1 I left my rich family to live in a cramped basement with Grayson, giving up my socialite life for him while pregnant. I used my entire billion-dollar trust fund to rebuild his failing business. Months later, Grayson became Chicago’s wealthiest billionaire. Everyone said I’d gambled and won. But the day I went into labor, my ex-best friend Tessa did too. As I struggled in pain, Grayson signed surgical forms for us both, announcing that both babies were his. He admitted Tessa was his college sweetheart who’d left him when he was poor. I was just a stepping stone. Now wealthy, she’d returned and even allowed her child to bear his name. Through my pain, Grayson laughed, saying I’d naively welcomed Tessa into our home and served her. He offered to let me keep the title of Mrs. Rowland if I didn’t mind sharing him, but warned I’d sleep alone. With no family or society to turn to, he asked if I needed him to spell out my choice. … The violent agony of the induced labor swallowed my senses. I bit down on my lip until I tasted copper, enduring the sensation of my body tearing itself apart. "Why tell me today?" I forced the words through my trembling teeth. Grayson raised a casual eyebrow. He reached out to smooth my sweat drenched hair, his expression carrying a sickening mix of relief and fake pity. "Tessa is having her baby today too. I swore to her that I would give her a proper title." "She endured a whole year of hiding in the shadows for me. It's time to put an end to her suffering." My heart violently seized, suffocating me. I wanted to scream, to curse him for his sick deception, but the excruciating pain in my stomach reduced me to quiet, breathless sobbing. "Grayson, do you even have a heart? I abandoned my entire family for you." I thought I would see a flicker of guilt in his eyes. At the very least, a trace of conflict. But his next words turned the blood in my veins to solid ice. "Amy, how much longer are you going to hold that over my head?" "You chose to do that. I never begged you for a dime. Stop playing the tragic victim." His face was completely blank, as if he were discussing the weather. I lay completely frozen until a fresh wave of blinding cramps dragged me back to reality. "It hurts. It hurts so much." I let out a guttural cry. Grayson finally turned to call for a doctor. But right at that moment, a piercing scream echoed from the VIP suite next door. "Grayson! The baby is coming!" The man snapped his head toward the door. Without a second thought, he peeled my desperate, clinging fingers off his sleeve one by one. "Hold on a minute, Amy. Tessa is crowning. I'll be right back to sign your epidural release." "Grayson, they gave me pitocin!" I shrieked, my vocal cords tearing. The only response I got was the sight of his retreating back as he sprinted out the door. The heart monitor beside my ear shrieked in warning. Hot, thick blood poured relentlessly over the delivery bed, soaking the sheets. My lower body felt like it was being ripped open by a jagged blade. I didn't even have the strength left to cry for help. Every single available doctor and nurse had been summoned to Tessa's room. I dragged my trembling hand toward the emergency call button clamped to the bedrail. My sweat slicked fingers slipped. With a heavy crash, I tumbled off the mattress onto the cold tile floor. The heavy IV pole toppled over, smashing directly onto my back. Laying in a pool of my own blood, I felt my womb growing terrifyingly hollow. Total despair swallowed me whole. My mind flashed through everything Grayson had done to win me over. Before I met him, I was the beloved heiress of the Kensington family. The line of wealthy heirs begging for my attention stretched all the way to Paris. But Grayson wanted me. He lowered his pride to act as my personal bodyguard. He let my snobby socialite friends treat him like a stray dog without a single complaint. When I mentioned a dress I liked, he tracked down exclusive designers across the globe to custom make pieces just for me. He offered to sign away his pride and marry into my family, taking my last name just to prove his devotion. Even when I surrounded myself with gorgeous male models at parties, he just stood in the corner with red eyes, willingly playing the role of my pathetic backup plan. Eventually, he broke through my walls. I fell madly in love with him. I never imagined it was a meticulously crafted trap to steal my fortune. When I opened my eyes again, my heart was hammering frantically against my ribs. I grabbed the sleeve of a passing nurse. "Where is my baby?!" The nurse offered a sympathetic smile. "Miss Kensington, your daughter was very weak. She's currently stabilizing in the neonatal incubator." Knowing my