The doctor said the fainting was caused by the shock to my pregnancy combined with my weakened state. He stressed repeatedly that I needed complete rest for the remainder of my term and that I absolutely could not endure any more stress.

I nodded in silence. When the IV was finished, I prepared to leave the hospital.

The moment I stepped through the front doors, the Vance family driver was already standing at attention beside the car.

“Ms. Simmons, Old Mr. Vance asked me to take you directly to the family estate. Tonight is the annual Vance family banquet.”

I was ushered into the car, and it drove straight to the Vance estate.

When I pushed the door open and stepped inside, the living room was full of Vance elders and relatives. The laughter and chatter died the instant I crossed the threshold.

Every pair of eyes turned on me at once, some dripping with contempt, others ice-cold, others openly mocking.

“Well, well, if it isn't Mrs. Vance herself. I was starting to think you wouldn't show.”

The relative's voice was razor-sharp, her gaze undisguised disgust.

“Five years of marriage and not a single child to show for it. What's the point of keeping the title of Mrs. Vance?”

“Exactly. The Vance line has been single-heir for generations. We can't let it die out. Marrying a woman who can't bear children is a joke.”

The barbs came one after another, each one a needle driven straight into the rawest part of me.

I clenched my fists, nails biting deep into my palms, and forced my spine straight. I was about to fire back.

Before a single word left my mouth, Bartholomew walked in. Tall, immaculate in a tailored suit, his arm wrapped tight around Vivien as they crossed the room together.

The moment the two of them appeared, the entire room fell silent. Every gaze locked onto them.

Bartholomew swept his eyes across the room. When they passed over me, they didn't linger for even a fraction of a second. Instead, he took Vivien's hand and walked to Old Mr. Vance.

“Grandfather, everyone, I have an announcement. Vivien is carrying a Vance heir. She's two months along.”

The room erupted, then flooded with congratulations.

“Wonderful! Bartholomew, the Vance family finally has an heir!”

“Ms. Pruitt is truly blessed. You can just tell she's the lucky type. I'm sure it'll be a healthy baby boy.”

Their eyes slid toward me, brimming with disdain.

“See? The one who can give the Vance family a child is the one who matters. You should do yourself a favor and step aside.”

I clenched my teeth until my jaw ached. The pain in my chest had long since gone numb.

Then Bartholomew led Vivien to the hostess's chair and gently helped her sit down.

“Vivien, you're pregnant. Sit here where it's comfortable. Don't tire yourself out.”

Vivien put on a show of bashful reluctance：“Bartholomew, that's Kay's seat. I couldn't possibly……”

“Why not?”

Bartholomew cut her off, his gaze sweeping over me, cold and dismissive.

“It's just a chair. There's no yours or hers.”

A bitter laugh escaped me. The hostess's seat of the Vance family, and all it took was one careless sentence for him to hand it to Vivien.

I turned and walked toward the door, spine rigid, refusing to let a single tear fall in front of any of them.

I had barely made it past the estate gates when hurried footsteps sounded behind me. Vivien caught up.

She stepped in front of me, triumph and venom written across her face without the slightest attempt to hide it.

“Leaving just like that, Kay? You must be seething inside.”

Vivien folded her arms across her chest, blocking my path, her lips curling into a vicious smile.

“Bartholomew announced my pregnancy in front of the whole family. Every single one of them accepts me now. That seat belongs to me sooner or later. Do yourself a favor and disappear.”

I had no interest in engaging with her. I stepped to the side, trying to go around.

“Move.”

Vivien's hand shot out and locked around my wrist, her eyes full of cold malice.

“Kay, since you won't step aside on your own, don't blame me for what comes next. If you won't destroy me, I'll destroy you first!”

I struggled, trying to wrench free, but her grip was iron-tight.

In the middle of my pulling away, Vivien's expression shifted. She threw herself backward, straight toward the road behind her.

A car was speeding past at that exact moment. It struck Vivien and she hit the ground with a piercing scream.

Bartholomew charged over like a man possessed. The moment he saw Vivien crumpled on the ground, his pupils contracted and his voice shook apart.

“Vivien! Vivien, are you okay? Don't scare me!”

She lay in his arms, face white as paper, both hands clutching her stomach, tears pouring down her cheeks.

“Bartholomew, I'm fine……don't blame Kay. If she doesn't want me around, I can leave. But why……why would she try to hurt my baby? Just because my brother accidentally hit her with his car, she wants revenge now……the baby is innocent……”

Bartholomew's head snapped up toward me. Those eyes that had once been full of tenderness held nothing now but towering rage and hatred. He roared at me.

“Kay Simmons, she's pregnant and you did this to her? You've lost your mind!”

Then he barked at the bodyguards rushing up behind him.

“Restrain her! Don't let her get away!”

The bodyguards were on me instantly, ignoring my resistance, seizing my arms and binding them with rope.

