Chapter 5

So, Chloe had known about my miserable existence all along.

She just found me too pathetic to even bother with.

Since I couldn't get a design job, I had no choice but to go back to making deliveries.

I had to pay rent, and I had to feed the baby growing inside me.

This baby was the only thing left of those five years of devotion.

A brand-new, innocent life.

I would do whatever it took to make sure my child wouldn't have to suffer the way I did.

At eleven o'clock one night, I collapsed onto my bed, exhausted, when my door was suddenly kicked open.

"Well, well. So this is where the trash lives."

Chloe walked in, a cruel smirk on her face.

"I only found out a few days ago that my husband's little toy lived in a dump like this. How embarrassing."

I forced my voice to remain cold.

"This is my apartment. Get out."

She laughed as if she had just heard the funniest joke, turning to the open door.

"Babe, look how stupid she is! She doesn't even know this is your property!"

"This entire block of apartments is owned by Vance Enterprises."

I clenched my fists, a wave of humiliation washing over me.

"Oh, by the way, when my husband pretended to be sick, he stayed at one of his family's private clinics," Chloe sneered, stepping closer.

"All that money you practically starved yourself to pay the hospital? It went straight into our joint bank account. I used it to buy my new Chanel bags."

I stared past her at the man standing in the doorway.

All my hard work, my hope, my sacrifices... they were all just a joke to them.

When the doctor had first told me Julian was terminally ill, I hadn't hesitated.

I believed he was my only family, my soulmate. I was willing to throw away every ounce of my dignity to save him.

I had literally fallen to my knees, begging the surgeon with tears streaming down my face.

I thought that was the most humiliating moment of my life. But I was wrong.

In front of Julian and Chloe, my love and sacrifices were branded as the desperate acts of a pathetic side piece.

"This" was true, endless humiliation.

I grit my teeth, projecting every ounce of strength I had left.

"Get out of my life. I never want to see either of you again."

The moment the words left my mouth, one of Chloe's bodyguards kicked me hard in the stomach.

A sharp, stabbing pain shot through my abdomen, and cold sweat immediately broke out on my forehead.

Chloe walked over with a malicious grin and slapped me hard across the face.

"I haven't even started on you, and you're already throwing a tantrum? Who do you think you are?"

She signaled the bodyguards to hold me down while she slapped me repeatedly.

My vision went blurry, and metallic-tasting blood filled my mouth.

She leaned down, whispering in my ear,

"I wonder if that little bastard in your womb can survive this?"

"No! Please! I was wrong! I'll leave! I'll disappear from your lives forever!"

I looked at Julian, begging him with my eyes, tears streaming down my face.

"Julian, please... please save my baby..."

But the man I had loved for five years only cast a fleeting, indifferent glance at me before looking away.

"Why should we keep a bastard anyway?" he said coldly.

My heart shattered into a million pieces. Panic consumed me, and I began to struggle wildly.

"No, please... please don't do this..."

Chloe laughed hysterically and kicked me hard in the stomach with her pointed heel.

"As long as I'm around, your bastard doesn't get to live!"

The sharp heel dug into my abdomen again and again. The agonizing pain made me scream.

I curled into a ball on the floor, my vision fading.

Through the haze of my tears, I saw Julian walk toward me.

His familiar scent filled my nose, and he bent down.

But he didn't touch me. He gently picked Chloe up in his arms.

"Why do you have to do the dirty work yourself? Doesn't your foot hurt?"

His voice was incredibly gentle.

"We have our wedding rehearsal tomorrow. Let's go home, and I'll give you a massage."

By the time Julian finished the wedding rehearsal with Chloe, it was almost ten at night.

He bought a bouquet of fresh roses and drove back to my apartment, intending to throw me a bone.

He had purposely ignored me these past few weeks to secure the merger with Chloe's family.

He figured he might have been a bit too harsh with his words, and that I was probably crying in the apartment, waiting for him.

But when he pushed the door open, the place was completely empty.

Everything was gone.

Only a torn-up, fake marriage certificate lay scattered across the dusty floor.