little girl was alive, a flood of hot tears spilled down my cheeks. I covered my mouth, completely overcome by muffled, shaking sobs. But through the thin walls, I heard deafening cheers erupting from the adjacent room. "Congratulations to Tessa for giving the boss a baby boy!" "Hell yeah! Tessa is the real deal. Not like Amy, popping out a useless little girl!" The nurse gave me an awkward, pitying look before stepping out. I stopped crying. I wiped my face with the back of my bruised hand, my eyes hardening into glass. I reached for my phone on the bedside table and opened the Kensington family group chat. I hadn't sent a message in over a year. "Mom, Dad, Cole. I was so wrong. I'm ready to come home. I'm bringing my daughter to New York." Grayson Rowland, since you never cared about our child, don't blame me when we disappear from your life forever. Just as I locked my phone, Tessa walked into my room. Her eyes were artificially glossy with fake tears as she cradled her newborn son against her chest. "Amy! I am so sorry. It's all my fault for having such a long labor. I heard you hemorrhaged from the delay." Her voice dripped with sickly sweet sincerity, as if my near fatal blood loss was the greatest tragedy of her life. "But don't worry, Amy. Even though you only had a girl, my son is basically yours too. You can be his godmother." My face was a mask of pure frost. "I seriously doubt Grayson would ever let me touch his precious heir." Tessa's face drained of color. "Amy, you... you know everything. Please don't overthink this. Grayson and I were just friends with benefits." Friends with benefits. A dark, venomous laugh escaped my throat. What kind of best friend sleeps with her friend's boyfriend and shamelessly calls it a casual arrangement? And then has the audacity to birth his bastard child. I spent fifteen years protecting Tessa. When her stepdad abused her, I called the cops and hid her in my mansion. When she fell into deep depression, I paid for the best therapists in the country to pull her out of the dark. I spent millions of dollars making sure she had a good life. And she repaid me by turning into a bloodsucking parasite. Pure, boiling rage consumed me. I glared at her pathetic, innocent mask. I grabbed the heavy glass vase from my nightstand and hurled it directly at her face. The glass shattered against the wall with a deafening crash. But it didn't hit Tessa. Grayson had materialized out of nowhere, shielding her. A thick stream of blood slid down his forehead where a piece of shrapnel caught him. His broad back was rigid, acting as a human shield for Tessa and his newborn son. "Amy Kensington, that is aggravated assault. I will lock you in a federal prison for the rest of your life." My chest physically ached at the sight. Then came his cold, disgusted reprimand. "Tessa dragged herself out of bed right after giving birth just to check on you. She cares about you to a fault, and you throw a fucking vase at her head?" "If you had hurt my son, how would you ever repay me? You have absolutely nothing left to your name." Those two questions dug into my brain like rusted spikes. My lips twitched into a bitter smirk. I stared at Grayson, my eyes hollow with profound disappointment. When his company's funding collapsed and his parents were sent to federal prison on fraud charges, he had absolutely no one. It was me who threw away my pride. I begged my elite friends for high interest loans to bail him out. When the money still wasn't enough, I crawled on my knees begging my parents and my brother. When they refused, I sneaked into my grandfather's estate in the dead of night, legally liquidating my billion dollar inheritance just to save Grayson's pathetic life. I was a billionaire heiress who had never done a load of laundry in her life. Yet I followed him to cheap motels, ate instant noodles, and sold off my designer bags one by one to pay his lawyers. During my pregnancy, I was so malnourished I could barely stand. I refused to buy meat just to save a few extra dollars for his startup. And now, for the sake of his mistress, he casually erased all my sacrifices and nailed me to a cross. A faint cry from the incubator down the hall broke the suffocating silence. I suddenly remembered my fragile daughter, hooked up to a dozen IV needles because of my delayed labor. I grabbed my water glass, the floral arrangement, anything I could reach, and violently hurled them at the two of them. "Get out! You disgusting pieces of trash. I hope you two rot in hell together!" I screamed until my lungs burned. My entire body shook uncontrollably with absolute fury. Grayson just tightened his grip on Tessa and escorted her out the door. Once they were gone, the adrenaline