Chapter 3

Seeing the shock in Ethan’s eyes, I instinctively placed a hand over my still-flat stomach.

It was true.

Damian was infertile.

No one knew that better than I did.

Three years ago, when he first received the test results, he destroyed everything in his study.

The doctor had said his sperm motility was extremely low. Natural conception was almost impossible.

So when the pregnancy test showed two lines, I thought it was a miracle.

I had planned to tell him in person at the wedding.

I had also wanted to make Evelyn happy. She was the head of the Grant family, but these past few years, all she had wanted was to see a child born into the family.

But now...

I set down my cup and looked at Ethan.

“Help me leave.”

Ethan’s pupils tightened again.

“But your wedding is tomorrow.”

I lowered my eyes and told him everything, calmly and from the beginning.

The ten years I had spent living under someone else’s roof.

The obedience.

The insults I had swallowed.

The way Damian had turned me, in the end, into nothing more than a promise he resented having to keep.

“I don’t blame anyone,” I said. “I was the one who refused to see the truth.”

After a pause, my voice went hoarse.

“I also know you do business with him. If helping me puts you in a difficult position, pretend I never asked.

“Just... don’t tell him.”

Ethan was silent for a long time.

Then he said, “Tell me what you need. I’ll arrange it.”

I looked up in surprise.

When our eyes met, he smiled faintly.

“I’ll help you. If your mother, Laura Shaw, hadn’t gone back into that fire, I would have died there too.”

After Ethan and I settled the plan, we parted ways, and I went straight back to the Grant Residence.

But the moment I pushed open the front door, I stopped.

In the living room, Lily was clinging to Damian like she could barely stand, her face tipped up toward his as she drunkenly tugged at his tie.

“Damian... I like you... I like you so much...”

Damian didn’t push her away.

He lowered his eyes, one hand steady at her waist, his gaze filled with a tenderness and indulgence I had never once received from him.

Not in ten years.

When he saw me, his gaze moved past Lily’s head and landed on me.

The tenderness disappeared instantly, replaced by the familiar coldness.

“She drank too much. Get the guest room ready.”

His tone was so natural, as if he were giving instructions to a housekeeper.

“I’m not going.”

I pulled my gaze away and headed upstairs.

Damian’s brows snapped together.

After all, for the past ten years, I had done whatever he asked.

I had never once told him no.

His face darkened. His eyes settled on me with a pressure that made the air feel thin.

After carefully setting Lily down on the sofa, he stood and looked down at me.

“Are you still not done?”

Damian tugged at his tie. His tone almost sounded like compromise, but the impatience beneath it was impossible to miss.

“Is this about the tie clip? Or because I didn’t take you inside tonight? Fine. I’ll say it. I’m sorry.

“Vivian, is that enough? Can you act normal now?”

He came toward me step by step, his gaze cold enough to cut.

“The wedding is tomorrow. Evelyn has just recovered from a serious illness, and she flew back from overseas specifically to attend.

“Let me make this clear. You’d better wipe that bitter look off your face. Don’t embarrass the Grant family at the wedding and upset Evelyn.”

I looked at him, my chest rising and falling with anger.

Tears gathered in my eyes, but I forced them back.

“Are you afraid Evelyn will be upset, or are you afraid she’ll take away your inheritance?”

The moment the words left my mouth, Damian’s eyes turned completely cold.

“Vivian.”

He said my name, then delivered a sentence that sent me straight into the cold.

“Don’t forget what your mother gave up to put you here.”

Then he gave a low, mocking laugh.

In that moment, his eyes held nothing but contempt, as if he were merely stating a fact.

“Your place in this family was bought with her life.”

The last thread holding me together snapped.

So that was how he saw it.

In his eyes, my mother’s death had been nothing more than a transaction.

Crash.

Trembling all over, I grabbed the glass beside me and hurled it at him.

Damian’s expression changed. Instinctively, he turned and shielded Lily completely behind him.

The glass struck his shoulder hard, then shattered across the floor.

He let out a muffled groan and slowly turned his head.

The look he gave me was so dark it was almost murderous.

Even then, he still didn’t forget Lily.

After staring at me with hatred in his eyes, he scooped the woman pretending to be drunk into his arms and strode upstairs.

Watching them disappear, I began gasping for air.

Then the tears finally came.

A strong taste of blood rose in my throat. A dull pain stirred low in my abdomen.

Clutching my stomach, I braced myself against the wall and made my way back to my room step by step.

Then I pulled out my suitcase and opened the closet as if my body were moving on its own.

I had to leave.

I did not want to spend one more second in that disgusting place.

From the corner of my eye, I saw the white wedding dress still hanging there, quiet and flawless, like an exquisitely made joke.

I looked away.

But just as I placed my clothes into the suitcase, the bedroom door was kicked open with a bang.

A brutal force seized my wrist and yanked hard.

I lost my balance and was thrown against the cold wall.

My pregnant belly hit the surface, and pain shot through me so sharply that I sucked in a breath.

The next second, Damian rushed over and grabbed me by the throat.

His face was twisted with fury as he glared at me.

“Vivian, how long are you going to keep this up?

“I already lowered myself and apologized to you. Don’t push it.”

The veins at his temple stood out as he snarled through gritted teeth.

“Do you not understand plain English? I said I’m running out of patience. I am running out of patience.”

His eyes swept over the suitcase on the floor, and his mouth curved into a sneer full of contempt.

“Still pretending you’re leaving?

“Vivian, who do you think you are?”

His fingers tightened around my jaw as if he meant to crush the bone.

“Tell me. If you leave me, where would you even go? You don’t know how to survive on your own.”

He was choking me so hard I could barely breathe.

My vision began to blur.

But I still forced the words out, one by one, through broken breaths.

“Damian...

“I’m pregnant.”

At the same time, a deep, tearing pain ripped through my abdomen.

Bright red blood streamed down between my legs.

In an instant, the floor beneath me was soaked in crimson.