Three years after our divorce, my ex-husband showed up at my door. In his arms was the baby he had with the mistress who destroyed our marriage. "She passed away," he said. "Her dying wish was for the child to have a complete family." I rolled my eyes hard, fully intending to slam the door in his face. But then he dropped a bombshell: "I will transfer all my money and every property in my name to you. Just treat this child as your own." I immediately snatched the baby into my arms, smiling like a blooming flower: "Come here, sweetie! Call me Mom!" 1 Oliver Sterling stood at my front door, holding a toddler who had barely learned to walk. "She got sick and passed away. Before she left, her biggest wish was for the baby to grow up in a healthy, complete family." "Chloe, you're the only one I can count on." The "she" Oliver was referring to was the other woman who had wedged herself into our marriage and successfully taken my place. And this little guy in his arms was the physical proof of their "true love." I rolled my eyes in annoyance and grabbed the door handle, ready to shut it. But Oliver threw out bait I simply couldn't refuse. "Every single asset in my name can be transferred to yours." "As long as you raise this child as your own flesh and blood." I instantly swung the door wide open and smoothly scooped the child into my arms. "Such a good baby. Say 'Mommy'." Oliver pulled back his expensive Italian leather shoe, which had been wedged in the doorframe and was now visibly creased. "He's too little. He hasn't learned to talk yet." "If you have no objections, we can go to the courthouse and get remarried tomorrow." Surprisingly, being held by a total stranger didn't scare the kid at all. He was incredibly calm. He looked exactly like Oliver did in his childhood photos. I held the toddler's chubby little hand tightly, refusing to let go for even a second. This wasn't just a child. This was a literal golden goose falling straight from the sky. "We can go right now," I said. I was crouching down, so I had to tilt my head way back to look at Oliver. He was too tall. My neck was practically cramping before I could clearly see his face. "Actually, never mind. Let's give you a few days to calculate exactly how much money and real estate you have under your name first." "Just to be safe, we should sign a prenuptial agreement before we remarry, so things don't get messy later." Oliver stared down at me, his lips pressed tightly together. He didn't say a word. He just reached out and took the child back, not letting me touch him anymore. "The baby is too young. He needs someone with him at all times." "Move back into the Sterling mansion before tomorrow morning." Was that an order? I was furious. I wanted to jump up and slap him across the face. But then the thought of the hundreds of millions of dollars in his name flashed through my mind, and I forcefully swallowed my anger. I forced a flawless, professional smile. "No problem, Mr. Sterling." Honestly, even before Oliver showed up at my door, I had seen the news about Mia's death. Mia had been battling cancer for over six months. During that time, Oliver dropped almost all his work projects and flew her overseas for cutting-edge treatments. The media had a field day reporting on how much the CEO of Sterling Enterprises doted on his wife. It got to the point where everyone almost forgot exactly how he and his current wife had gotten together in the first place. But no matter how much money Oliver threw at it, he couldn't buy his wife's life. A week ago, Mia, wasted away by cancer, finally passed. Oliver was devastated. He threw Mia an absurdly extravagant funeral. On the day of the service, in front of a swarm of reporters, Oliver took off his sunglasses, revealing eyes swollen like walnuts. Tears were streaming down his face. "I couldn't give her a proper wedding back then, so all I can give her now is the grandest funeral." "I love her more than anything in this world." I saw all of this on the news. Oliver treated Mia like his most precious treasure. So before he showed up at my door, it never even crossed my mind that he would come to me. More accurately, I never expected him to come to me this fast. When I headed to the Sterling mansion, I dragged a single carry-on suitcase packed with a few changes of clothes. Oliver, holding the baby, stood at the front door and looked me up and down. "That's all you brought? Chloe, do you think you're just here for a vacation?" Then, he quickly backpedaled and answered his own question. "Never mind. The Sterling house has everything anyway." "If you need anything, just tell Mr. Lee. Don't be a stranger." Hilarious! I lived in this house way longer than Mia ever did! But I kept my smile and nodded obediently. "Understood, Mr. Sterling." As I was carrying my suitcase upstairs, I bumped right into Mr. Lee, the butler, who was coming down. Mr. Lee rubbed his eyes hard, several times. "Mrs. Sterling?" He looked like he had seen a ghost, instinctively backing up several steps until his foot slipped and he landed hard on his butt on the stairs. "No, no, Ms. Davis, why are you here—" Before he could finish, I cut him off with a bright smile. "You're trying to ask why I'm back, right?" Mr. Lee didn't say a word. He just stared at me with a terrified expression. Like he had just witnessed a corpse sit up in its coffin first thing in the morning. I rested my hands on my knees, bent down, and looked him right in the eye. "Mr. Lee, I'm back." "Aren't you happy?" Back before Oliver and I divorced... Oliver would often wait until I was away on business trips to bring Mia into the house to fool around. If it hadn't been for Mr. Lee covering for them and lying to both sides, it wouldn't have taken me so long to discover their disgusting affair. Mr. Lee was essentially the most obedient dog Oliver ever owned. Seeing Mr. Lee so flustered and panicked, I couldn't help but laugh out loud. "It looks like our head butler didn't even know I was coming back?" So, it turned out he wasn't privy to everything Oliver did after all. This was going to make things much easier. I stood up straight, grabbed my suitcase, and continued up the stairs, casually tossing a sentence over my shoulder. "It's been three years and you still haven't managed to become Oliver's trusted confidant? You aren't working hard enough." 