all my fault. I betrayed Evelina. We should stop lying to her, Hector."

That made me laugh. "So you're finally willing to admit it?"

I repeated every word I'd overheard in the stairwell. I also mentioned the way, over the past two years, Giselle had helped me go through bank statements and search for clues, only to lead me to the wrong people time and again.

"Were you gloating on the inside when I started wondering if I'd gone insane?" I asked.

Giselle was crying so hard she could barely stand. Hector immediately pulled her into his arms before roaring at me, "That's enough! She only kept it from you because she was afraid you wouldn't be able to handle the truth!"

Mom rushed over too, stepping in front of Giselle.

"We were all doing this for your own good."

Her words left me completely stunned.

Dad grimly admitted that they'd found out about the affair six months ago. Since then, every time I'd come close to finding concrete evidence, Giselle would alert the family. Duncan and my parents would immediately cover for them.

Duncan looked thoroughly annoyed. "Now that everything's out in the open, you can stop pretending you're the victim. Giselle was always the one Hector was in love with anyway."

As it turned out, Hector and Giselle had fallen for each other back in college.

However, at the time, after being neglected by my family for so long, I'd considered Hector the only light in my life. Unable to bear the thought of seeing me fall apart, Giselle had voluntarily stepped aside.

Mom held Giselle's hand and acted as though Giselle were the one who'd suffered the greatest injustice.

"Giselle has already given up on Hector, letting you be the one who got to become Mrs. Greene. All she wants is a place in his heart. Why must you be so cruel toward her?"

Hector looked down at my belly. "I won't be divorcing you for now, and we're keeping the baby."

"What about her?" I asked.

Without any hesitation, he declared, "I'm not going to stop seeing Giselle."

Dad even suggested that as long as the three of us kept this from getting out, life could carry on as normal for all of us.

Sneering, Duncan added, "After all, Giselle is the reason why you get to be Mrs. Greene, enjoy the wealth of the Greene family, and even get pregnant with this baby. What more do you want?"

Giselle was crying so hard she could barely breathe. Everyone immediately rushed to her side. Hector scooped her up and carried her out. As he passed me, he threw out one last cold remark.

"Take care of the baby. Stop using it to hurt Giselle."

The door slammed shut.

I picked up the medical report from the floor and went to another hospital alone. When I signed the consent form for the procedure, the nurse asked if I had a family member accompanying me.

I shook my head.

Just before the anesthesia took effect, Hector sent me a message.

"Giselle's awake. The baby belongs to my family. Behave yourself and stop causing trouble for everyone else."

I turned off my phone. When I woke up, the nurse handed me a sheet of paper.

"The procedure went smoothly."

I looked at the name printed on it and whispered, "Thank you."

After a pause, I mumbled to myself, "I no longer have a family now."

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