faded. I collapsed back onto the cold linoleum floor, completely numb and drained. Suddenly, a terrifying wave of manic depression hijacked my brain. My skull throbbed with a splitting agony. I grabbed fistfuls of my own hair and began slamming my head violently against the floor tiles. After cutting ties with my family, the prolonged, crushing stress of poverty had given me severe bipolar depression. When the episodes hit, the urge to destroy myself was a living, breathing monster. Losing total control, I grabbed a jagged piece of porcelain from the broken vase. I dragged it hard across my forearm, watching the blood well up. The hospital door was suddenly kicked open. Grayson dropped to his knees, pulling me tightly into his chest. Panic laced his voice. "Amy, I'm here. I've got you. It's okay. It's over." The manic rage inside me wasn't satisfied. Just as I raised the bloody shard to cut myself again, Grayson shoved his bare forearm directly against my mouth. My teeth sank deep into his flesh. I heard his sharp hiss of pain ringing in my ear. I froze. Clarity slowly seeped back into my fractured mind. I looked down and saw his arm was already covered in a dozen faded bite marks. Tessa also suffered from severe depression. A sudden, horrifying realization washed over me. I let out a miserable, broken laugh. "Why Tessa?" "Grayson Rowland, are you actually stupid or just pretending? She stole your company's classified data from me. She sold your entire empire out to the Sinclair Group. Did you conveniently forget that?" Grayson lowered his gaze. His thumb gently wiped a tear from my cheek. "I haven't forgotten. But that's in the past. After my parents went to prison, you were completely obsessed with the legal battles. You never noticed my suffering. Tessa was the one who stayed by my side in the dark. She pulled me out of the abyss." I threw my head back and let out a hysterical, mocking laugh. Tears poured freely down my face. So my sleepless nights bribing lawyers, begging for leniency, running myself into the ground until I looked like a corpse. The night I was cornered by thugs in the slums and almost assaulted just trying to deliver his legal paperwork. To him, all of that meant absolutely nothing compared to Tessa's fake sympathy. An invisible hand gripped my heart, squeezing until I was on the brink of total collapse. Like a glutton for punishment, I asked one last question to finally kill whatever love I had left for him. "How did we both get pregnant at the exact same time?" Grayson stiffened. A nostalgic, almost amused smirk touched his lips. "A year ago, after you were cornered in that alleyway. You swore those guys didn't touch you. But honestly, the thought of it disgusted me. You flinched every time I came near you. Under all that pressure, Tessa and I rekindled things. She told me she was doing it for your sake. We even signed a casual hookup agreement." "Now that I'm a billionaire, she doesn't have to leave me. She even went under the knife for breast implants just for me. She bought endless sets of lingerie to keep things interesting. When your depression flared up and you locked yourself away, I couldn't handle the suffocating energy. I went to a hotel with Tessa. We went through five boxes of condoms in a single night." "I can lie to the press, Amy, but I can't lie to my own heart." Every single word was a serrated hook ripping through my flesh. I couldn't fathom it. This was the same man who once promised me a pure, childfree life. The man who claimed he only wanted a deep, emotional connection with me. And yet he surrendered his entire soul for a pair of fake breasts and cheap hotel sex. My stomach violently turned. No wonder the first time we slept together after my trauma, when I was crying and begging him to stop because it hurt, he just forced himself on me like a feral animal. All my life-threatening sacrifices had been weighed and given a cheap price tag. Even his grand pursuit of me was nothing more than a calculated scheme to drain my family's wealth and pay off his debts. My eyes were bloodshot. My throat felt like I had swallowed burning coals. Grayson noticed my devastated expression. He looked down at me with casual arrogance. "You don't need to play the innocent victim, Amy. The only reason my parents are rotting in prison is because your parents bribed Tessa to plant the evidence. They wanted to force me to leave you." "I know your elite family looks down on me. But the debt is settled now. Moving forward, you get me on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Tessa gets the rest. I'll make sure it's fair." A massive wave of pure irony washed over me. I let out a dark sneer. Grayson had no idea. In the beginning, my parents