Chapter 1

The day my pregnancy was officially confirmed, I visited the estate Levi Ezra had prepared for my maternity care seven years earlier.

I never imagined I would stumble across a scene that would shatter me so completely: my husband, still dressed in the outfit I had so carefully selected for him, was walking side-by-side with another woman.

Her belly was swollen, heavy with child.

Levi reached out tenderly, his palm resting against her rounded stomach. His face was illuminated with an expression so soft, so full of adoration, it was as if the world around them did not exist.

There was a deafening roar inside my head. I froze, rooted to the spot, feeling the ground tilt under me.

When Levi finally noticed me standing there, his face turned deathly pale in an instant.

The woman, too, lifted her head in confusion, only for panic to sweep across her features when she saw me.

Levi recovered first. He quickly gestured for her to return inside the house, then hurried over to me, grasping my hand in his.

"You're wearing too little — your hands are freezing," he said. But the tremble in his hands betrayed the fear he was desperately trying to conceal.

After three years of dating and seven years of marriage, I knew exactly what such a reaction meant.

I tore through the fragile facade he had tried so hard to maintain, my voice quivering as I forced the question out, "When did this happen?"

He flinched, a flicker of guilt crossing his face, before he struggled to speak. "Last summer... when your grandmother passed away... you returned home for the funeral—"

It felt like a bolt of lightning had struck me. My mind blanked; it took a long moment before I could even find my voice again.

"So, when my grandmother died, and you said you had to go on a business trip... it was a lie?" I whispered hoarsely. "At the very moment I was grieving, at my lowest, you chose to sleep with someone else?"

No wonder he had returned earlier than planned, managing to attend the funeral after all.

I had foolishly believed he had come back because he was worried about me.

But now I knew — it was nothing more than guilt, born from betrayal.

"It wasn't like that!" Levi interrupted desperately, stumbling over his words in panic. "It wasn't a lie — the business trip was real. But I... I was so upset that I couldn't be there for you. I drank too much at a dinner meeting...

"She was my new assistant. I don't even know how it happened. It was just that one night, Nikki, I swear — it only happened once! Please, you have to believe me!"

What an innocent excuse. The way he told it, it almost sounded like it was somehow my fault.

I bit back my tears and asked, "Then what about the child? If it was just a drunken mistake, why didn't she terminate the pregnancy?"

Levi flushed, his mouth opening and closing several times before he managed to stammer out an answer.

"She's too young... and inexperienced. By the time she realized she was pregnant, it was already five months along. The doctors said it would be too dangerous to abort.

"I thought... since you didn't want to go through childbirth... maybe we could raise this child as our own. You wouldn't have to suffer. And after she gives birth, I would pay her off — make sure she disappears from our lives forever."

I stared at him, almost laughing at the absurdity of it all.

"So, let me get this straight — you cheated for my sake? You thought letting another woman bear a child for me would be an act of love?" I asked, my voice cracking with emotion.

Tears streamed down my face as I laughed and cried at the same time, the sound so unhinged it made Levi look genuinely frightened.

"Nikki, don't... don't be like this—"

"And how exactly should I be?" I screamed at him, the dam of fury and grief finally bursting. "Should I get on my knees and thank you? Should I be grateful for everything you've done?"

As if on cue, a pale, trembling figure rushed out from behind him. Without a word, his mistress dropped to her knees before me.

"Nikki, please don't blame Levi," she sobbed. "He didn't mean for any of this to happen. Once the baby is born, I promise — I'll disappear. You'll never have to see me again. Please believe me."

Levi hurriedly pulled her up, shielding her behind him once more, and turned to me, his voice thick with pleading. "Nikki... no matter what, the child is innocent..."

I felt the blood rush to my head, my chest burning with a fury I could barely contain.

How had it come to this — how had I become the villain in their story?

I fought to steady my breath, swallowing down the bitterness that rose to my throat.

"Levi, is this child so important to you?"

He said nothing. But the unwavering look in his eyes told me everything I needed to know.

My eyes stung, my lips trembled. I bit down hard, forcing back the tears.

"Fine, I'll grant you your wish. We're getting a divorce."

I turned on my heel.

But before I could take more than a few steps, the world tilted violently — darkness rushed in.

And just before I lost consciousness, the last thing I heard was Levi's panicked voice, screaming my name.