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Chapter 1

Dan’s car stayed behind my cab, and he flashed its headlights twice.The driver glanced at me through the rearview mirror.“Miss, that car has been following us. A friend of yours?”I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth.“No.”“Want me to lose him?”“It’s fine. He knows where I’m going.”The apartment building looked exactly the same as I remembered, aside from the new advertisements plastered inside the elevator.Dragging my suitcase behind me, I stopped at the door and pulled out my key.The sound of the lock turning was wrong.The door opened from the inside.Hayley Hill stood there in a silk nightgown with a little boy of three or four in her arms.“You’re back.”The child wrapped his arms around her neck and looked at me curiously.“Mom, who’s this lady?”“She used to live here.”Hayley gently patted his head before looking back at me.“Would you like to come in? Dan told me you were coming back today. I just didn’t expect you this early.”I looked past h

Chapter 2

Linda sighed and pulled up my personnel file on her computer. “Your five years in the desert are recorded here as a voluntary posting to support the border region, with successful completion of the mission despite harsh conditions.”“That’s true.”“But...” She lowered her voice. “On the final reports for the three projects you led, every first author is listed as Hayley.”I was stunned.“How’s that possible? Those were my…”“You signed off on it.”Linda opened a document and turned the monitor toward me. “Look. This agreement was filed five years ago. You signed it and approved shared ownership of the project results.”The signature was mine. However, I had no memory of ever signing such a document.“You were leaving in a hurry back then. A lot of the paperwork was handled by Mr. Hill on your behalf.”Linda hesitated, as though considering whether to say more. “Stella, there are some things... Never mind. You should head to your desk.”My desk was tucked away in a cor

Chapter 3

I held my glass of champagne.“Congratulations.”“Thank you.”She gently rubbed her stomach.“We consulted a psychic. She said it would be a girl, and Dan was over the moon. He said he hoped our daughter would take after her mother.”She looked at me and suddenly lowered her voice. “You know, Dan said if he hadn’t sent you away, he probably would’ve stayed torn between us for a long time.”“What are you trying to say?” “What I’m saying is...” She smiled sweetly.“Thank you for stepping aside back then. Without your sacrifice, we wouldn’t have the life we have today.”My hand was trembling.A few drops of champagne splashed out and stained my dress.“Hayley, do you know that when you were pregnant with your first child, I was out there working in freezing temperatures, running a dangerously high fever, and almost died?” I looked her straight in the eyes.She blinked.“What about it?”“I called him seventeen times, and he never answered. It was our anniversary.”She smile

Chapter 4

“Those photos. Those messages. Who else could have sent them besides you?”He grabbed my wrists.“Stella, calm down!”“How am I supposed to calm down?!” I screamed at him.“If anything happens to Dad, I’m going to kill you!”The ward door opened.The doctor stepped out and removed his mask.“I’m sorry. We did everything we could.”In that moment, my world shattered.The funeral was held three days later. My mother would not let me through the door. “Go away,” she said through the closed door. “Your dad wouldn’t want to see you.”I stood and waited outside from morning until night.In the afternoon, Dan and Hayley arrived.They placed a white lily arrangement near the front of the chapel.The card attached to it read: With deepest sympathy, Dan and Hayley Hill.Hayley noticed me and spoke softly.“My condolences.”I looked at Dan. If looks could kill, he would have dropped dead where he stood.The color drained from his face.Hayley tugged gently on his sleeve.“Com

Chapter 5

Three months later, I had lost so much weight I barely recognized myself.The humid air of the small coastal town clung to my skin. The studio apartment I rented was on the sixth floor of an old walk-up building.Every time I climbed the stairs, I had to stop halfway and brace myself against the wall to catch my breath.A mirror hung on the back of the door. The woman staring back at me had tangled short hair, sharp cheekbones, and dark circles etched beneath her eyes.I barely recognized myself.My landlady was kind. She knew I spent my days taking freelance translation jobs. She would occasionally bring me a bowl of homemade soup. “Don’t work yourself so hard, sweetheart,” she would say.I would thank her and go right back to typing.One sleeping pill became two. Eventually, it took three just to get a few hours of restless sleep.In my dreams, the desert wind never stopped blowing. It scraped against my skin and stung my face raw.I would wake up to find my pillow damp wi