2 I officially remarried Oliver on the third day after moving back into the Sterling mansion. The agreements were signed and notarized by a team of lawyers. Everything was set in stone. I sat on the cashmere rug in the living room, idly shaking a toy to entertain the little guy. Oliver sat next to us, incredibly patiently reading a storybook to the baby. His voice was soft, radiating a deep, undeniable tenderness. Anyone watching would think this was a picture-perfect, loving family. It's just a shame this child wasn't mine. It's just a shame this was all an act. After coaxing the baby to sleep... Oliver put down the storybook and carefully carried the sleeping child into the nursery. I tossed the toy aside, sprawled out on the rug, and scrolled through my phone out of boredom. This designer bag is nice. Buy! This diamond necklace is gorgeous. Buy! These are all amazing. Buy, buy, buy! Until a large shadow completely blocked my view. I sat up abruptly, staring at Oliver defensively. "Mr. Sterling, any further instructions?" Oliver stood with his hands in his pockets, looking down at me. "As a responsible mother, shouldn't you be in the nursery watching over him right now?" "Chloe, I know you've never given birth, but you should at least learn how to take care of a child, right?" "From the moment we remarried, you became this child's mother." My grip on my phone tightened involuntarily. It's true I had never given birth, but I had lost a child. Three years ago. On the exact day I first caught Oliver cheating. I had just returned from a grueling two-week business trip, feeling like my body was about to fall apart. It happened to be Mr. Lee's day off. I didn't call for a company driver; I just grabbed a cab and went straight home. My only thought at the time was: Take a hot bath, and then sleep for days in Oliver's arms. But when I pushed the door open... The scene before my eyes instantly vaporized every ounce of my exhaustion. Oliver was holding another woman, lying right in our marital bed. The most laughable part was that our wedding portrait was hanging directly above them. That day, I not only discovered Oliver was cheating, but I also found out I was pregnant. Unfortunately, by the time I knew, it was already too late. I couldn't keep the baby. Back then, to protect Mia, Oliver hadn't hesitated to slap me hard across the face. "Chloe, are you done throwing a tantrum?!" He was the one screwing around outside, yet he acted like I was the one being unreasonable. I had been working overtime for two weeks straight; my body was already completely drained. Oliver's slap carried so much force that I couldn't even stay on my feet. I hit the floor hard, slicing my forehead open on the nightstand. And because of that slap, I lost my baby. It was the first child we had conceived in our five years of marriage, and the only one. Perhaps realizing he had misspoken, Oliver cleared his throat, about to explain. I looked up and smiled like nothing had happened. "Understood, Mr. Sterling." "Starting today, I'll learn how to take care of the baby. I'll strive to be a perfect mother you can't find a single flaw in." The words caught in Oliver's throat, and he swallowed them back down. He avoided my gaze, adding a sentence as if trying to give himself an out. "Alright. Just do your best." Probably feeling guilty... That day, Oliver had someone deliver a mountain of designer bags and jewelry. It completely stuffed my previously empty walk-in closet. Mr. Lee approached me with a fawning expression. "Mrs. Sterling, is there anything else you require?" I casually sifted through the sparkling jewelry, not even giving him a direct look. But I couldn't resist making him uncomfortable. "There's still a pile of boxes downstairs. Those aren't for me, are they?" The staff had clearly unloaded way more boxes in the driveway earlier. Almost half of the delivery hadn't even been brought to my room. Mr. Lee looked incredibly awkward, stammering for a long time before finally getting a sentence out. "Mrs. Sterling, those..." I put down the jewelry and turned to look at him. "Hard to say?" Honestly, I had already guessed what was going on. But I needed someone to say the truth out loud. Mr. Lee lowered his head, his voice barely louder than a mosquito's hum. "Mr. Sterling ordered them for the former Mrs. Sterling." "Mr. Sterling specifically instructed that whatever you have, the former Mrs. Sterling must also have, and hers must be even better." On the surface, Mr. Lee looked timid, but his words cut like a knife. It felt like he was intentionally trying to retaliate against me. Former Mrs. Sterling? He meant Mia. Time is a truly bizarre thing. It can dilute feelings, and it can also blur the order in which people arrive in your life. How did a woman who climbed the ranks by being a mistress become the legitimate "former Mrs. Sterling"? Just because she died before me? I forced a smile, too lazy to argue with a dead woman. "Get out." 3 After Oliver and I remarried... Aside from the time we spent together playing with the baby, we lived completely separate lives. I lived in the master suite on the second floor. Oliver lived in the master suite on the third floor—the bedroom he had shared with Mia. I don't have many special talents, but I am exceptionally good at maintaining boundaries. I never stepped foot in Oliver's room. But I could guarantee that room was stuffed to the brim with everything related to Mia. A month passed in the blink of