Chapter 2

"Stephie, Nicky gave up on the company just to take care of you. If you don't appreciate him for that, fine. But how could you actually hit him?" Rosalind demanded.

After our daughter died, Nicholas had indeed taken care of me down to the smallest detail.

I hated that I hadn't been the one to die that day. I kept wanting to kill myself to atone for my daughter's death, and I couldn't even spare a thought for my sick mother.

Nicholas had taken care of me while arranging my mother's hospital stay. I had once felt indebted to him. Now, I only found him hateful and deceitful.

I stared at the kiss mark on Rosalind's neck and let out a bitter laugh. "What exactly am I supposed to appreciate him for? For getting my daughter killed, then somehow having no time for work but plenty of time to sleep with you and get you pregnant with his bastard?"

The moment I finished speaking, Nicholas slapped me hard across the face.

My cheek burned, and the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth.

Nicholas' voice shook with fury. "Stephanie Tucker, you're completely and hopelessly out of your mind. Rosie is the sister you've doted on since she was a child."

Sister?

I looked at Rosalind, pale as she hid behind him.

I hated myself for being so blind. If I had seen through her sooner and known she was the woman Nicholas had kept on the side, I never would have remarried him.

Three years earlier, I had discovered that Nicholas was having an affair. But no matter how hard I searched, I couldn't find out who the other woman was.

Nicholas protected her so carefully that I couldn't uncover a single clue. The endless fights that followed eventually wore me down.

I became sensitive and quick to anger. Rosalind was the one who urged me, "Stephie, don't waste your life on a man who doesn't love you."

I didn't want to become a stranger to myself, so I took my daughter and insisted on divorcing Nicholas.

Not long afterward, Nicholas came looking for me. He swore he had cut the woman off completely. Then he waited outside my mother's building for three days and three nights without eating or drinking.

Our daughter cried endlessly for her father and begged me to let him come back. For her sake, I decided to give Nicholas one more chance.

That day, he held both of us in his arms and wept with joy. "Stephie, Sally, I'll make it up to both of you from now on. I'll give you every good thing in the world."

His vow had sounded so sincere. I never imagined it was all a lie.

My tears finally broke loose. I had been such a fool. The two people I trusted most had deceived me all along.

If I hadn't remarried Nicholas, our daughter would still be alive.

Our daughter's small, pale face flashed before my eyes.

Hatred overwhelmed my reason. I snatched the cup from the coffee table and hurled it at Rosalind. "I won't divorce him this time. You can spend the rest of your life as his mistress."

Nicholas stepped in front of Rosalind and stared at me with undisguised disgust. "I'm the one who did wrong. What right do you have to take it out on Rosie?

"She only wanted to share the joy of her pregnancy with you. She even planned to register the child under your name so you could move past your grief. What more do you want?"

The sight of him shielding Rosalind as he screamed at me shattered what little restraint I had left. I smashed everything within reach like a madwoman.

Nicholas watched me with cold eyes. Without another word, he wrapped his arms around Rosalind and led her away.

By the time I exhausted myself and sank to the floor, Rosalind had sent me another photo. She wore a dazzling diamond ring and nestled against Nicholas, her face radiant with happiness.

Rosalind: [Stephie, I wish you could've come to the auction with us. Nicky would've bought you 20,000,000 dollars' worth of jewelry too.]

I gripped my phone as my entire body shook.

I had lost my daughter and was living a life worse than death. What right did they have to be happy?

I ignored the blood from the shards of glass embedded in my foot and took screenshots of the photo and every message Rosalind had sent me.

Then I organized everything Nicholas had confessed into a post and published it online.

The post had barely begun to cause an uproar when Nicholas came storming toward me, his face livid.