Prologue

Flashback

Emily stood shamefully outside Broadway Pediatric Hospital’s gate on a cold night, gently caressing her baby in her arms.

Puffy eyes, fever, and sore throat, that was what she got for crying endlessly the day before.

She glanced to see if she was alone. When she was certain, she returned her attention to her baby, who was currently staring innocently at her.

Emily forced a smile, not realizing her eyes were already holding up a lot of tears, waiting patiently to fall.

It seemed her little angel had some kind of baby intuition as he immediately started crying—harder than he ever had.

“It's okay.. it's okay,” Emily's voice was soft but barely audible. Her baby wasn't cooperating, prompting her to sway him slowly. Still, he kept shedding more tears.

Helplessly, she joined him.

“I'm sorry, my little pumpkin,” she said faintly. “Mommy just has to do this.”

Her baby might have understood what she said as his cries became stronger and stronger, causing Emily to cling to him tightly.

She was unready for the moment.

This was supposed to be quick. She had planned to drop him and dash off quickly, now she couldn't even let him out of her arms.

Emily needed to flee to avoid getting caught by anyone—or worse, one of the nurses. They had promised her that they would legally place the baby for adoption.

She couldn't envision what her fate would be if they caught her in the act.

Just then, her baby stopped crying. It wasn't his intuition after all—he was just sleepy.

Observing this, Emily lovingly kissed his forehead just before she carefully put him in the basket she had brought.

She pulled herself up right after she had arranged his blanket and covered him, revealing only his face.

Emily's trembling hands clutched her skirt so tight that her knuckles turned red.

Like she was trying to restrain herself from picking up her baby and heading home.

Although she felt that way, this still had to be done.

It took her a couple of months to decide on this, she wasn't going to back out now.

Her baby was going to be better off with someone else. Someone who could give him the life he deserved, and that person wasn't her.

Life had specifically been unfair to her. She never got noticed or loved like everyone else.

However, the one time she finally got seen, she mistook it for love.

Leo Worthington.

The man was supposed to be Emily's true love.

She had planned a beautiful life with him, albeit she knew she was never going to be accepted by his family.

Leo's father, Mr. Cedric Worthington, had made that clear enough when a picture of the pair got uploaded on the internet.

“Take this.” He threw an envelope at her like she was some kind of trash. “Get as far away as you can from my son. You're way below the Worthingtons.”

Emily had already made up her mind not to leave Leo, even if it meant becoming his father's sworn enemy.

“You think he cares about you? A mere journalist who has nothing to offer?” Cedric bluntly said.

Those words landed like a slap to her face. It hurt more to know that what he said was the truth.

Leo didn't care about her. Emily only told herself otherwise just so the pains could hurt less.

Cedric was right. She was just a pathetic loser who had nothing to offer, yet, she let herself believe that Leo would eventually reciprocate the love.

Owing to that, Emily could only endure his emotional abuse, uncontrollable sexual urge, being hidden from the public and his constant reminder that he could get any woman with just one look.

One time Emily asked Leo why he didn't like public affections, Leo blatantly responded, “I'm literally doing you a favor by being with you. Be grateful to me. That's the least you could do.”

It hurt so bad. Typically, Emily could only nod and not dare to ask about it again.

Their last intimacy resulted in Emily's pregnancy.

Anyone in her shoes would have been sad and regretful, but her reaction was the exact opposite.

She was actually excited. Emily felt Leo would finally treat her right and give her the love she deserved.

However, after arriving at his place, looking all smiley as though she just won a lottery, her eyes threatened to fall off its socket at the sight of what greeted her.

Through the half-open door, she could see Leo getting intimate with an unknown woman.

Emily could tell they had done this countless times given the way their bodies rhymed, as if they recognized each other.

A strong ache came to her chest just before her legs gave up on her, causing her to stagger backwards.

If a wall wasn't behind to support her, she would have fallen.

Emily smiled bitterly, realizing how lovesick and foolish she'd been.

She wanted to walk up to Leo and his side piece and rip them into pieces.

Instead, she channeled that feeling into the test result in her hand, squeezing it like it was Leo's neck.

Leo didn't deserve her. He never did, she hadn't realized it until now.

Surely, Leo wasn't going to accept the child she was carrying. He and his self-entitled father may just see her as a scandal. Again.

Nonetheless, Emily resorted to going through pregnancy alone. She told no one, not excluding her younger sister, Ava.

Ava was the only family she had. Keeping her in the dark wasn't so hard because she was away in Chicago, undergoing a one year course in fashion.

When Emily had gone to apply for a pregnancy leave, the judgemental stare from the staff members summoned her attention.

“Oh my God, I didn't think she was wild,” one of the staff members whispered, loud enough for her to hear, at the sight of her slightly protruding belly.

“Poor thing, I bet she has no idea who's responsible,” another said mockingly.

She would be lying if she said their little whispers didn't get to her. Their statements were suffocating and she could barely breathe.

Those people had never seen her with any man, perhaps that was why they rushed into conclusions.

On several occasions, Emily had always thought terminating the pregnancy would have been a great idea, but her softheartedness disagreed with her all the time.

After saying her goodbyes to her baby, Emily began walking away from him. Every step she took was comparable to walking on hot coal.

Her baby was the only thing that kept her from recovering and now, after what felt like an eternity, she had successfully abandoned him.

Emily's steps increased like she was trying to escape her nemesis.

She had already cooked up a lie she would tell to anyone who asked, “I had complications during childbirth and lost the baby.” That was convincing enough.

Emily had lost herself once and now, it took giving up her little one just to get it back.

How shameful!

Moving on won't be easy, nevertheless, it wasn't impossible.

However, one thing was definite, Emily was never going to move on from her baby.