an eye. Oliver still hadn't recovered from the blow of losing his wife. In fact, he was getting worse day by day. He only managed to act like a normal person when he was in front of the baby. The moment he was out of the child's sight, it was like his soul left his body. He was like a walking corpse. A puppet drained of all vitality. Late one night. The baby's sharp, piercing cries tore through the quiet night. Like a miserable employee forced to work overtime, I groggily dragged myself upstairs. The nursery was on the third floor, right next to Oliver's bedroom. When I pushed the door open, I saw Oliver bent over, softly trying to coax the baby, who had clearly had a nightmare. The entire nursery smelled strongly of alcohol. Oliver was drowning his sorrows again. I reached out, tugged his sleeve, and lowered my voice. "Go outside, get some fresh air, and sober up. Don't suffocate the baby with those fumes." Oliver lifted his arm, sniffed his own clothes, nodded, and walked out. I picked the baby up and, following the techniques I had learned online, rhythmically patted his back. Thank god. This child was too young to remember what his biological mother looked like. Plus, during the six months Mia was sick, she hadn't had the energy to take care of him anyway. Raised primarily by a nanny since birth, the child naturally wasn't crying and screaming for his "mommy." Since I had been by his side every day for the past month, he genuinely treated me as his mother. After coaxing the baby back to sleep... I quietly slipped out of the nursery, ready to go back downstairs to bed. Oliver was standing by the window at the end of the hallway, leaving me with only his lonely silhouette. I wasn't pathetic enough to interrupt another person's mourning session for their dead wife. But just as my foot hit the first stair, Oliver suddenly spoke. "Chloe, can you talk to me for a bit?" "In this whole world, I honestly don't know who else I can pour my heart out to." I stopped on the stairs, but I didn't answer right away. I ran it through my head before finding an excuse to reject him. "Mr. Sterling, my job is to take care of the child. I don't provide psychological counseling services." Oliver sighed softly. "Chloe, if only I had never proposed to you back then." "Being good friends for the rest of our lives would have been so much better than ending up like this." "Chloe, do you hate me?" Hearing that, I finally turned around to look at him properly. Oliver turned his head to look at me too, his eyes full of disappointment. "Chloe, you hate me, don't you?" I looked at Oliver acting like his life was ending, and I just found it funny. Hate? Why would I hate the golden goose who was handing me his fortune? I stared right into his eyes, my tone incredibly calm. "Mr. Sterling, you're overthinking it." "In the adult world, there isn't that much dramatic love and hate. Everyone just takes what they need." "You paid me to be a mother to this child. I'm doing the job I was paid for. This is a fair transaction." Oliver froze. He clearly hadn't expected me to say that. In his mind, I was supposed to be a bitter ex-wife. I was supposed to point a finger at his nose and curse him out, or throw myself into his arms and weep bitterly. Too bad I haven't been that naive, lovesick girl for three years. I yawned and turned back toward the stairs. "Get some sleep, Mr. Sterling. I have to meet with the lawyers tomorrow to finalize the details of the asset transfers." Oliver didn't say another word. First thing the next morning, I had the lawyers bring a thick stack of documents to the Sterling mansion. Since the agreements were signed and notarized, I needed to secure the bag as quickly as possible. I sat on the living room sofa, verifying the asset inventory line by line. Real estate, luxury cars, stocks, mutual funds, and forty percent of the shares in Sterling Enterprises. Looking at those numbers, I could literally breathe easier. Mr. Lee walked over with a cup of coffee, his face looking like he had swallowed a fly. "Mrs. Sterling, these properties have been built up by generations of the Sterling family. Are you truly going to transfer them all to your own name?" I took a sip of the coffee without even lifting my eyelids. "Mr. Lee, what kind of question is that?" "It's written right here in black and white. Oliver gave these to me willingly. Why make it sound like I'm robbing him at gunpoint?" Mr. Lee gritted his teeth and lowered his voice. "Aren't you afraid the former Mrs. Sterling is watching you from heaven?" I couldn't hold it back—I burst out laughing. I set the coffee cup down, stood up, and walked right up to him. "Let her watch." "If she's really that capable, she can crawl up from the grave and find me." "But Mr. Lee, aren't you overstepping your bounds?" "My current status is the lady of the Sterling household. You are an employee collecting a paycheck. What gives you the right to dictate what I do?" Mr. Lee was rendered speechless, his face flushing deep red. I turned to the lawyer. "Mr. Davis, please draft a termination agreement." "Mr. Lee is getting old, and his mind isn't quite clear anymore. He's no longer suitable to continue working for the Sterling family." Mr. Lee's head snapped up, his face full of disbelief. "You're firing me?! Mr. Sterling will never agree to this!" I shrugged. "Then go ask him. Ask him if he wants his butler, or if he wants a good wife who can take care of his child." Furious, Mr. Lee ran upstairs to complain to Oliver. Less than ten minutes later, he came back down, looking entirely defeated. He didn't dare utter a single word as he went back to his room to pack his things. Watching his back as he dragged his suitcase out the door, I felt incredibly satisfied. Three years ago, he helped Oliver and Mia humiliate me. Today, I sent him packing. And this was just the beginning.
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