The seven-year itch. The number of women my husband, Ethan Vance, has slept with—I can't even count them on my fingers and toes. The reason I always turned a blind eye. Was because he always threw money at me. If he cheated with an influencer, he'd give me a penthouse downtown. If he took a young model to a yacht party, he'd transfer an identical yacht to my name. He used money to buy off my breakdowns, my questioning, and my tears. Until I was eight months pregnant, and the fetus accidentally stopped developing, resulting in an induced labor. Supported by the nanny, I walked weakly out of my hospital room. Only to see Ethan in the next room, carefully doting on a woman who had just given birth. Our eyes met. A flash of panic crossed his eyes before he returned to his usual coldness. He walked over and handed me a blank check. "Fill in whatever amount you want." I tore the check into pieces. I looked at him and smiled. "Ethan, this time I don't want money..." I raised my trembling hand and pointed to the faint crying sound coming from the hospital room behind him. "I want that child." ... 01 "Chloe, are you crazy?!" Ethan's face was written all over with disbelief. I repeated again, "I want that child." The weakness from the induced labor made every word I spoke feel like it was draining my life force. "What nonsense are you talking about!" He lowered his voice. "That is not your child!" "Your child is already gone!" Right, my child is gone, dead... "Isn't your child my child?" I asked softly in return. "Or do you want the eldest grandson of the Vance family to bear the title of an illegitimate child from birth?" Ethan choked instantly. He and I were childhood sweethearts; our families have been close friends for generations. Both the Vance and Sterling families are top-tier wealthy families that care about face and value rules above all else. He could play around, he could be a playboy, but he absolutely could not allow any fundamental stain to appear. The woman in the hospital bed, Mia Lin, finally reacted. She struggled to sit up, her voice shrill: "Ethan Vance! You can't give my child to her! This is my only..." This was her only weapon to climb the social ladder. For a woman with such an ordinary background to think she could secure her status through a child is nothing but a pipe dream. Watching Ethan's conflicted expression, I suddenly found it incredibly ironic. Using the last of my strength, I pushed him aside and walked step-by-step into the hospital room. Mia's body shrank back, her arms holding the swaddled baby tightening. "Miss Lin, hello. I am Ethan's wife, Chloe Sterling." I forced a stiff smile, enunciating every word to tell her a cruel fact. "From today on, I am this child's mother." I paused, admiring her instantly pale face, and then delivered the final blow: "Remember, it was your child that was lost during the induced labor... Understand?" Those words "induced labor," I said them very lightly, yet it hurt so much I could barely breathe. "Ah!" Mia screamed, breaking down, grabbing the pillow from the headboard and throwing it at me. "You're talking nonsense! This is my child! Mine!" Ethan followed me in, looking troubled. "Ethan, you can't let her take our child away!" Mia cried, seeking his help. Ethan looked at me, his face showing a difficult position. "Chloe..." I softly whispered a sentence in his ear: "The land development project in the West End... Grandpa values it very much, and it just so happens to be in my brother's hands." Ethan's body stiffened abruptly. The West End land was the most important strategic layout for the Vance family in the next ten years, and also the key for him to prove his capability to the old patriarch of the Vance family. He whipped his head around to look at me, with anger, unwillingness, and a trace of apprehension. He took a deep breath and said to Mia: "Be good, let Chloe... raise the child. It will make his status legitimate." I turned to my nanny and instructed: "Go, bring that child to my hospital room." I walked out of the room and dialed my assistant's number. "Go bribe the hospital staff. I don't want anyone other than us to know about this. On the child's birth certificate, the mother's name can only be Chloe Sterling." Soon, more intense arguing, the sound of things smashing, and Mia's heart-wrenching crying came from next door. I looked down at the little boy in the crib. He was sleeping soundly, his little mouth opening and closing. A cold smile curled at the corner of my mouth. 2 Ethan would come to my room for a while every day, but while his body was here, his heart was next door. His phone screen was always lighting up with various messages from Mia. [Ethan, I miss the baby so much. Can you ask her to give the child back to me?] [I don't want anything else, I just want my child.] [Ethan, I bled a lot. The doctor said I have severe postpartum hemorrhage. Am I going to die?] Mia knew exactly how to manipulate Ethan. She never attacked me directly, just repeatedly emphasized her pain and her longing for the child. Using this to highlight my "viciousness" and "unreasonableness." Every time he read them, his frown would deepen, and then he would find an excuse to leave in a hurry. Early one morning, Ethan wasn't there, and the child had been taken by the nurse and nanny for a checkup. Mia stood by