Twenty-eight-year-old Liam held me tight in his arms, his voice a low, coaxing whisper. "Hazel, let's have a baby. Please?" Thirty-five-year-old Liam, while I was fighting for my life in the hospital, was caught by paparazzi hooking up with his young secretary in the hospital's underground parking garage. Afterward, Liam sat in silence for a long time. He lit a cigarette, and through the swirling smoke, his voice was chillingly calm. "Hazel, don't go making trouble for her. She's young. She doesn't know any better." "I'll compensate you." I looked at the miscarriage report on my phone, a numb, broken smile forming on my lips. "That won't be necessary, Liam." "We're getting a divorce." The hand holding his cigarette paused. "Hazel, you're not a child anymore." "You need to think very clearly about the consequences of everything you do." Consequences? I had already thought about them. Very, very clearly. Chapter 1 1. I slapped the divorce papers down on the coffee table. I didn't want to waste another breath on Liam. I turned to leave. Liam crushed his cigarette out in the ashtray and grabbed my wrist. "Hazel, it was just a baby." "If you want one, we can just have another one later." "Don't throw the word 'divorce' around over every little thing." My nose stung. I blinked hard, fighting back the tears that threatened to fall. "Liam, he was eight months old! He was fully formed!" Liam let out an exasperated sigh. "If it hasn't been born yet, it's just an embryo. Can you please stop being so emotional?" I swallowed the bile rising in my throat, forcing down the tidal wave of grief. "So, is that what you thought when you cheated on me with Chloe? Liam?" His grip on my wrist tightened like a vice. His brow darkened. "What man doesn't slip up?" "It was one time. It means absolutely nothing. I promise you, Chloe will never appear in front of you again." "Hazel, there is absolutely no reason for us to take this to a divorce." Staring at Liam's self-righteous, entitled face, I closed my eyes. A bitter, suffocating pain twisted in my chest. One time? Liam thought he had hidden it so well. The truth is, I had known for a long time. When Liam told me he was going on a "business trip," he was actually taking Chloe to see the sunset in Hawaii—a trip she had always dreamed of. The girl was young, bold, and reckless. She sent me a photo directly to taunt me. She wrote: “Mrs. Vance, the sunset is gorgeous. But Mr. Vance is a little too fierce.” In that photo, under a blazing, passionate sunset, Liam was kissing her deeply, the golden hour light spilling over them like a blessing. The pain was so intense I couldn't breathe. I called Liam. He answered almost immediately. His voice was husky, thick with lust. "What's wrong, Hazel?" I fought to keep my voice steady. "What are you doing?" Liam let out a muffled, suppressed groan, followed immediately by the faint, unmistakable, wet sound of flesh slapping together. My hand gripping the phone shook violently. I was silently begging Liam to tell me Chloe was lying. "I'm working out." "Be a good girl. I'm busy. I'll call you back when I'm done." The call ended abruptly. My heart turned to absolute ice. Liam's actions proved it. He really was cheating on me with Chloe. I started hyperventilating. My hands cramped together, my entire body going numb. I was rushed to the ER. At the hospital, the doctor told me I was pregnant. I clutched the ultrasound printout and cried for hours. When Liam finally came home, I didn't even have the courage to confront him. A tear slipped from the corner of my eye. Liam used his thumb to wipe it away. "Hazel, just turn a blind eye to this. Can you do that for me?" I was trembling with rage. "Besides divorce, there is zero other possibility for us!" Liam's chest heaved. He took a few deep breaths, visibly suppressing his own temper. "I am not divorcing you, Hazel." "You better drop that idea right now." "Take some time and calm down." Liam threw the divorce papers into the trash can and slammed the study door so hard the walls shook. 2. It was snowing heavily on my drive. Liam's words kept echoing in my head, impossible to shake. He said, "It was just an embryo." He said, "Hazel, are you saying you're completely without fault here?" Waves of dull pain radiated from my lower abdomen. Tears blurred my vision and dripped onto the steering wheel. I couldn't tell if I was more heartbroken, or more consumed by pure hatred. Once upon a time, I was the most precious thing in the world to Liam. Back then, if I just texted him that I missed him. He would drop whatever million-dollar deal he was working on, fly halfway across the country, and knock on my door at 2 AM holding my favorite flowers. During our second year together, I fell severely ill. Liam, the arrogant, untouchable heir who never believed in God, climbed the 999 steps of a famous cathedral on his knees, tearing his skin to bloody shreds, just to pray for my recovery. From extravagant diamonds to the quietest moments of companionship, Liam gave me everything. He truly spoiled me to the bone. During our first year of marriage, the high-society wives in our circle looked down on me because I was young and came from a normal, middle-class family. They gossiped behind my back, calling me a cheap gold-digger who didn't belong in their