Chapter 3

The door opened.

My dear mother-in-law came in carrying a thermal food container, her face flushed and glowing.

Behind her was Oliver's own sister, Cheryl Harding.

The moment Cheryl stepped inside, she called out to Renee, thrilled.

"Sis! That Chanel bag you bought me is so gorgeous, all my classmates are dying of envy!"

Mother and daughter changed out of their shoes like they belonged here.

Sybilla Harding looked up and saw me standing in the middle of the living room.

The smile froze on her face.

"What are you doing here!" Sybilla shrieked.

She rushed over and shoved Renee behind her.

"Well, well. You actually dared to follow my son here!"

"What, still hoping to cling on and make a scene? Let me tell you, not a chance!"

I looked at this mother-in-law who used to bring me every receipt down to the salt she bought to be reimbursed.

Now she wore a silk dress worth thousands.

Then I looked at the Burberry trench coat on Cheryl.

The limited edition I'd just bought last month.

Cheryl had said she needed it for an interview, that she'd borrow it for one day.

I lent it to her.

And now she stood there in my coat, calling the woman inside her sister-in-law.

Cheryl sneered and looked me up and down.

"Look at her, dressed like a delivery girl. She's obviously here to drop something off."

"How embarrassing. If the security guards see someone like this walk into Starhaven, the neighbors will be laughing behind our backs!"

Behind Sybilla, Renee crossed her arms.

"Mom, don't be angry. People from the bottom like her, they love chasing after money, they can't stand seeing an ex-husband move up in the world."

The instant Sybilla heard Renee call her Mom, she put on a fawning smile.

"Oh, my Renee, that's real breeding, coming from an old family. Aren't your legs tired, standing like that? Go sit on the couch."

"You're carrying now, you mustn't let anything upset you."

My mind went blank with a ringing noise.

Carrying?

I stared at Renee's flat stomach.

"She's pregnant?"

I couldn't keep my voice from shaking.

Oliver turned his head away, not daring to meet my eyes.

Sybilla lifted her chin.

"That's right! Renee is already carrying our Oliver's child, three months along!"

"Not like you, a hen that can't even lay an egg! Taking up space and doing nothing, married into our family for five years and never so much as farted out a child!"

"What did our family ever do to deserve marrying a jinx like you!"

I drew a deep breath, my eyes stinging and swollen.

This morning, I'd just gone to the hospital to pick up my test results.

I was pregnant. Four weeks.

I'd meant to wait until he came back from his business trip and surprise him.

But now, another woman was carrying his child. Three months.

The phone in my pocket buzzed.

I answered it numbly.

"Hello, Ms. Fox, this is the city women's and children's hospital. For your prenatal checkup scheduled next Wednesday, please remember to come in on an empty stomach for the blood draw."

The living room went dead silent.

Oliver's head snapped up to look at me, panic flickering in his eyes.

"You... you're pregnant?"

Renee's face shifted, and she grabbed a fistful of Oliver's sleeve.

"Oliver, what is she saying? What are you trying to pull?"

Sybilla panicked and lunged over to snatch my phone.

"You're definitely faking it!"

"Not pregnant before, not pregnant after. Don't think you can use a cheap trick like this to hang onto my son!"

"Let me tell you, even if you really are, it's a bastard! Our family will never claim it!"

I shoved Sybilla's hand away and looked coldly at Oliver.

"Oliver, is that what you think too?"

Oliver looked at me, then at Renee, his eyes struggling back and forth.

Just then, Renee grabbed a perfume bottle and smashed it on the floor.

She pulled out her phone, opened the audio she was recording, and said in a shrill voice:

"Oliver! Don't put on this old-flame melodrama for me!"

"In the promotion candidate list my brother submitted today, the deputy head slot for the marketing team was set aside for you and you alone!"

"One phone call from me and he can kick you back to your rental in three minutes!"

Renee's threat, dressed up as a bribe and laid right out in the open, severed the last thread of Oliver's conscience.

The fear and guilt that had lingered on his face were buried now under pure self-interest.

Finally, he gritted his teeth:

"Jess, Renee is delicate, she can't take this kind of stress. And this baby... it came at the wrong time."

"Get rid of the baby first, and we'll part on good terms."

A rush of heat shot straight to my head.

This was the man I'd loved with everything I had for five years.

For him, I'd fallen out with my family, walked away from a fortune worth billions, and lived hard alongside him.

I'd secretly poured everything into pushing him from a rural graduate with no connections all the way up to department manager.

Afraid of wounding his pride.

And in return, he was telling me to get rid of the baby and make room for his mistress.

Beside him, Sybilla piled on:

"You heard him! Get out already!"

"If you have any shame left, go to the hospital and do it yourself. Don't make us do it for you!"

Cheryl chimed in too:

"Exactly, take a good look at what you've got going for you."

"My brother's about to be made deputy head, and Renee's brother is a senior executive at the group. What could you ever do for my brother?"

"All you'd do is hold my brother back!"

I looked at this utterly selfish family and found it almost funny.