Chapter 1: Forcing Me to Have a Child to Save His Mistress? Let's Get a Divorce.

"Both your wife and Miss Hart have a rare blood type."

"If Mr. Blackwood is willing to have a child with his wife, the baby's umbilical cord blood could save Miss Hart."

Outside the VIP ward of Silverhaven Royal Hospital, Evelyn Hart's fingers curled into tight fists.

The doctor was actually suggesting that she and her husband bring a child into the world to save his lover!

Absurd. Utterly absurd.

Evelyn stared at Damien Blackwood, silently begging him to refuse.

Just say no. Please.

But his answer landed like a slap across her face.

Damien nodded, his voice calm. "All right."

"Saving a life outweighs a hundred good deeds."

"Evelyn will agree."

Her fists slowly loosened. It felt as though her heart had been torn wide open, and the cold shook her to her bones.

Half an hour earlier, she had walked into this hospital carrying a pot of soup she'd made for her husband.

From the end of the corridor, she had seen him tending to another woman with painstaking care.

The woman was pale and fragile, her face drained of color.

The doctor stood beside them, holding the report. "It's late-stage osteoma."

Late-stage osteoma.

Evelyn knew exactly what that meant. Three months to a year, at best.

"The condition is extremely dangerous, and the surgery is incredibly difficult," the doctor went on. "There are only two options."

"One, find Dr. Dawn and have Miss Hart operated on as soon as possible."

"But Dr. Dawn retired eight years ago, and no one has heard from him since."

"Two, Mr. Blackwood and his wife have a child to save Miss Hart."

Damien stood at the woman's bedside, his eyes full of a tenderness Evelyn had never once seen.

"As long as I'm here, you'll be fine."

Evelyn watched them through the doorway, and a sliver of envy pricked her heart.

In three years of marriage, he had never looked at her that gently. Not once.

She used to believe Damien was simply cold, a man incapable of love. Only today did she understand how wrong she had been.

He wasn't incapable of love. The woman he loved just wasn't her.

"Would my sister really agree to have a baby to save me?" Stella Hart asked softly.

"She has no right to say no."

Hearing those words, Evelyn should have been shattered. Instead, all she could manage was a bitter smile.

It was mocking. It was almost funny.

It mocked the girl she used to be, the one who had fought through every obstacle to marry Damien. She had believed her sincerity would one day melt his heart.

Today he had texted her that he wanted soup and sent her the hospital's address. She dropped her work, cooked it herself, and rushed over, only to hear this.

How ironic.

Evelyn pushed open the door and stepped inside.

On the bed, Stella's eyes lit up. "Sister, you're here! I'm so sorry, I just really wanted to taste your soup, so Brother Damien..."

"It's delivered. Take care of yourself."

"I'm leaving. I still have work to finish."

She set the soup down and turned to escape the humiliating scene.

"Secretary Hart, your job now is to get pregnant, give birth, and save Stella."

His voice came from behind her.

Evelyn, already out the door, froze mid-step.

She turned back, disbelief written across her face.

"You lived in the Hart mansion for over ten years, pretending to be Stella, while she suffered in the countryside in your place."

"Shouldn't you repay her?"

Stella tugged lightly at his sleeve, as if begging him to stop, the picture of gentleness and grace.

Then she offered Evelyn an almost timid smile. "Sister, you haven't eaten yet, have you? Would you like some soup?"

"Don't bother with her," Damien said coolly. "She won't die from skipping a meal."

Evelyn's lips curved into a mocking smile.

Once, to boost sales for Damien's company, she had drunk so much at a business dinner that she ended up in the hospital with a bleeding stomach.

At discharge, the doctor had warned her again and again: three meals a day, on time. If it got worse, she could lose her stomach entirely.

To Damien, it simply meant she wouldn't die.

In her hospital bed, Stella took a sip of the soup.

A sharp gasp followed, and the stainless steel thermos flew from her hand, straight at Evelyn.

"It's so hot!"

Evelyn instinctively stepped back half a pace and dodged the splash.

But the thermos struck her squarely on the head.

The leftover soup poured down her hair and drenched her from head to toe.

She wiped the stains from her clothes with a tissue and snapped, "Stella Hart, did you do that on purpose?"

She had stewed that soup especially for Damien and let it cool for half an hour before pouring it into the thermos. Hot? How hot could it possibly be?

It was a setup. Even a fool could see that.

Before she could say more, Damien's reprimand came crashing down.

"Evelyn, you did this on purpose."

"You can't even manage something this small. What use are you?"

His cold gaze cut through her like a blade, leaving her hollow and speechless.

The moment his last word, "Get out," fell, Evelyn swallowed her tears and walked away without looking back.

As she left, she heard voices drifting from the ward.

"I'll find Dr. Dawn as soon as I can."

"And I'll have a child with Evelyn."

"I won't let anything happen to you. No matter what."

Evelyn's tears finally spilled over.

In the restroom, she quickly cleaned herself up.

When she came out, it was already past noon. Her empty stomach twisted painfully.

She took a bottle of painkillers from her bag with practiced ease.

Leaning back in a chair, she thought about everything the last few years had cost her.

She had loved Damien so deeply that she married him knowing he didn't love her.

Before the wedding, they had built their careers side by side.

After the wedding, she balanced home and work, cooking and cleaning for him, keeping herself busy from morning to night, wanting only for him to be happy.

She had believed she could warm his heart. But now...

Evelyn gave a self-mocking smile. She had been deceiving herself all along.

If she couldn't warm his heart, then she would let go.

Back then, they had married because of an accident.

She had made a deal with Grandfather Blackwood. It was a marriage of convenience.

If she was willing to walk away three years later, the old patriarch would pay her twenty million dollars in compensation for what had happened.

Now, counting the days, only one month remained on the contract.

Since she had chosen to let Damien go, she would keep things strictly business.

Evelyn sent a message to the old patriarch, saying she would end the marriage in one month and hoped he would transfer the twenty million dollars to her account on time.

At the same time, she texted her lawyer: "Attorney Collins, please draft a divorce agreement for me as soon as possible."

When it was done, she let out a long breath.

Now, finally, she could return to what she truly loved.

Before becoming Damien's secretary, she had worked in medical research and held numerous patent awards.

Her codename in the medical world was Dawn.

She was the only person on earth to successfully perform the most difficult osteoma curettage surgery, a landmark breakthrough in medicine.

Evelyn opened the chat window she hadn't dared to touch in eight years, and made up her mind.

"Teacher, I want to come back to medicine."