Chapter 3

I had once seen Cory as the only light guiding me through the darkness. In the end, he was the one who betrayed me the most.

After living together for a month, I found out I was pregnant. As my belly grew bigger, I started hinting more about when we would get married.

Every time, he would gently tell me that the wedding dress wasn't finished yet and that I should wait a little longer. At the same time, he started coming home later and later.

I was six months pregnant when I returned home from a prenatal checkup and found Cory and Alicia in bed. I broke down. Screaming and crying, I rushed over and fought with them, questioning why he had cheated on me.

At that time, he simply shoved me to the floor and sneered. "Without the Grant family, you're nothing but an orphan. You didn't actually think I would marry you, did you? It was just a joke. My wife can only ever be Alicia."

He cruelly threw me out of the villa. With nowhere to go, I could only stay in a cheap motel.

On the day of Cory and Alicia's wedding, I gave birth to my daughter alone in that filthy room, barely surviving the ordeal. I looked at their happy smiles on the screen, then at my miserable self and my frail baby girl.

Hopeless, I decided to end my life. That was when I awakened.

I learned that I was nothing more than a vicious supporting character in this story, while my daughter would inherit the same fate.

As Cory's illegitimate daughter, Blaire Dawson would be taken back into his family, only to be abused and neglected. She would grow up cold and twisted, constantly opposing the female lead.

In the end, she would die alone, her body lost beneath the sea.

After learning the truth of the storyline, I cut off all contact with everyone and left the country with Blaire. She was my daughter, my flesh and blood, and the only family I had left.

I would make sure she lived a happy life, one that prevented her from facing that tragic fate.

I thought I would never have anything to do with Cory or Alicia again, but I just had to run into them on my very first day back in Carmont.

I couldn't help but complain about my husband in my heart. I had clearly told him that Blaire and I weren't coming back, yet he stubbornly went against my wishes.

He waited until I fell asleep, then packed me up—blankets and all—and carried me onto a plane. By the time I woke up, I was already in Carmont. Thinking of that unreasonable yet persistent man, I couldn't help but smile.

"No, thanks," I told Cory. "My husband and I are very in love."

With that, I turned to leave, planning to find somewhere to rest.

Just then, my daughter, now Blaire Cooper, came running over after waking up and realizing she couldn't find me. "Mommy, I'm starving."

Cory stared at her face in shock. His eyes suddenly reddened. "Abby, I can't believe you secretly gave birth to my daughter. And I'm supposed to believe you're not in love with me even now?"

I nervously pulled Blaire behind me and hissed, "Don't even think about it, Cory! Blaire is my daughter and mine alone!"

The commotion finally caught Maverick's attention. He strode over and looked at me with a complicated expression, though a hint of guilt danced in his eyes.

"Abby, after you left, Mom, Dad, and I regretted it so much. We were wrong to have hurt you. Now that you're back, you can still return and reclaim your position as the Grant family's eldest daughter—it's always been yours.

"As compensation, we can give you 1% of the family's shares. The only condition is that you mustn't ruin Alicia's marriage."

Listening to his so-called compensation, I almost laughed.

The annual dividends from a 1% share would only be around a million dollars. Meanwhile, the company I built abroad made seven million dollars in net profit every month.

When Alicia saw Blaire, her face twisted in anger. Still, she forced herself to put on a generous expression.

"Perfect. I planned not to have children, anyway. Abby, why don't you let Blaire be adopted under my name? I'll treat her like my very own."

I caught the hidden resentment brewing in Alicia's eyes and spat out, "Forget it. Even if I die, I'll never let you take Blaire away."

In the original storyline, Alicia tortured Blaire.

It was then that Fiona jumped in as Alicia's mouthpiece. "You shamelessly gave birth to an illegitimate child, and Alicia is generous enough not to hold it against you. Having that kid raised under Alicia's care only benefits you.

"I see you're clinging to your daughter and refusing to let go. Are you planning to use her to climb back up?"

Maverick looked at me with disappointment. "Abigail, is this what you've become after all these years of fooling around outside? How did you become so shameless?"