Chapter 1

After my seventh miscarriage, the doctor handed down a death sentence.

If I got pregnant again and lost it, I would die on the operating table.

To stay alive, I asked Jack Swanson for a divorce for the first time.

The cold disgust on his face cracked, just a little, and he agreed with a sneer.

The next morning I woke locked inside a greenhouse heated to a hundred and forty degrees.

"Sophie James, what makes you think you get to ask me for a divorce?"

"Playing hard to get again? Fine. You can have it."

Jack had Marjorie Weiss in his arms, and his eyes were thick with hatred.

I pounded on the scorching glass in a panic.

"Jack, your illness is bad again!"

"Go take your medicine, now!"

Three years ago, when we still loved each other most, Jack got hurt protecting me.

A severe head injury left him with a disorder of consciousness.

Inside his mind, love and hate are reversed.

The deeper he once loved, the more violently he now hates.

I forced through the pain and reminded him how we used to love each other.

Jack coldly turned the temperature higher.

It felt like every pore on my body was being roasted through.

I collapsed into the pool of blood, and suddenly the doctor's words came back to me.

Jack's disorder of consciousness would surely heal within three years.

Three years, and now one week past it.

So why hadn't his mind recovered?

1

The question barely circled in my head for a few seconds.

The burning that reached deep into my bones stripped away any ability to think.

Outside the greenhouse, the disgust in Jack's face only grew stronger.

"You make me sick!"

"Every time I think about being loved by a woman like you, it makes me sick to my stomach!"

He spat the words out coldly.

Then Jack raised the greenhouse temperature again.

Even the breath in my nose carried the smell of scorching.

In my daze, I remembered the first time I told Jack I loved him.

The way his face lit up with joy.

"Sophie James says she loves me!"

"I want to tell everyone. Sophie James loves Jack Swanson!"

His cheering voice still echoed in my ears.

I struggled to open my eyes, but what reached me was the sound of Marjorie moaning softly.

"Jack, not here…"

"What are you afraid of?"

"I love you. Everyone knows it. What's there to hide?"

Through my blurred vision, Jack was pressing Marjorie down, kissing her, taking what he wanted.

Looking at the love overflowing from his eyes, my heart hurt until I couldn't breathe.

Curled up on the floor, I felt the blood between my legs had almost dried.

From outside the greenhouse, Jack's voice came again.

"Sophie James, did the baby drop out yet?"

The sudden words dragged me back to three years ago.

After the car crash, I cared for the comatose Jack without sleep until I fainted in his hospital room.

When I woke again, I found out I was pregnant.

Full of joy, I went back to his room, ready to tell the unconscious Jack the good news.

I pushed open the door and saw Marjorie rising and falling on top of him.

Jack, just awake, had thick love in his eyes.

He was carefully cradling Marjorie with the hand that still wore our wedding ring.

That day, I all but screamed as I tore Marjorie off of him.

My eyes went hollow, and in a daze I wiped away the traces they had left behind.

As if I were still dreaming, I forced a smile to the corner of my mouth.

"Jack, I'm pregnant."

"Our baby. You already picked out a name for it a long time ago, didn't you?"

I asked it in a hoarse voice.

And Jack kicked me away in disgust.

"Get away from me! Don't touch me!"

"Who told a disgusting woman like you to get pregnant with my child?"

"Get rid of it, now!"

The same words came back to my ears.

I froze, my throat already scalded raw, unable to make a sound.

"Jack, our baby is already gone…"

I could no longer feel the heartbeat in my belly, and with numb eyes I stroked it gently.

"It really dropped out?"

"I don't have time to waste on you."

"Little One's about to have his lunch. We're in a hurry to go feed him."

Hearing those two words, Little One.

My heart clenched, and my stomach heaved with an involuntary retch.

"Jack, you can't use our baby's pet name to call some animal…"

I forced the words out one by one, fury rising in my chest.

The next second, the greenhouse temperature shot up to a hundred and fifty-eight degrees.

"Who said you could call my Little One an animal!"