Chapter 2

The voices inside the office continued, oblivious to the destruction they had just caused.

"She'll be broken when she finds out," Edison said, his voice dripping with sadistic glee. "She'll probably cry for weeks. Pathetic."

"She deserves it," Derek's voice was cold as ice. "Thinking she could just waltz into my family and push Else out. Did she really think I'd choose her over my own sister?"

His own sister. The words hung in the air, heavy with a meaning I was only just beginning to understand. Their relationship had always been intense, but I had dismissed it as a close sibling bond. Now, it felt sick.

"She's not that smart, Derek," another friend said. "You've been playing her for years. She's just a dumb, trusting woman who was easy to fool."

"She'll have no choice but to leave," Edison predicted. "She'll have nothing. No husband, no baby, no money."

"She brought this on herself," Derek stated flatly, as if reading from a script. "She was the one who manipulated Else, filled her head with nonsense about needing to 'find herself' abroad. She wanted her gone."

I clutched the wall for support, my head spinning. That was a complete lie. Else had come to me, crying about feeling suffocated by Derek, desperate for a chance to be her own person. I had found the study program for her, helped her with the application, even given her the money for the plane ticket from my own savings. I thought I was freeing her. Instead, they had twisted it into a weapon against me.

"Is that really why Else left?" one of the friends asked, a flicker of doubt in his voice.

"Of course," Derek said, his tone sharp and dismissive. "Aleida manipulated the situation. But it's fine. It gave us the perfect excuse for this little game."

"Speaking of games," Edison's voice turned slimy. "I have a new idea for the party when Else gets back. We can make it even more interesting."

Derek let out a soft, dismissive laugh. "Whatever. Just don't involve me in the messy parts. Honestly, the thought of that baby..." He paused. "It's not mine, and I don't care whose it is."

He said it so casually, with such profound disgust.

"I' d rather spend my time leveling up in my new game than pretending to be a doting father," he added.

"I still can't believe how much you despise her," a friend murmured.

"Despise is a mild word," Derek replied. "Looking at her, touching her... it makes my skin crawl. It' s a job. And I' m about to get paid."

"Alright, let's make this official," Edison announced, his voice loud and commanding. "The final bet. A million dollars says the baby is mine. Who' s in?"

"I'm in for a million," one voice said immediately.

"A million from me, too," said another.

"I'll put in two million," Derek' s voice cut through the others. "Because I' m so sure it' s not mine, and I want to profit from her misery."

A chorus of agreements followed. They were throwing millions of dollars around, gambling on my body, on my child, on my life. It was a spectacle of their depravity.

"Don't forget, I got to her first, right after Derek' s 'procedure'," Edison boasted. "The odds are in my favor."

I stood frozen in the hallway, listening to their laughter, to the casual way they discussed my violation. The floor felt like it was about to give way beneath me. Each word was a fresh stab of pain, carving out the love and leaving a hollow, aching void.

The truth was a physical weight, pressing down on me, stealing the air from my lungs. The man I married, the friends I welcomed into my home, they were monsters.

My hand went to my belly, a protective, instinctive gesture. But the baby was no longer a symbol of love. It was a trophy in their sick contest.

I couldn't breathe. I stumbled away from the door, desperate for air, for an escape from the suffocating truth. I made it to the elevator, my body trembling uncontrollably.

Once inside my car, I finally broke. Sobs wracked my body, harsh and guttural sounds of pure agony. The pain was a living thing, tearing me apart from the inside.

But as the tears subsided, something else took their place. A cold, hard rage. It started as a spark in the depths of my despair and grew into a wildfire.

They wanted to break me. They wanted to see me fall.

I would not give them the satisfaction.

I drove home, my mind racing, piecing together a new plan. The abortion was still the first step. But it wouldn't be the end. It would be the beginning.

The beginning of my revenge.

They wanted a game? I would give them one. And I would make sure that by the end of it, they would have lost everything.

First, I needed more evidence. I needed to know everything.

And I knew just when I would get it. At the party for Else. The party that was supposed to be my final humiliation would become the stage for their downfall.