Chapter 2

I stayed at the hotel for seven days.

Carter didn't call me once. The only message I received came from Susan.

[Come back and apologize to Mavis when you've calmed down.]

I stared at the message for a long time.

Before I could even decide how to respond, Henry Odom, my former high school senior and current attending doctor, slid a medical report across the desk toward me.

"Years of excessive blood donations have severely damaged your bone marrow's ability to produce blood cells," he said gravely.

"You can't continue this pregnancy. We need to terminate it as soon as possible and begin treatment. Even then, your chances of survival are only about ten percent."

I stared at him in disbelief.

Ever since I turned 16, my parents had forced me to donate blood to Mavis every few months. She suffered from hemolytic anemia, and we both had an extremely rare Rh-negative blood type.

Henry gripped my medical chart, his expression growing more serious.

"Your condition is extremely dangerous. Any blood loss, infection, or even severe emotional stress could trigger a hemorrhage. If that happens, we could lose both you and the baby."

I instinctively cupped my lower abdomen. I took out my phone and hesitated, wondering whether I should tell Carter about this.

Just then, a trending news alert appeared on my screen.

The title read: [Ricci Group CEO Spoils His Wife with a Fairytale Birthday Celebration!]

In the video, Carter stood beneath dazzling lights, lowering a birthday crown onto Mavis's head. She held a bunch of balloons and smiled radiantly up at him.

The gaze they shared was filled with unmistakable tenderness.

Once, when I'd had nothing more than a stomachache, he had canceled an important business deal just to stay by my side all night.

"Eliza, I want to be right there beside you to welcome every child we have," he'd promised me.

Now, he'd even forgotten his promise to accompany me to my prenatal checkup.

...

When I returned home and opened the door to the room beside our master bedroom, I was stunned by the scene inside.

The crib had been smashed to pieces. The little wooden rocking horse I'd spent an entire month carving and polishing by hand lay broken among the wreckage.

Carter stood in the middle of the mess, speaking as though he were explaining something perfectly reasonable. "When Mavis jumped from the balcony because of you, her uterus was damaged.

"The doctors said she'd probably never be able to get pregnant. Seeing a nursery would trigger her trauma, so I had no choice but to tear it down."

I glared at him. "And what happens now? Is she planning to move in and play lady of the house?"

Carter frowned, then reached out to pull me into his chest and patted my head just like he used to.

"There you go, speaking out of anger again. Once Mavis gets better, we'll design a princess nursery for our baby together, okay?"

To my shame, that brief touch of tenderness made my eyes sting.

"Carter," I whispered, clutching the hem of his shirt. "The doctor said... I might not be able to keep this baby."

He stiffened and immediately let go of me.

"So you heard?"

"Heard what?"

"Susan suggested that after the baby is born, we should legally let Mavis raise the child as her own. Now you're using the baby to threaten me, aren't you?"

My mind went blank. "Let Mavis raise my baby as her own?"

Carter avoided my gaze. "Mavis can't have children. This is what we owe her. The baby will still be yours. You'll be able to see him, and you'll still be Mrs. Ricci. The only difference is that he'll call Mavis Mom."

I clutched my belly, the pain in my chest making it difficult to breathe.

"This is my child! Why on earth should he call her his mother?"

"She's not some stranger! She's your sister!"

"And this is my flesh and blood, not some token of compensation you can hand over to her!"

"Don't make this sound so ugly."

I burst into laughter, tears streaming down my face.

"If you love her so much, why don't you have a baby with her yourself?"

"She can't get pregnant!"

"That's her problem!"

"She ended up like this because of you!"

The living room fell silent.

At that moment, ten years of my devotion shattered beyond repair.

I didn't argue anymore.

I simply turned and went back to the bedroom. From the bottom of my trunk, I pulled out our marriage certificate, the document I'd cherished for ten years.

I opened the county's online registry portal and tried to file for divorce. But instead of a record of our marriage, three words appeared on the screen.

[No Record Found.]

The blood seemed to freeze in my veins.

I refreshed the page again and again, but the result never changed.

I'd cooked his meals, kept his home, and carried his child. Yet according to the law, I was nothing more than a stranger.

Clutching the fake marriage certificate, I rushed out of the bedroom.

But a sudden, agonizing cramp seized my lower abdomen, forcing me to stop.

"The documents are right here." Carter looked at me impatiently. "How could they be fake? Must you act so hysterical? Are you really trying to get rid of this baby?"

The pain was so intense that I could barely stand.

Through the haze, I looked past him and saw Mavis hiding behind his back. At last, I woke up from the illusion I'd clung to for so long.

I stroked my aching belly and silently spoke to the child inside me.

"Baby, there is no place for us in this house. But even if it costs me my life, I'll never let you call a homewrecker Mom."