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Chapter 2

Author: Lynette Woods
I followed the bodyguards into the car.

However, what Leo did not know was that I was only returning to the home we once shared to pack what belonged to me.

After searching the entire house, what I truly wanted to take was only a few sets of everyday clothes.

There was the photo album filled with memories of Leo, our love journal, and a thick stack of medical reports from when we were trying to conceive.

I threw them all into the fireplace.

The flames roared higher.

My phone chimed. Leo had sent me a photo of me entering the villa, along with a compliment.

[Good girl. I’ll bring you your favorite blueberry cake tonight.]

Smash!

I slammed the phone onto the floor.

He had already forgotten.

I hated blueberry cake the most.

Perhaps he had never bothered to remember anything about me at all.

He could switch cameras and see me standing in the living room now.

He did not care.

That thought completely consumed me, and my chest tightened as my body trembled.

Then the memory of my previous life surfaced again—the helplessness I felt before I died.

Jolene was, in his words, irreplaceable.

In my previous life, I tried desperately to become the kind of “Donna” Leo wanted. Whatever Jolene did, I copied.

I thought Leo would love me more that way and rely on me more.

In the end, my husband and our son both ended up preferring Jolene instead.

I became, in their eyes, an annoying imitation.

“Anna, just be yourself. You don’t need to copy everything Jolene does. You two are different.”

“Mom, can you please stop trying to learn things you can’t do? You’re just making things worse!”

On the day my son officially became the Don of the Kosa family, I cooked his favorite meal to celebrate.

Exhausted from days and nights of handling the family business, I fell asleep on the couch.

The pot boiled dry. A fire broke out in the kitchen.

At that moment, my husband Leo and Jolene were walking into the yard. Their voices were light with laughter.

When part of the house collapsed in flames, they turned and ran without hesitation. They never once looked back at my screams inside the fire.

Besides, my son did not even show up at my funeral.

I wiped the tears from my face. As I looked at the flickering fire in the fireplace, I picked up my suitcase and walked out of the villa without hesitation.

My hand gently rested on my lower abdomen. I still had a chance to change everything.

Three days later, I wore sunglasses and a scarf to the hospital my friend recommended for a prenatal checkup.

“The baby is healthy, but you need to be careful with your emotions. Try not to get too worked up. It could increase the risk of miscarriage…”

Just as the doctor reached for her pen, I stopped her, looking at her pleadingly.

“Dr. Susan, please help me. I’d like you to write that I’m showing signs of a threatened miscarriage.”

“My husband hasn’t come home for a month. I want him to care a little more about me. Normal morning sickness doesn’t move him anymore. Please…”

Dr. Susan bit her lip and looked at me quietly as I cried softly.

After a long silence, she quickly wrote it into my medical record.

“Just this once. I’ve moved your next checkup earlier by a few weeks. You must come on time, or I’ll personally go to your house.”

I nodded quickly and carefully put away the report.

As I stepped out of the examination room, I saw Leo in the hallway, holding Jolene tightly in his arms, gently comforting her.

I pulled my scarf up, trying to avoid their gaze.

However, Dr. Susan rushed out of the room behind me.

“Anna, you forgot your medication!”

Leo suddenly looked up. He pushed Jolene aside and blocked my path. Susan stumbled to the side, barely steadying herself against the wall.

“Anna?! Why are you at the hospital? What happened?”

He grabbed my shoulders tightly and shook me slightly. My prenatal report slipped from my hand.

We both looked down at it at the same time.

Dr. Susan stepped in angrily, pulling me behind her.

“Sir, she’s pregnant. You’re being too rough!”

“I’m Anna’s husband!”

Leo lowered his voice in a furious shout, then looked past her at me, barely holding back his anger.

“Anna, weren’t you supposed to stay home and do checkups with the private doctor? Why did you come to the hospital?”

Dr. Susan looked at me worriedly, and I quietly squeezed her hand in gratitude.

“Then why are you and Jolene here? Are you afraid I’ll find out your secret if I leave the house?”

Leo froze for a moment. He looked at me in disbelief.

Jolene covered her stomach, picked up the prenatal report from the floor, and her face went deathly pale.

“Anna, how could you treat Leo like this?! He’s been waiting for this child for so long…”
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