Chapter 2

Lilian's apology sounded sincere. Her expression was earnest, her voice perfectly pitched for everyone nearby to hear.

If someone had walked in at that moment, they probably would have thought she was the victim.

Then everything changed.

She took a small step closer, as though trying to make peace between us.

Her shoulder brushed mine and in a voice so low that only I could hear it, she whispered, "I'm pregnant too."

My entire body went still.

A slow smile appeared on her lips. "Annie, you know how Raymond feels about me."

She paused deliberately. "There's only one ending for the child you're carrying."

A chill crawled down my spine, then came the final blow.

"That child will die."

The words had barely left her mouth before my hand moved.

…

Smack!

The crack of the slap echoed through the ballroom.

I did not hold back.

Every ounce of anger, humiliation and fear exploded in that single strike.

Of course, I knew exactly what Lilian was doing.

She had not come there by accident. She was trying to provoke me, hoping to get a reaction out of me. If I had learned anything about her, it was that there was probably a trap hidden somewhere beneath that sweet smile.

None of it mattered.

Because the moment she cursed my child, reason ceased to exist.

No mother could stand there and endure that.

The force of the slap sent Lilian stumbling backward. Shock flashed across her face, but it vanished almost as quickly as it appeared.

Then she lost her balance.

Raymond lunged toward her immediately, but he was a fraction of a second too late.

Lilian hit the floor hard, and a sharp scream ripped through the room.

"It hurts!" She clutched her stomach. "My baby!"

The entire ballroom froze.

Raymond spun toward me so fast that I almost thought he was going to hit me.

"Annie!" His face twisted with fury. "Have you lost your mind?"

His roar echoed through the hall. "If anything happens to the baby she's carrying, I won't let you get away with it!"

She smiled.

It was the smile of a victor.

The smile of someone who knew she had already won.

As Raymond carried her toward the exit, Lilian's foot brushed against the enormous wedding cake beside me. Whether it was intentional or not, I never found out.

The answer became irrelevant the moment the towering ten-tier cake lurched sideways.

A split second later, it came crashing down on top of me.

Cake.

Cream.

Frosting.

They exploded in every direction, drawing a collective gasp from the crowd. For a moment, the entire hall seemed frozen in shock.

The falling cake did not hurt.

The humiliation did.

Standing there covered in icing while my husband carried another woman out of our anniversary banquet felt like the final punchline to a cruel joke.

Slowly, I wiped the cream from my face.

By the time I looked up again, Raymond and Lilian were already gone. Neither of them had looked back.

After that, the banquet came to an inevitable end. The guests drifted away one by one, leaving me to walk out alone.

I must have looked ridiculous.

My gown was ruined, and the frosting smeared across my face had washed away what remained of my makeup. At some point, tears had mixed with it all, though I refused to acknowledge them.

When I climbed into a taxi, I did not give the driver my home address. Instead, I told him to take me to the nursing home.

The doctor looked visibly surprised the moment I arrived.

"I was actually planning to call you tomorrow."

Something in his expression made my heart sink.

"Your father's condition isn't looking very good."

I lowered my gaze, unable to meet his eyes.

My father had remained unconscious in that nursing home for ten years. Over the years, I had paid countless medical bills, signed endless treatment forms, and held on to a hope that grew thinner with each passing day.

Still, I had never given up.

Not once.

If keeping him alive had not required such an enormous amount of money, I never would have become a pawn of the Smith family.

I certainly never would have married Raymond.

The doctor led me into the room. I stood quietly beside the bed, looking at my father's thin, frail face.

"I can handle it," I said at last. "Just tell me the truth."

The doctor sighed. "His organs are failing."

He hesitated before continuing. "No medication can reverse it anymore."

A heavy silence settled between us.

Then he spoke the words I had dreaded for years.

"It'll probably happen within the next few days. You should prepare yourself."

After he left, I remained beside the bed alone.

The room was quiet except for the soft rhythm of medical equipment.

I reached for my father's hand. It felt impossibly light. Little more than skin stretched over bone.

The machines had kept him alive, but the man I remembered had been gone for a very long time.

Even so, I could never let him go.

Some stubborn part of me had always believed that one day he would wake up. One day he would open his eyes, smile at me, and call me Annie again.

Perhaps he would not have wanted to live this way.

Perhaps I was the selfish one — the one refusing to say goodbye.

However, he was all I had.

My mother died giving birth to me, and my father was taken from me when I was sixteen. For years, I had carried the weight of being completely alone.

Almost instinctively, my hand drifted to my stomach.

Now there was someone else.

Someone connected to me by blood. My child. A tiny life growing inside me.

For the first time in years, I was not entirely alone.

Even if Raymond did not love me, and even if my marriage was slowly falling apart, I still had my baby.

The thought brought a fragile sense of comfort.

Then my phone vibrated.

The comfort vanished instantly.

A message from Lilian. My chest tightened as I opened it.

It was a photograph.

Lilian lay in a hospital bed, looking pale and fragile. Beside her, Raymond sat quietly peeling an apple for her.

His expression softened as he looked at her.

The tenderness in his eyes was impossible to miss. It was a tenderness I had never received from him.