world. I refused to attend any more galas or charity balls with him. When Liam found out why. He ruthlessly retaliated against every single family whose wife had gossiped about me. Liam, a man who never showed emotion publicly, called a massive press conference solely to defend me and put the entire city on notice. After that, no one ever dared to show me an ounce of disrespect. Everyone in our circle envied me for marrying a man who loved me that fiercely. I felt incredibly lucky, too. Until Chloe appeared. She was an intern from his alma mater. Just a sophomore in college. At first, Liam just started mentioning her name more often. I got jealous and asked him. Do you like Chloe? Liam would kiss me, laughing softly. "Baby, why are you so jealous?" "She's just a kid, and she has a terrible temper. Why would I ever like her?" Perhaps, even then, Liam's heart had already begun tilting toward Chloe. He just hadn't realized it yet. Our arguments over Chloe became more and more frequent. Our love was slowly eroded, argument by argument. Liam stopped holding me tenderly. Instead, he looked at me with exasperation. "Hazel, she's practically a child. Why are you picking fights with her?" "I'm exhausted. Can you please act like an adult?" And then came Chloe's increasingly blatant, audacious provocations. The man who once loved me so deeply was now allowing another woman he loved to hurt me however she pleased. 3. I returned to our empty mansion. In the nursery I had set up months ago, the little crib swayed gently with a slight push. I stared at it for a long time before my emotions finally broke. An eight-month-old baby... what's the difference between that and a born child? The doctor said my due date was next month. I had planned everything perfectly. I had read every parenting book in the house cover to cover. I bought him a silver rattle, I hand-sewed a baby blanket, and I even spent weeks working with a custom designer to build that crib perfectly... I was so full of joy, waiting for this baby. I wanted to give him all the love I had. I wanted him to be happy for his entire life. We were so close. Just a little bit more... 4. Chloe came to find me because Liam tried to cut her off. He told her. "Chloe, I'll give you a lump sum. After that, leave New York and don't ever come back." Chloe refused. She cried and asked him if he had ever actually loved her. Liam kissed away her tears. "Chloe, if I had met you first, I would have loved you. But I already have Hazel." "Chloe, please don't cry. It breaks my heart." After that, Liam refused to see her again. Pushed to the brink, Chloe somehow found out where I lived. The moment she barged in, she pointed straight at my swollen stomach. "Do you think having a baby means you can trap Liam?!" "Let me tell you something! You're dreaming!" "The person Liam loves is ME! ME!" I backed away, shielding my stomach, trying to get her to calm down. But Chloe, blinded by rage, was incapable of calming down. I called for the housekeeper, asking her to escort Chloe out. Chloe violently shoved the older woman to the floor and lunged at me. "Hazel Evans! Why don't you just die?!" "If you're dead, Liam will be all mine!" I couldn't dodge in time. Chloe tackled me to the hardwood floor, and my stomach slammed brutally against the sharp corner of the marble coffee table. A cold sweat broke out over my entire body from the agonizing pain. Like a woman possessed, Chloe used her stiletto heels to kick my stomach, over and over again. She screamed at me to die. I felt warm blood pooling down my thighs. Absolute, primal terror consumed me. The housekeeper scrambled up, shoved Chloe away, called 911, and then the police. As my consciousness faded, I dreamt of a little boy waving at me. No matter how hard I reached, I couldn't catch his hand. When I woke up, the doctor looked at me, hesitating to speak. I opened my mouth, clinging to a final, desperate thread of hope. "Doctor, my baby..." The doctor sighed heavily. "I'm so sorry, Mrs. Vance. We couldn't save the baby." I knew it was coming. But hearing the words out loud still shattered me completely. My tears soaked the hospital pillow. The doctor told me to stay strong. The very next day, paparazzi released the video of Liam and Chloe hooking up in the hospital's underground parking garage. 5. Like a masochist, I played their video on loop. I watched Liam, his eyes full of adoration, smile and pull her into his lap. I watched Chloe, wearing nothing but a silk slip dress, straddle him. A few seconds of teasing, and Liam's breathing grew ragged. The desperate, frantic kissing was like a tidal wave. The Liam I knew was always restrained and gentle. Even when I had deliberately tried to spice things up by wearing lingerie in the past, he would just look at me clinically and tell me it didn't suit me. My heart felt like it had been hollowed out. I tasted copper in the back of my throat. Even breathing was agony. I remembered our first time. I was terrified, my movements clumsy and awkward. Liam wasn't impatient. He coaxed me softly, his voice as steady as if he were comforting a child. No burning lust, no loss of control. I thought it was because he cherished me. But looking at this now... it was because he didn't want to invest any passion. It was because, to him, I lacked