my bed like a ghost, her eyes venomous. "Chloe, don't think you've won." "That unlucky child of yours, I was the one who made Ethan get rid of it." "That night, Ethan drank too much and kept calling me." "I just whined on the phone, saying the child in your belly would be an obstacle for me in the future..." "I told him to spend more time with me, not to always hover around you." "I didn't expect that after he hung up, he would really go back to find you. As for what happened next..." "It's your own fault you couldn't keep your child. You can't blame anyone else." "You're just raising a child for me, don't be happy too early!" After she finished, she turned and left. Every word was like a red-hot branding iron, searing fiercely into my heart. So that's how it was... I closed my eyes, the hand under the blanket trembling violently. The blood backing up in the IV tube quickly dyed a section of the transparent tube red. I bit my lip so hard that a heavy, metallic taste of blood spread in my mouth. I didn't cry, nor did I make a fuss. I just silently pulled out the IV needle from my hand. Beads of blood slid down the back of my hand, dripping onto the pure white bedsheets like a stark, tragic plum blossom. At that moment, the hospital room door was pushed open. Ethan walked in. He saw the blood on my hand, froze for a moment, then quickly stepped forward and grabbed my wrist. "Why did you pull out the needle? Are you crazy?!" He picked up a cotton swab from the nightstand, pressing down hard on my wound, his brows furrowed tightly, actually showing a bit of genuine concern. I was trembling all over. I wanted to scream, to interrogate him, to pounce and tear him to shreds. But I had no strength. "You can go. Go be with Mia." "Martha will be back soon; I don't need you here." A cry came from next door. Mia was acting crazy again. Ethan ran over without hesitation. I called my assistant and told her to process an early discharge for me immediately. "Back to the main estate!" Back to throw my weight around. When I appeared at the door of the Vance family's main estate holding that child, the whole family was in an uproar. Grandpa and Grandma, maternal grandparents, uncles, aunts... everyone crowded around. "Oh my, my precious grandson!" Grandma carefully took the child from my arms, grinning from ear to ear. Grandpa was even more excited, his hands trembling. He looked at me, his eyes full of approval. "Chloe, good job! You are a great contributor to our Vance family!" I became the hero of the entire family. Because I brought the first male heir of the fifth generation to the four-generation Vance family. No one knew that my heart had already died in that cold hospital, along with my unborn child. My father-in-law watched the nanny van drive straight into the garage and asked, puzzled, "Where is Ethan?" "Busy, probably. I didn't even see him at the hospital." 3 The rewards from the elders were almost staggering. Grandpa gave me an ocean-view villa located on the coast; the keys were placed directly on my nightstand. Grandma brought out all the jade jewelry she had kept at the bottom of her trunk, set after set, dazzlingly green. My father-in-law directly transferred five percent of the Vance Group's shares to my name, making me the youngest member of the group's board of directors overnight. My mother-in-law was even more considerate, giving me a private island in the Maldives, saying I could go there to relax once I recovered. I smiled and accepted it all. These were all what I deserved. What I exchanged for my child's life. No one knew that in the deepest part of that luxurious walk-in closet, I hid a tiny corner. There were no expensive bags or fine clothes there. Only a small, uncarved memorial tablet made of rosewood. With no words written on it. In front of the tablet, I placed a pair of small, knitted booties I made myself that could never be given, and a few pitifully small baby clothes. Every night, when all was quiet, I would lock myself in the closet. I hugged that small tablet, stroking it over and over again. "Baby, Mommy's here." "Baby, today Grandpa and Grandma bought a lot of toys. If you were here, you would have them too." "Baby, do you blame Mommy? It's Mommy's fault, failing to protect you..." I never cried out loud, just let the tears slide down silently, soaking the wooden tablet in my arms. Where my heart was, it felt like a hole had been torn open that could never heal. The cold wind blew in, hurting so much I couldn't breathe. That was a secret belonging only to me and my departed child. Ethan also returned to the main estate, but he didn't dare approach me. Grandpa pointed his cane at him in front of everyone, calling him a bastard, saying I had just "given birth," and instead of staying with me, he was making me angry. He was punished by being made to kneel in the family shrine all night. He probably couldn't understand how the Chloe who once loved him more than life itself, who was completely under his control, could suddenly become like this. He would occasionally come to the bedroom to keep me company, but more often, he came to see that child. He would awkwardly hold him, feed him, his eyes revealing an unfamiliar thing called "fatherly love." He stood behind me, silent for a long time, and suddenly spoke. "Chloe, about what happened that night, I