actually tried to secretly fund his failing company. It was only when they uncovered the Rowland family's illegal money laundering that they pulled their support. And yet, he used this fabricated grudge to mentally torture me for an entire year. I straightened my spine, slipping perfectly back into the untouchable posture of the Kensington heiress. "Your sense of fairness makes me sick to my stomach." I reached into my bag and pulled out the flash drive my brother had just securely messaged me. It contained the undeniable proof of Tessa framing Grayson's company. I slapped the small metal drive into his palm. "Everything you actually need to know is in there." He didn't even look at it. He let out a condescending scoff. "Amy, I already know the truth. Handing me fake files now just proves you're terrified I'll cut you off now that your parents don't want you." "Relax. As long as you don't pick fights with Tessa, I'll write thirty percent of my estate into your will." Without a backward glance, he walked straight back to Tessa's room. Through the wall, I heard the sickening sounds of their happy new family laughing together. I looked down at my phone. My flight to New York was booked for three days from now. The morning of my departure, I dressed impeccably. My family was hosting a massive welcome back gala at the Kensington estate to officially announce my return to high society. But the moment I stepped out of my cab, rough hands clamped over my mouth. I was violently dragged into the backseat of a tinted Rolls Royce. Grayson was sitting in the dark leather interior. Tessa was curled in his arms, weeping hysterically. Her clothes were torn, and there were fresh, shallow cuts on her arms. My heart dropped. Then Grayson's venomous voice filled the car. "Amy, I was wondering why you were acting so quiet lately. Turns out you were busy crawling back to your mommy and daddy." "You actually had them send an online mob after Tessa. She had a major depressive episode. She tried to jump off a building three times today!" "How much blood do you people need to draw from her?!" I stared blankly at Tessa. Beneath her fake tears, her eyes danced with malicious triumph. For a split second, my numb heart felt a sharp sting. I treated this woman as my soul sister, and she was actively trying to destroy my life. "What do you want from me?" I asked coldly. "At your welcome gala tonight, you are going to take the microphone and publicly expose your parents for cyberbullying and corporate terrorism." My pupils shrank. My voice involuntarily spiked. "Are you insane? They are my family!" Grayson sneered. He threw a massive stack of manila folders aggressively into my face. "If you refuse, I will leak these documents to the press. They prove the Kensington Corporation committed massive tax fraud and forged federal stamps. Do you want your parents to die in federal prison?" "You only have one choice, Amy." My knuckles turned white. The heavy fabricated evidence stung my cheeks. My teeth chattered with suppressed rage, but I closed my eyes and surrendered. "Fine. I'll do it." The gala was breathtaking. My parents were glowing with pure joy, holding my hands tightly, their eyes red with happy tears. "Amy, you finally grew up." "As long as you're home, sweetheart, everything we own is yours." I couldn't look them in the eye. Standing under the glittering chandeliers, surrounded by the most powerful elites in the country, I raised the microphone to my lips. My voice shook violently. "I... I have a confession to make." The ballroom went dead silent. "I am reporting Richard and Margaret Kensington for severe corporate extortion, withholding employee wages, and orchestrating a malicious cyberbullying campaign against an innocent woman." Every word felt like a knife dragging across my own throat. The crowd erupted in absolute chaos. My parents looked like they had been struck by lightning. My brother, Cole, turned pale with fury. With tears streaming down my face, I stepped off the stage, desperate to whisper an explanation to them. But Cole lunged forward, grabbing me by the collar. He roared in my face. "Amy, have you lost your fucking mind?! How dare you throw dirt on this family in front of the press?! Do you know you just ruined our entire legacy?!" I looked at him in sheer panic. I turned my head and saw the massive projector screen behind the stage displaying the fabricated tax fraud documents Grayson had blackmailed me with. My brain practically short-circuited. I shook my head wildly. "No... no, this wasn't supposed to happen. Grayson promised me!" Acting on pure instinct, I looked up toward the VIP balcony overlooking the ballroom. Grayson had Tessa pressed hard against the glass railing. They