Chapter 5

The crowd fell silent for a second.

In the next moment, Clara pushed through the crowd and rushed at me.

*Slap!* Another hard blow landed on the other side of my face.

With tearful eyes, Clara turned to the cameras and apologized.

"I'm so sorry everyone. My sister has been obsessing over Mr. Sterling for years."

"But I never imagined she would write something so disgusting, let alone slander Mr. Sterling like this."

Holding my burning cheeks, I stared at her in utter disbelief.

Tyler and Ethan pushed through the crowd and stepped forward.

Tyler sneered at me.

"Chloe, you're trying to steal Natalie's husband? Are you really that desperate for a man?"

Ethan suppressed the guilt in his eyes and spoke with cold composure.

"Miss Miller and I are just ordinary colleagues. We have never crossed any boundaries."

"My only wife is, and always will be, Natalie."

The very last spark of hope in my heart was brutally extinguished.

The crowd jeered mockingly.

"I knew it. How could Mr. Sterling ever want to marry someone like her? She must have fabricated the whole diary."

"Fantasizing about her best friend's husband and then turning around to frame them? What a pathetic bitch."

The harsh words pierced my ears like needles.

In the chaos, someone shoved me hard from behind.

I lost my balance and fell painfully onto the hard pavement.

Ethan's eyes contracted. He instinctively stepped forward to help me.

But Natalie grabbed him, clutching her head in pain.

"Ethan, my head hurts so much."

The three of them panicked instantly, rushing to help her away.

I looked down. A pool of blood was slowly soaking through my pants.

Seeing the blood, the crowd gasped in horror.

The reporters and onlookers finally began to scatter in panic.

Right before I blacked out from the excruciating pain, my phone buzzed with a message from Ethan.

"Natalie's condition will worsen if she finds out the truth."

"I've called an ambulance for you. Consider today a lesson."

"Don't ever say things like that again."

Ethan, you got your wish.

There will never be a next time.

When I opened my eyes again,

the doctor handed me a medical report, his eyes filled with pity.

"I'm sorry, Miss Miller. We couldn't save the baby."

My mind went completely blank.

I stared numbly at the miscarriage report.

It turned out I had been pregnant for two months.

I had lost my child before I even knew she existed.

A sharp, agonizing pain ripped through my chest.

My phone buzzed.

Natalie had sent me a photo of her own pregnancy test.

My entire body went rigid. Her messages kept coming.

"Chloe, let's be honest. My amnesia actually cured six months ago."

"But I fell in love with Ethan, so I decided to keep pretending to play along."

"I saw your medical checkup report. I knew you were pregnant. Today was entirely intentional. I am the only one allowed to give Ethan a child."

"Look around you. Everyone is celebrating my baby's arrival. In our world of five, you are nothing but trash."

She forwarded a screenshot of a group chat.

The group name was: "The Core Four."

I wasn't in it.

I scrolled through the messages, one by one.

The four of them were chatting excitedly.

In just three hours, they had sent thousands of messages.

They talked about who would be the godparents, and how to decorate the nursery.

They discussed baby names and wondered if the child would look more like Ethan or Natalie.

My heart froze over completely.

I took the miscarriage report and signed it.

Then, I handed it to the doctor along with my resignation letter.

"Doctor, please deliver these to Ethan Sterling for me."

Since I was nothing but trash in their world of five,

then for the rest of my life,

I wouldn't leave any room for them either.

...

On the other side of town, Natalie was gently rubbing her belly, surrounded by the adoration of Clara and Tyler.

Watching this scene, Ethan felt a nagging headache.

That night, he had drunk too much. In his drunken stupor, he had mistaken Natalie for Chloe.

He didn't expect her to get pregnant from just that one night.

Ethan sighed heavily, trying to reassure himself.

It was fine. Chloe would understand. He would make it up to her later.

Just like he had done countless times before.

Yet, for some reason, an indescribable sense of dread washed over him.

Making an excuse to get some fresh air, Ethan stepped out of the ward and dialed Chloe's number.

The call wouldn't go through. He had been blocked.

He tried sending a message on Snapchat. Blocked there, too.

The dread in his chest intensified.

A moment later, a doctor rushed over with a grave expression.

"Mr. Sterling, we have reviewed the medical files. Miss Davis's amnesia was fully cured six months ago."

Ethan instinctively denied it. "That's impossible!"

The doctor gave him a complex look.

"Also, Miss Miller had some documents for me to deliver to you."

Ethan frowned as he took the papers.

When he saw the resignation letter, his heart skipped a beat.

Instinctively, he flipped to the next page.

The document underneath made him freeze as if doused in ice water.