was wrong. I drank too much." "Mia... she's just too dependent on me. Don't hold it against her," he added. I slowly raised my head, looking at the two of us reflected in the mirror. He was tall and handsome; I was thin and haggard. "Hold it against her?" I chuckled lightly. "What right do I have to hold anything against her? I couldn't even protect my own child." His face instantly became very ugly, as if stung by my words. "That was an accident!" He raised his voice. "Why must you keep harping on it! I've already tried my best to compensate you!" Compensate? I was born into a wealthy family; money is the most useless thing to me. I didn't want to argue with him anymore and pushed him out the door. "Chloe, what exactly do you want?" "What do I want?" I looked at him, my words sarcastic. "I want you to stay away from me." Eventually, he let go of my hand. From that day on, he rarely set foot in my room again. We didn't even bother to maintain that paper-thin disguise between us anymore. 4 When the child was a hundred days old, the Vance family held an extremely grand hundred-day banquet. The banquet took place on the lawn of the main estate. Guests gathered; almost all the prominent figures in the city were present. I wore a custom-made red gown, holding the child wrapped in a silk swaddle, standing beside Grandpa and Grandma, receiving everyone's blessings and envy. The child was named Oliver Vance by Grandpa, hoping his life would be clear and bright, and the rivers and seas peaceful. Halfway through the banquet, Grandpa walked onto the stage leaning on his cane and picked up the microphone. The entire venue instantly quieted down. "Today, taking the opportunity of my great-grandson Oliver's hundred-day banquet, I want to announce something." The old man's voice was loud and full of vigor. "Under the Vance Group, a new subsidiary specializing in high-end infant and toddler products has been established. Currently, the estimated market value has reached a billion dollars." "Today, I give this company, as a gift, to my granddaughter-in-law, Chloe." Thunderous applause erupted. I held Oliver, bowing slightly to express my thanks, wearing a proper smile on my face. Applause and gasps of amazement echoed from the audience. Everyone looked at me with envy and jealousy. Giving away a billion-dollar company just like that—what an incredible honor! Holding Oliver, I was about to go on stage to give my thanks. Suddenly, the doors to the banquet hall were forcefully pushed open. A woman in a white dress, ignoring the security guards' attempts to stop her, rushed in like a madwoman. It was Mia Lin. She pushed through the crowd like a lunatic, charging straight toward the main stage. "Wait!" Everyone was stunned by this sudden turn of events, and the scene instantly went quiet. Ethan's face changed, and he immediately stepped forward to stop her. "Mia! What are you doing here! Stop making a scene!" Mia threw off his hand. She raised a document in her hand, glaring at me with bloodshot eyes, her voice shrill. "Me, making a scene? Ethan Vance, look at her! She's holding my child, accepting the wealth and glory that should belong to me! She's the one making a scene!" Mia laughed shrilly. She shook off Ethan, pulled a document from her bag, and held it high. "Today, I'm going to let everyone see how your Vance family bullies people!" She rushed onto the stage and snatched the microphone from the emcee. "Everyone, look closely! This is a paternity test report!" Her voice carried through the speakers, spreading across the entire venue. "The report clearly states that Oliver and my DNA have a 99.9% biological relationship!" "I am his biological mother!" The entire audience was in an uproar! Everyone's gaze hit me like a searchlight. Questioning, disdainful, gloating... My parents-in-law's faces also turned extremely ugly. They looked at me, their eyes full of questioning. Ethan rushed onto the stage, trying to snatch the report from Mia's hand, while still trying to coax her. "Stop making a scene, let's go home and talk about it, okay?" But Mia ignored him. With bloodshot eyes, she glared at me fixedly. "Chloe Sterling! You robber! You stole my child and are acting so hypocritically here. You are shameless!" She pointed at me, questioning me hoarsely. The scene devolved into chaos. Ethan rushed over to cover Mia's mouth but was bitten hard by her. "Ethan Vance, now you only have one choice: divorce her and marry me!" My assistant quietly walked up beside me and placed an antique, black-lacquered wooden box at my feet. I took a deep breath, holding Oliver—who had started to cry—and slowly walked onto the stage. I calmly took the paternity test report from Mia's hand, not even glancing at it. Then, I picked up the microphone and looked at the guests below with their varying expressions. "That's right." I responded generously, even with a hint of a smile on my face. "Everything she said is true." The chaos at the scene reached its peak at this moment. Just then, my assistant quietly walked onto the stage and handed me the heavy sandalwood box. I opened the box, spoke into the microphone, looking at the shocked faces below, and slowly began to speak. "Everyone, please stay calm." "Because today, I also have a surprise for everyone..."
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