Chapter 6

She was sitting in a wheelchair with a blanket draped across her knees. She was reading a book.Her profile was thin, but her features were gentle.As I passed by, she looked up.“Here for treatment too?” she asked.I stopped.“Yeah.”She smiled.“I’ve been here for six months. I would’ve remembered you if I had seen you before.”She closed the book in her lap. The title on the cover was [The Road].“I’m Alice Light,” she said. “I used to teach piano.”I glanced at the empty right leg of her pants and decided not to ask.She did not seem to mind and continued, “Two years ago, I got into a car accident and lost my leg. My husband left me for another woman, and I lost my job too.”She said it so casually that it sounded like she was talking about someone else.“There was a time when I wanted to die too.”She tapped the book resting on her lap. “Then, I read this. That man lost almost everything. The world around him fell apart, and he just kept going. So, I thought, if he

Chapter 7

There was no return address.Inside, I found a paternity test report.The test had been conducted by Kingston Hospital, and it was dated five years earlier.[Subjects: Dan Hill (alleged father), and the child of Hayley Olsen (the mother).][Conclusion: Paternity excluded.]I was stunned.The child that had forced Dan to make a choice five years ago was not his at all.My hands began to shake as I flipped to the final page. The examiner’s signature read: [Robin Shipp.]The name sounded familiar. He was a retired chief of genetics at Kingston Hospital.Through old contacts, I managed to track down his address.When he opened the door and saw me, his eyes darted away before I could even speak.“Ms. Elba, I can’t help you.”He tried to close the door, and I wedged my foot into the gap.“Dr. Shipp, I only want the truth.”He sighed and motioned me inside.I sat on his couch, and he went to pour me a glass of water. His hands would not stop shaking.“Dr. Shipp, someone came

Chapter 8

The email chain clearly showed Dan’s own replies.[Revise according to Hayley’s feedback. Results to be shared.]“Shared?” I snorted.“Stella, all of us felt it was unfair to you,” Andrew said. “Everything you worked yourself to the bone for ended up building her career.”I copied every email. As I was leaving, Andrew hurried after me.“Stella, be careful. The Hill family has deep roots in this city.”I nodded.The most ironic discovery came next. Hayley’s second child was not Dan’s either.A nurse at the hospital turned out to be married to one of the guys I had worked with on the desert project. She told me privately, “While Hayley was pregnant, there was this man who came to see her all the time. He wore glasses, and he was well-dressed as well as very polished. I overheard them say that they would run away together once they got the Hill family’s money.”Then, she pulled out a blurry photograph.It was a screenshot from a parking garage security camera. The man’s face w

Chapter 9

She said over the phone, “Everyone at the company is talking about it now. They’re saying that you were the real talent all along and Hayley was nothing but a fraud.”I said nothing.Meanwhile, Hayley fell apart.She started smashing things around the house and screaming at Dan, “This is all your fault! You ruined me! If you hadn’t pushed me to do all of this, none of this would’ve happened!”It was only then that Dan realized he too had been nothing more than a pawn in Hayley’s plan.She had used him from the very beginning to climb the ladder. The first child had been hers and Nathan’s. She simply needed someone willing to raise it as his own.Dan’s mother found out where I was living.I could hear her crying through the door.“Stella, I know we wronged you, but Dan was deceived too. He’s suffered these past five years as well.”She was banging on my door.“Please, Stella. I’m begging you. Have mercy on our family. Mr. Hill suffered a stroke after everything came out. He’s

Chapter 10

He collapsed into sobs.I turned and walked toward the boarding gate without looking back.As the plane took off, I received one last message from Dan.[I’m sorry. I love you.]Staring at those words, I remembered the indifferent expression on his face as he said, “I deliberately had you reassigned...” I deleted his number.Love?After everything he had done, did he really have the right to say that word?Once I returned to the desert, I threw myself into work.The new project progressed smoothly, and the team I led went on to win a major international award.At the ceremony, the presenter introduced me to the audience. “Over the past five years, this remarkable scientist persevered under some of the harshest conditions imaginable and helped achieve breakthroughs that advanced an entire field.”Thunderous applause filled the room.‘This is what I’m meant to do,’ I thought to myself.Dan’s company eventually went under.After suffering a stroke, his father never regaine

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