any fundamental, raw attraction. Scene after scene of our past tore at my mind. I realized with crystal clarity: Liam Vance had never actually loved me. The doorbell rang incessantly. The moment I opened the door. A sharp slap landed squarely on my face. "Where is Liam?!" Chloe demanded furiously. If you didn't know the context, you'd think she was the wife catching a cheater. I laughed coldly. "How the hell should I know?" Chloe was furious. She shoved past me and marched into the house. "Liam!" She yelled as she searched. I told her to get out. Chloe ignored me completely, until she pushed open the door to the nursery. She froze for a second, then doubled over, laughing hysterically. "Hazel, do you know how much of a clown you look like?" "A pathetic, dancing clown!" "Hahahahaha." Chloe laughed until she was out of breath. When she finished, she crossed her arms, leaned against the wall, and stared at me. "Hazel, let me tell you something. Even though I killed your baby, Liam doesn't blame me at all." "Do you want to know how we ended up hooking up while you were bleeding out on an operating table?" Chloe took a step toward me. "I called him. At first, he actually blamed me." "He said if anything happened to your baby, he’d kill me." "I was so heartbroken. How could he treat me like that?" "So I cried. I cried and crawled onto his lap, and I said, 'Then kill me!'" "I cried and teased him at the same time. Tell me, doesn't he just love me too much? You were hovering between life and death, and he still kissed me." "He said, 'Chloe, you are a literal demon!'" "I pulled him down with me. He didn't even go up to sign your surgical consent forms, did he?" Chloe's eyes burned with triumph. My blood ran completely cold. "Get out, Chloe." "And if I don't, what are you gonna do about it? Hazel." Chloe swayed her hips and sat down on my sofa. "Oh, right. Forgot to tell you. I'm pregnant." "Liam found out that day too. He asked if he had hurt me, and told me not to tell anyone, just in case you couldn't handle the shock and tried to hurt me." A loud ringing filled my ears. "What did you say?" "I'm pregnant. Hazel, don't you see? This is destiny. You lost your child, and mine arrived." Chloe poured herself a cup of tea. "I used to think God was unfair. I fell for Liam the second I saw him. I'm obviously so much prettier than you, and you're just an orphan nobody wanted. But somehow, you got to have a perfect husband like him." "Hazel, I admit it. I was jealous of you." "But it's all good now. Your baby is dead, I'm pregnant, and everything is exactly how it should be." The hatred almost buried me alive. My baby was dead. Chloe was pregnant. No wonder... No wonder Liam protected her from start to finish. No wonder he did absolutely nothing when she murdered our child. It turned out, from beginning to end, I was the only one mourning that baby. They should die! They both deserved to die! Go to hell! I grabbed a paring knife from the kitchen counter and lunged at Chloe. Just as the blade was about to strike her, a hand grabbed it bare-handed. It was Liam, who had just rushed in. Blood dripped from the edge of the blade, drop by drop. I tried to yank it back. Liam gripped it fiercely, refusing to let go. "Hazel, have you lost your mind?!" Chloe was terrifyingly pale. She violently shoved me to the floor. "Liam..." Liam let go, and the knife clattered to the floor. Chloe stared at Liam's bleeding hand, crying tears of heartache. She viciously stomped on my hand with her heel. I couldn't speak through the blinding pain. "Hazel, why don't you just die!" Liam pulled her back. "Enough, Chloe." "After what she tried to do to you..." Liam frowned, looking slightly impatient. "Stop it. Let's go to the hospital first." Liam shot me a look of pity and profound disappointment. "Hazel, right now, you're acting like an absolute lunatic." "You've disappointed me." Throwing down those words, Liam turned and walked out with Chloe. I watched their retreating backs, then looked at the knife on the floor. "Liam." I called out to him softly. Liam and Chloe turned around at the same time. The next second, the knife plunged into Chloe's stomach. Chloe crumpled to the floor. Liam reacted instantly, instinctively kicking me away. My lower back slammed into the edge of a cabinet. My vision went black from the agony. Ignoring his own bleeding hand, Liam frantically gathered Chloe into his arms, his hands shaking as he dialed 911. I smiled silently. Seeing me smile, Liam’s eyes turned red with fury. "Hazel Evans! If anything happens to Chloe or the baby, you will spend the rest of your miserable life in a federal prison!" I found the threat hilarious. When my eight-month-old baby was murdered by Chloe, and I wanted to press charges. Liam preemptively wiped the security footage from the penthouse and told me. "Hazel, destroying a young girl's entire future over an embryo... it's too cruel." "Besides, you don't even have proof. How are you going to sue her?" He held me gently, sighing. "Hazel, there's no need. We can always have another baby." "I'll make it up to you, okay?" And now, for another woman, he was panicked enough to threaten me. Saying he wanted me locked away forever. Tears slid down my cheeks. Liam, I hate you.
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