Chapter 2

One of the bodyguards shoved me hard between the shoulder blades.

I stumbled forward, bumping the hospital room door open as I staggered inside.

Ethan was sitting beside the hospital bed, holding a glass of water. With a look of deep concern, he dabbed Chloe's dry lips with a cotton swab dipped in warm water.

Hearing the noise, he turned his head.

When he saw the swelling on my face and my disheveled hair, his hand paused for a moment.

He set the glass down and stood, walking over to me.

He pulled out a chair. "Sit down and have some water first."

He poured another glass of warm water and held it out to me, his voice deliberately gentle. "Nora, what you did today really went too far. If you're willing to apologize to Chloe, I'll book the entire island again next month and give you an even grander wedding. That way everyone can save face."

I looked at the steaming glass of water in his hand.

I raised my hand and swung it sharply.

The glass shattered on the floor. Warm water splashed across his leather shoes as shards scattered everywhere.

Ethan's expression darkened instantly.

He pointed a finger at my face and shouted. "Nora, have you lost your mind? I'm already giving you a way out. How long are you going to keep this up? Do you have any empathy at all?"

The veins on his forehead throbbed. "You humiliated me in front of hundreds of people today and I didn't even hold it against you! Chloe almost lost her baby because of you, and you can't even say you're sorry?"

I stared at him coldly, taking in that hypocritical face.

In my previous life, Ethan's company had suffered a massive break in its cash flow and was on the verge of bankruptcy.

I had run from pawnshop to pawnshop, selling every piece of jewelry and antique my mother left me just to fill the financial hole for him.

But after I became pregnant, he brought Chloe-who was also pregnant-into our home.

Whenever Chloe shed a single tear, he would lock me in the basement and leave me without food.

On the day I went into labor, I was lying on the delivery bed, hemorrhaging badly.

Ethan walked in without even sparing me a glance.

To vent Chloe's anger, he reached over and pulled out my life-support equipment.

I would never forget the suffocating pain and despair of that moment.

The cold beeping of the machines echoed in my ears as my breathing grew weaker until I finally suffocated on that hospital bed.

The memory of that pain surged through every limb of my body again.

Looking at the man in front of me, my stomach churned violently with disgust.

I took a step back, my eyes filled with pure hatred.

Ethan seemed unsettled by my gaze and awkwardly pulled his hand back.

He stepped forward again, reaching toward my cheek.

"Nora, don't look at me like that."

"Oh, Ethan... my stomach hurts so much."

Chloe suddenly writhed on the hospital bed, clutching her stomach with both hands as she cried out miserably.

Cold sweat covered her forehead. Her face was ashen as she gripped the bedsheet tightly, tears streaming down her face.

Ethan immediately withdrew his hand and rushed back to the bed.

"Chloe, how are you? I'll call the doctor right away!"

Chloe grabbed his sleeve and shook her head weakly. "Ethan, I'm fine. As long as Ms. Whitmore can forgive me, it doesn't matter if my baby suffers a little."

Ethan turned around, pulled a document from his briefcase, and slammed it onto the table.

"Nora, sign this project transfer agreement."

I walked over and looked down at the title on the document, "NovaCore Renewables Project - Gratuitous Transfer Agreement."

The pages were filled with dense clauses, all designed to strip the project away and transfer it unconditionally to a subsidiary company under Chloe's name.

I demanded sharply. "Ethan, did you plan this from the beginning? That project is my mother's life's work. Are you trying to squeeze the last bit of value out of me?"

Ethan avoided my gaze, his voice slightly unsteady. "It's just compensation for the baby Chloe is carrying. She was frightened today and deserves something to make up for it. I'll compensate you twice as much later."

The hospital room door was suddenly thrown open.

Donna Langley, Chloe's mother, stormed inside and immediately began shouting, her finger pointed straight at my face.

"You vicious woman! Just because you can't have a child, you want to harm the baby in my daughter's belly. Why don't you just die already? You're useless as a wife. You can't even give the Carrington family a child, yet you're still clinging to the title of Mrs. Carrington! Hand over the money. That'll cover my grandson's formula."

Donna's spit sprayed across my face as she shouted.

Ethan stood beside her without saying a word.

He grabbed the pen from the table and forced it into my hand.

"Sign it and end this peacefully. If you keep stalling, I'll call my people right now and have the mansion your mother used to live in sold off. Don't push me to handle this the hard way."