Chapter 1

100 labor-suppressant injections were stabbed viciously into my body. Already suffering from contractions, I could no longer tell if I was in the mortal realm or hell itself.

A wave of heat hit my face, jolting me back to consciousness.

Just before the sauna door closed, I crawled toward my husband, Timothy Langford, and grabbed the hem of his pants, trying to stir some paternal love for our child in him.

"I really never did anything to harm the baby in Natalie's belly. Please believe me…"

Every day after work, Timothy would come home and rub my belly for prenatal bonding. He would share interesting stories from his day with our unborn child. I couldn't believe he would hurt his own flesh and blood.

The contractions grew more regular and intense. I felt wave after wave of pressure, like I desperately needed to push. The doctor had told me that when this happened, it meant the baby was also trying hard to come out.

I was going into labor!

But Timothy acted as if he couldn't hear me at all. He said mercilessly, "This is what you owe Natalie! She finally managed to get pregnant. This child is her emotional anchor. You had no right to harm her baby!

"The specialist said high heat would only suppress your labor. You'll just be in pain for a while, but you'll be fine."

Through the monitor, I could see that I was already dilated four centimeters. I begged desperately, "Timothy, I'm really about to give birth! Please, just take me to the hospital. I promise our child won't take away the position of eldest grandson from Natalie's baby."

Timothy hesitated, about to relent, when his assistant, James Carter, burst through the door. The private jet he had arranged to escort Natalie Thornton, his sister-in-law, had arrived.

"She's four centimeters dilated. Quickly, sew her birth canal shut with a needle! We absolutely cannot let her give birth before Natalie!"

At Timothy's command, several masked medical staff in white coats rushed forward and pinned me down with rough hands. They didn't even give me anesthesia as they brutally sewed me shut.

The needle pierced deep into my flesh. Combined with the excruciating pain of contractions, it nearly made me pass out.

Seeing Natalie's pale face, Timothy looked as though his heart were bleeding. And when she threw herself into his arms with tears streaming down her face, his heart broke completely.

Natalie sobbed in a choked voice, "Tim, I was so scared. I thought I'd never see you again."

Timothy immediately comforted the woman in his arms in a gentle voice. "Natalie, I'm sorry you were frightened. I promise you, after the child is born, everything in the Langford family will belong to him. He will be the true eldest grandson of the family!"

Right in front of me, the two of them stood intimately close, so close that they might as well have been lovers.

Years ago, when Timothy's older brother, Caleb Langford, died in an accident, Timothy voluntarily offered to carry on both family lines. He planned to get his widowed sister-in-law pregnant too, claiming it would be a way to leave descendants for his late brother.

Even though I firmly opposed it, he scolded me. "It's just one child! Natalie lost her husband, and life in the Langford family isn't easy for her. How can you be so selfish?"

Looking back now, it was nothing more than an excuse for the two of them to carry on their illicit affair.

Just then, Timothy's phone rang. It was his grandmother, Janet Gale, calling.

"Tim, Susan is giving birth today, right? You must stay by her side at all times. Nothing can go wrong!"

Timothy brushed her off with a casual response and hung up.

Natalie nestled in Timothy's arms, looking pitiful. "Tim, today is Susan's due date, isn't it? You should go check on her child. Grandma values the baby in her belly so much. You can't let anything happen to that child…"

But Timothy pulled Natalie into his embrace, completely unconcerned. "Why would I need to be with her? The person who needs me most right now is you, not her."

Yet when he heard my anguished cries, his brow furrowed slightly. It seemed he thought my screams didn't sound fake after all. He even briefly doubted the credibility of what the specialist had told him, but that thought passed in a flash.

At that moment, when Timothy wasn't paying attention, Natalie lifted her foot and stomped on my blood-soaked pregnant belly and the area they had just sewn shut. I couldn't help but scream in agony.

Hearing the commotion, Timothy turned back curiously. In that critical instant, Natalie tore the pendant from her neck and threw it to the ground, shattering it. Then she knelt before me, crying pitifully.

"Susan, I only came over because I saw you were in pain and wanted to comfort you. How could you smash the pendant Timothy gave me?"

Timothy's eyes filled with heartache. He immediately consoled her. "It's alright. It's just a pendant. I'll go get you a hundred more next time!"

Then he turned and shouted at me furiously, "Natalie was kind enough to check on you, and this is how you repay her? By destroying the gift I gave her? If I'd known you were this petty and jealous, I never would have married you!"