Chapter 1

Rosalind: [12 Weeks Pregnant]

No further words followed, but that alone left me shivering with cold.

Twelve weeks earlier, at the very moment my daughter died, Rosalind had gotten pregnant.

I clenched my fists and stared straight at Nicholas. My voice came out hoarse. "You didn't go into the office that day. So why couldn't I find you anywhere in the house?

"Our daughter was burning up with fever. She cried for so long. You heard her, and you still kept going with Rosalind?"

Nicholas met my swollen, red eyes, and a flicker of guilt crossed his face. "We were in the rooftop garden. The nanny was watching her. I thought a little coaxing would be enough."

My expression turned cold as I fought to hold back the hatred surging inside me. "A little coaxing would be enough? Nicholas, do you remember why we remarried?

"You promised that once we remarried, you would make it up to me and our daughter twice over.

"Is drugging me so you could cheat on me and indirectly causing our daughter's death your idea of making it up to us?"

I remembered the sight of her with her eyes shut tight, her body covered in blood after she had been thrown onto the road.

My heart felt as though it had been tossed onto a scorching pan. The pain seared straight through me.

Faced with my accusations, Nicholas raised his voice again. "Then what do you want from me? Every time you try to kill yourself, I'm scared to death. You're the one who refuses to pull yourself out of your grief, and now you've made Rosie anxious and frightened too.

"Our daughter is already dead. Can't you stop being so selfish and dragging us down with you?"

I watched his chest heave, then laughed until tears streamed down my face.

They had killed my daughter and driven me to this, yet now they dared blame me for holding them back?

"So you're confessing everything today because Rosalind is pregnant with your bastard, and you can't wait to move her into my home?"

His brow furrowed, but he didn't seem to care whether I could handle the truth. "I told you because I don't want you blaming yourself anymore or drowning in grief.

"Rosie blames herself just as much for our daughter's death. Every time we're intimate, she cries, and I can't stand seeing her in pain.

"And I won't divorce you."

When he mentioned Rosalind, guilt filled his eyes.

I also caught a trace of resentment toward me. Yet every time I had tried to kill myself out of grief for our daughter, he had clung to me in a panic, terrified that he might lose me.

"Stephanie, please hold on. Don't leave me. I don't know how I could live without you!"

Now he looked exhausted. His entire demeanor made it clear that all he wanted was to free Rosalind from her guilt. He looked nothing like the man who had once claimed he couldn't live without me.

He seemed to think I had taken his words to heart. He stepped forward and pulled me into his arms. "Stephie, if you want a child, we can have another one. I'll keep Rosie and her child on the outside. I'll take good care of both of you."

So he wanted two families!

I could no longer stomach his greed.

Tears streamed down my face as I shoved him away and slapped him hard across the cheek. "Nicholas, you're unbelievable."

The moment the words left my mouth, Rosalind walked in after entering the passcode at the door.

As soon as she saw the mark my slap had left on Nicholas' face, her eyes turned red.