Chapter 3

I nodded slowly, my face completely expressionless.

"Fine."

Without waiting for their reaction, I turned around, went into the bedroom, and closed the door to pack my things.

Since I had decided to leave for good, I didn't want to leave a single trace of my existence in this apartment.

The joyful laughter from the living room drifted through the door. My hands paused as I folded a sweater.

"Chloe, let's name him Leo Chloe Miller. That way, even if he has to call someone else 'mom' in the future, he'll never forget his real mother."

Even without looking, I could picture Julian's deeply emotional face as he said those words.

My heart had already been torn to shreds by him anyway. I felt nothing.

My mind drifted back to last month when I had rushed home, carrying souvenirs I had carefully picked out for Julian.

But at the entrance of our building, I ran into them returning from their evening walk, hand-in-hand.

Unlike Julian, who looked utterly terrified, Chloe had looked at me with smug confusion, questioning if I had gotten the wrong apartment.

"Are you lost? This is my home."

I hadn't said a word. My eyes were glued to her swollen belly.

I had been away for ten months. My husband had moved his first love into our bed, and she was pregnant. It didn't take a genius to figure out what they had been doing.

Julian had quickly scrambled to step between us, nervously stammering, "Chloe, this is... Elena. My wife."

Even after knowing who I was, Chloe didn't back down. Instead, she put on the air of the lady of the house, condescendingly inviting me in for tea.

As we brushed past each other, she whispered in a voice only I could hear:

"I heard you've been married to Julian for three years? A substitute is just a substitute, babe. You can't compare to the real deal."

"Now that I’m back, it's time for you to pack up and get out."

The rage had consumed me. I couldn't hold back. I swung my arm and slapped her across the face with all the resentment, longing, and betrayal of the last ten months.

The neighbors heard the commotion and ended up calling the cops.

Because it was a domestic dispute, the police didn't press charges and told us to settle it privately at home.

The moment we got back, my in-laws arrived and immediately unleashed a torrent of verbal abuse on me.

They screamed that I had humiliated the family in front of the entire neighborhood. They called me an uneducated brute for hitting a pregnant woman, swearing they would ruin me if anything happened to the baby.

It turned out they had known about the affair the entire time. They had fully supported it.

In just one year, Chloe had become their dream daughter-in-law. I was the only one kept in the dark.

I tasted copper in my mouth from biting my lip so hard.

Julian had walked over, his eyes red, trying to grab my hand to play the peacemaker.

"Elena, I never wanted to betray you. But Chloe's health is failing. The doctors said she has six months at most. Her only wish was to have a child of her own."

"She saved my life. I couldn't let her die with such a massive regret..."

"I wanted to tell you, but you were so far away, and I didn't want to ruin your studies. I figured we could talk about it when you returned."

"If you're willing, we can raise this baby together, okay?"