were completely naked, having sex right there in the shadows, watching my life burn to the ground. Tessa locked eyes with me through the glass. Her arrogant smirk said everything. You lost, Amy. I didn't just take your man. I took your entire family. I couldn't breathe. My lungs felt like they were literally going to explode. Cole shoved me to the ground, his eyes filled with absolute disgust. "You are a rabid dog, Amy. We never should have let you back in." My world shattered. I tried to crawl toward my parents, but the paramedics were already rushing them out on stretchers. They had collapsed from the shock. The wealthy guests and corporate executives didn't hold back. Someone threw a heavy cocktail glass at my head. Another splashed an entire bottle of red wine over my designer gown. A tidal wave of vicious insults crashed over me. "You cursed bitch! You ruined your own empire for a piece of trash boyfriend?!" "I feel so sick for her parents. Raising a monster like this!" "Brainless little slut!" I curled into a ball on the marble floor, trying to protect my head. But my defensive posture only seemed to enrage the mob further. High heels kicked my ribs. Hands grabbed my hair, dragging my bruised and bleeding body straight out the front doors and throwing me into the middle of the busy intersection. "Let's teach this ungrateful bitch a lesson her parents couldn't!" Cars swerved violently around my body. The sheer terror and trauma finally triggered my depression. I knelt on the asphalt, screaming and smashing my forehead into the pavement like a maniac. I didn't stop until I saw Grayson's sports car pull out of the valet line. He and Tessa drove right past me. Acting like a completely deranged lunatic, I screamed wildly, chasing their taillights down the avenue. By the time I stumbled into the hospital lobby, my bones felt like shattered glass. I barely made it to the third floor before four burly nurses ambushed me. They pinned my arms behind my back and dragged me forcefully into a blood-draw room. "Who are you?! Get your hands off me!" I shrieked. They ignored me, handing the fresh vials of my blood to Grayson, who was standing in the doorway. "The match is one hundred percent perfect, Mr. Rowland. We can proceed with the pediatric bone marrow extraction immediately." Bone marrow extraction? A sickening, impossible thought clawed its way into my brain. I stumbled forward, grabbing Grayson by his expensive lapels. My eyes were bloodshot, practically glowing with madness. "Where is my daughter?!" He gently wiped a streak of dried blood from my cheek. "Amy, the doctor said our little girl won't survive past her first birthday. Her heart is failing. But Tessa's boy was just diagnosed with aggressive leukemia. Their bone marrow is a perfect match." My scalp went completely numb. I stared at Grayson like he was a terrifying, alien monster. "You are going to harvest my daughter's organs to save your bastard son?!" "Over my dead body!" I shoved him away and sprinted toward the surgical wing. But a sharp prick pierced the back of my neck. Grayson looked down at me with cold, detached pity as he pushed the plunger of a heavy sedative syringe. "Amy, we can always make another baby." Black spots danced in my vision. Pure, suffocating terror wrapped around my throat like a venomous snake. I collapsed onto the cold floor. When I woke up, Tessa was standing over my bed. Her eyes were gleaming with pure malice. She tossed a small gold locket onto my chest. "You really are pathetic, Amy. You couldn't even save your own brat." "Honestly? My son never even had leukemia. But he is going to be the sole heir to the Rowland empire. Your little mistake had to be erased." My pupils violently dilated. A primal scream tore from my throat. I grabbed the heavy surgical scalpel off the medical tray next to the bed and lunged straight for her throat. In a flash, Grayson tackled me from the side. "Amy! I told you not to touch her!" I stared at him in stunned silence. As we fell, the blade missed Tessa completely. Instead, Grayson's momentum drove the handle hard against my chest, burying the blade deep into my own stomach. Hot, dark blood sprayed violently across Grayson's face. His pupils trembled with sudden horror. Blood bubbled from my lips. I used the absolute last ounce of my strength to let out a weak, mocking laugh. "Grayson... you are so fucking stupid." "You're so blind... you don't even know Tessa is the one who put your parents behind bars." "You're so stupid... you don't even know your son was never sick." Seeing my eyes slowly roll back into my head, Grayson froze completely. Total panic finally shattered his arrogant mask.
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