Chapter 3

3: 3

3

No matter how I looked at it, that child's features didn't resemble Cecily's husband at all.

If anything, the girl looked more like—

"Ivy Lawson? What are you doing here?"

The door to the lounge inside his office opened from within, and George called out to me with a frown.

"Did the sun come up in the west today?"

"Didn't I tell you never to come here again?"

Six months ago, Cecily had shorted my mother three thousand dollars in medical fees.

I lost my temper and slapped her.

And after that, Cecily posted a line to the company group chat: Mrs. Henson has a manic disorder, and she likes to hit people.

It turned into an ugly mess.

Everyone who saw me had something to whisper.

They decided I was a jealous shrew who couldn't stand another woman anywhere near her husband.

So out of spite, I swore I'd never set foot in George's office again.

Now here I stood, holding up the thermos in my hand. "I came to bring you soup."

George frowned, his gaze dropping to my swollen belly.

"I told you not to drag yourself back and forth with a belly that big."

"Besides, I don't really care to drink your soup."

I bit my lip and took out the living allowance request form I'd already drawn up at home.

"There's also this. I came for this month's—"

Before the words living allowance could leave my mouth, someone walked out of the lounge.

Cecily, wearing George's white dress shirt over nothing but her bare legs, saw me and smiled.

"Wow, you came to bring George soup?"

George. Such an intimate way to say it.

The year we married, in a tender moment, I'd called him that name without thinking.

His face went cold on the spot.

He said, "There's only one person in this world allowed to call me that, and it's Cecily."

So I could only call him George.

Or husband. Or Mr. Henson.

Before I could react, Cecily eagerly snatched the soup out of my hands.

"Mm, this smells wonderful. George, you're a lucky man."

George indulged her. "If you like it, take it."

Cecily flashed me a smug little smile. "Then thank you so much."

It was always like this. Soup I'd stood over for two hours to make myself,

gone with one careless line from George, if you like it, take it, straight into someone else's stomach.

At least this time it was one the housekeeper had cooked.

Otherwise I'd have been disappointed all over again.

I held out the living allowance request form and turned back to George.

"This month's allowance is already two weeks late."

"I had to borrow money from Peter even for my prenatal checkup. I need you to sign this."

"Two weeks late?"

George's brow furrowed as he turned to Cecily. "Cecily, what's going on?"

"Didn't I make it clear? Ivy's pregnant, her allowance can't come up short."

Cecily's eyes suddenly reddened.

"Ivy, your allowance for this month, I approved it and had it transferred two weeks ago. Why are you saying you never got it?"

Cecily suddenly pulled up a video.

"That's clearly you in this footage, isn't it? Two weeks ago, you withdrew the money from the card and went straight to the hospital to buy supplements."

"Maybe you spent it all on your mother, that's your business."

"But even if you wanted to see George, you didn't have to make up a lie like this and play the victim."

My head snapped up.

"No—"

Before I could explain, George shoved me back, his face cold.

"Ivy Lawson, and here I thought you had principles."

"I never imagined you could be this calculating."

My heart dropped straight into ice.

"George, I didn't get it!"

"Why are you only listening to her side? Why won't you check the account's transfer records?"

But George wouldn't take in a single word.

He sneered. "You're telling me I pay Cecily fifty thousand a month,"

"and she'd make trouble for you over three thousand dollars in allowance?"

"What would she even get out of it?"

George refused to hear one more word from me and had his assistant escort me downstairs.

Behind me came the sound of George gently soothing her.

Cecily said, aggrieved, "George, did you forget again? Without an appointment, Ivy isn't allowed to come see you at the company on her own."

"That was the rule you set yourself."

So George patiently coaxed her.

"All right, all right, you decide. How should she be punished?"

Cecily lifted her eyes, smug and vicious.

"Isn't there still a clone at the house?"

"Why don't you secretly install cameras at home and watch what the clone and Ivy get up to? Just thinking about it is exciting."

As I was dragged into the elevator, the last thing I saw was this.

George smiled and pinched Cecily's nose. "Fine. Whatever you want."

I came home in a daze and sat there blank for a long time.

Then I went back to the bedroom.

I took out the business card I'd secretly found in the study and dialed a number.

"Is this Everlife Cloning Company?"

The voice on the other end was polite and gentle.

"Miss, how can I help you?"

"A while ago my husband and I had a clone made through your company. Your policy says that if we're not satisfied during the trial period, we can pay an additional fee to have it collected."

I drew in a deep breath.

"Right now I'm not very satisfied."

"How soon can someone come to collect it?"