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All Chapters of The Other Woman Was My Client: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

The courtroom erupted.Melanie Pattison took out several more photos and explained in a flat, matter-of-fact voice, "These are intimate maternity photos Benjamin and I took when I was pregnant with my son, Toby."In the photo, Benjamin Rossel was down on one knee. Melanie's gauzy dress, so thin it was almost see-through, draped over his head as he kissed her belly."When Toby was born, Benjamin cleaned up my postpartum bleeding himself and washed the diapers. There's nothing sexier than a man who takes care of things."My head burned. I was so dizzy I could barely stay on my feet.The Benjamin that Melanie described was nothing like the man I remembered.Once, when my period accidentally stained the sheets, he'd been so grossed out that he slept in the study that night.Yet now, for another woman, he'd done all of this gladly.Even in the photo of him washing diapers, a doting smile tugged at the corner of his lips.It felt like a knife was slicing through my heart. I turned t

Chapter 2

Only then did I see that the blood running from between my legs had soaked the floor.People rushed to lift me off the ground, shouting to get me to a hospital.But the moment we stepped out of the courthouse, the car was swarmed by reporters."Ms. Mendler, can you tell us anything about this divorce case?""How did your client end up walking away with nothing? You're a star divorce attorney with nearly eight hundred cases in twelve years and not a single loss.""Did your client do something wrong?"Faced with their barrage of questions, I didn't have the strength left to say a word.The blood beneath me kept flowing faster. The court officers began pushing back the crowd. "Make way! We have an emergency here!"The car slowly squeezed its way through and finally got me to the hospital.The staff began trying to reach my family.They called Benjamin, who was listed as my emergency contact.He declined the call again and again.I'd assumed he wouldn't answer at all, but to my

Chapter 3

I opened a new post, and the doctor, following Benjamin's instructions, helped me publish a clarification.It read: [The rumors online are false. Melanie Pattison is not a mistress, and my illness has nothing to do with her. It was simply a sudden medical issue. Please stop speculating.]Melanie was delighted. She smiled. "Thank you for clearing that up, Chelsea. But... it's just me and my son now, and I walked away from the marriage with nothing. Where are we supposed to go?"Benjamin glanced at me. "Chelsea, let them move into our place for now, just until they get back on their feet. We'll figure out the rest later."Just put up with it for a little while. I know you're always my good girl."That bag you had your eye on last time, I'll buy it for you to make it up to you."He planted a satisfied kiss on my forehead and left with Melanie to move her things.The next second, the doctor rushed me into the emergency room.Because my treatment had been delayed, I went into shock

Chapter 4

Benjamin stared at me in disbelief.He glanced impatiently at the divorce agreement and immediately tore it to shreds. "Nonsense. Chelsea, I told you there's nothing going on between Melanie and me."You want to divorce me just because I donated sperm so she could have a baby? Even if you take this to court, the judge won't grant it."Besides, the doctor said back then that it'd be hard for you to get pregnant. So what if I had a child with someone else?"Don't even think about it."The child, Toby, took his hand, "Daddy, kindergarten, with Mommy."Just like that, his whole demeanor changed.Before taking Toby to school, Benjamin told me, "Think it over carefully. Do you want to keep making a good life together, or keep being stubborn? Either way, I've got plenty of time. I'm happy to wait you out."Melanie gave me a meaningful look, but I didn't think much of it.My mind was already made up. I was divorcing Benjamin.While I packed my bags, I also pulled up the security fo

Chapter 5

"Why don't you ask the child's mother, Melanie, where she and her ex-husband hid him?"A flash of panic, one most people would've missed, crossed Melanie's eyes. But I caught it.Her eyes brimmed with tears. "What do you mean by that?"Benjamin lost his patience, and his grip on my neck tightened.His eyes were bloodshot with hatred. "Chelsea, you still refuse to tell the truth? Melanie is the child's biological mother, and she's already divorced her ex-husband. Are you saying she teamed up with her ex-husband to steal her own child?"Besides, I'm Toby's biological father. Her ex-husband probably hates Toby to death. Why would he take him?"Even the onlookers chimed in, "Exactly. Melanie walked away from her marriage with nothing. She didn't take a single cent. Even if he did kidnap the child, that has nothing to do with Melanie."Like me, Benjamin had always been a renowned attorney in the field.Some wealthy clients were willing to pay over a million dollars just to have one

Chapter 6

In my twelve years of practice, I'd come across plenty of people who lied and submitted fake evidence.But I always managed to find the holes in their stories quickly.That day, though, because it involved Benjamin, I'd been blinded by anger. I'd only glanced at those two paternity tests and never examined them closely.Besides, she'd even put such explicit photos on display, so it never occurred to me to question whether anything was real.But ever since I'd met Toby, something had felt off.The child only looked like Melanie. He hadn't inherited a single one of his father's features, but I'd noticed a small birthmark behind his ear.That birthmark was identical to the one Melanie's ex-husband had, in exactly the same spot: shaped like an axe.During those three months, I'd been running around nonstop to prepare the case materials.I'd met Melanie's ex-husband more than once, so this unusual mark had stuck in my memory.When I got back to the office that day, I didn't just fi

Chapter 7

Benjamin roared, "Melanie, stop pretending. I've been watching you this whole time. If Toby had really been kidnapped, why were you so calm when the kidnapper called just now?"He gave a self-mocking laugh. "Come to think of it, why did you do everything you could to stop me from calling the police at the start?"But then you brought in all these reporters. Wasn't it all to frame Chelsea?"This time, he had truly calmed down.He remembered that when the kidnapper first called, his very first instinct had been to call the police.But Melanie had stopped him.She'd said they should try to think of some other way first, afraid that calling the police would tip off the kidnapper and make him kill the child sooner.Yet when they arrived at the office, a crowd of reporters had appeared out of nowhere.They'd photographed and filmed everything.Strangely enough, she hadn't pushed the media away at all.She'd even knelt in front of the cameras, begging for help and playing the victim

Chapter 8

I was so moved back then that tears streamed down my face, and I accepted Benjamin's proposal on the spot.At first, I didn't want to sign that prenup. After all, I loved him so much that, in the heat of the moment, I felt there was nothing I couldn't trust him with.But he said it was for my protection and that I had to sign it.So I did.I shook off his hand. "Get it straight. It was hard for me to get pregnant, not impossible."Besides, I'd been undergoing fertility treatments the whole time."I almost died that day."I went into shock and had to be resuscitated over and over."The hospital's blood bank ran out, so the doctors had to bring in blood from all the major hospitals."It took six whole hours before my vital signs stabilized. Do you understand?"If the doctors hadn't refused to give up, and if I hadn't been so determined to live because I wanted to see you get what you deserve, I never would have pulled through."Tears slid down the bridge of his nose, dripping

Chapter 9

As I walked away, Benjamin dropped to his knees, staring after me.He slapped himself across the face without mercy, again and again.All the while, he kept crying out, "Chelsea, I'm sorry. I'm a monster. I don't deserve love, let alone children or a perfect family."He tore at his hair in agony, tears pouring down his face like a downpour he couldn't stop.In the end, he slowly rose to his feet.His eyes full of hatred, he walked toward Melanie and grabbed her by the throat like a madman. "It's all your fault for seducing me in the first place. You played the victim, crying that your husband couldn't have kids, and I felt sorry for you. Why did you do this?"Just then, Melanie's phone rang.She glanced at it and frantically tried to reject the call.Benjamin snatched the phone out of her hand. Seeing her ex-husband's name on the screen, he said in a low voice, "Answer it."Seeing she had no way out, Melanie answered, flustered.Benjamin put it on speaker.The man on the o

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