The cord bit into my wrists until they burned. Cramps knotted through my lower abdomen in wave after wave, but Bartholomew never once looked at me. He scooped Vivien into his arms and ran for the exit like a man gone mad.

The bodyguards shoved me into a car and followed, all the way to the hospital.

The surgery light was on. Bartholomew stood outside, radiating a cold, violent fury.

When he saw them bring me over, he closed the distance in three strides, seized my collar, and fixed me with a stare that could flay me alive.

“Kay Simmons, if anything happens to Vivien or my child, I will bury you. I will make you pay in ways you can't imagine.”

He was gripping me so tight I could barely breathe. But I laughed.

“Are you going to kill me, Bartholomew? For your mistress and her bastard child?”

“Shut your mouth!”

My words only made him tighten his grip. The hatred in his eyes was enough to drown me.

“Don't you dare talk about Vivien and my child that way!”

Right then, the surgery light went off. The doctor stepped out and said Vivien had sustained only superficial injuries. The baby was fine.

The tension drained from Bartholomew's body. He let go of me and rushed straight into the ward.

When Vivien came to and saw me bound off to the side, she immediately grasped Bartholomew's hand, eyes glistening, and pleaded on my behalf.

“Bartholomew, please don't blame Kay. She didn't mean it. She was just upset. Let her go, please.”

The more gracious and forgiving she pretended to be, the more Bartholomew pitied her, and the more he despised me.

He locked his gaze on me, cold enough to cut bone.

“If Vivien hadn't begged for you, I would never have let this go. Kay Simmons, you are truly a disappointment.”

“Disappointed?”

I pulled my lips into something that wasn't quite a smile.

“Let me make something clear, Bartholomew. She is your mistress. The child she's carrying is illegitimate. Nothing changes that.”

His face went ashen.

“Still running your mouth. Take her to the storage room and lock her in. She can think about what she's done. No one opens that door without my order, and no one brings her food or water.”

“I didn't push her! She threw herself into the road! Bartholomew, you can't do this to me!”

I fought with everything I had, thrashing to break free, but the bodyguards were too strong. They dragged me out of the ward by force.

The storage room was damp and freezing. Dust and mildew thickened the air. The door locked behind me, and everything went black.

I curled up on the cold concrete floor. The pain in my stomach was worse now, as if a fist were tearing through my insides. Sweat soaked through my clothes. I bit down on my lip until I tasted blood.

I pounded on the door with everything I had left, screaming until my voice cracked. Nothing came back. Not a sound.

The pain dragged me under again and again, consciousness slipping away only to be ripped back by another wave. In the dark, there was nothing but endless despair.

The door did not open until the following evening.

I forced myself upright and walked out one step at a time.

The servants I passed sneered and whispered. Not one of them offered a hand.

Back in the bedroom, I turned on my phone. There was a confirmation message from the hospital. My appointment for the termination had been approved.

Two days from now. The same day I would collect my divorce papers.

Just then, an email came through. It was from the private investigator.

Inside was every piece of evidence from my car accident.

Dashcam footage proving Neville Pruitt had driven into me on purpose. A recording of the Pruitt siblings getting their story straight after the fact. Bank transfer records showing Bartholomew had paid to cover it all up and shield the perpetrator. Even Neville's current hiding address, laid out in full.

Finally, every last piece was in my hands.

What they owed me, starting now, I would collect. Every single debt, one by one.

I had just finished saving the evidence the detective sent over when the bedroom door was kicked open.

Bartholomew's face was terrifyingly dark. In his hand was a black sandalwood box.

I knew that box better than anything in this world. After I lost my first child, I had placed the ashes inside it with my own hands.

I shot to my feet, my chest seizing tight, my voice shaking beyond my control.

“What are you doing with my child? Give that back to me!”

Bartholomew's eyes were ice. He raised the sandalwood box into the air, his fingertips tracing the surface, his tone dripping with menace.

“Kay. Apologize to Vivien. For pushing her, for every vicious thing you've said and done. Bow your head and admit you were wrong.”

I stared at the urn in his hand, tears flooding my eyes in an instant, but I refused to let them fall.

“I didn't push her. She staged the whole thing. I will never apologize! Bartholomew, that is your own flesh and blood. How dare you use him to threaten me!

“What wouldn't I dare?”

Bartholomew let out a quiet laugh. He slowly opened the lid and set the box on the windowsill.

“As long as you refuse to apologize, I'll throw him out right now. He won't even have a place to rest. You know I keep my word.”

There was no warmth in his eyes. Not a trace. For Vivien, he would weaponize his own dead child. He would crush the last shred of anything I had left.

My lower abdomen still ached with a dull, throbbing pain. I looked at the sandalwood box, and every ounce of strength drained from my body.

Humiliation and despair crashed over me like a tidal wave. I clenched my fists so hard my nails broke the skin of my palms, blood beading along the crescents.

But in the end, I lowered my head. My voice came out wrecked, barely recognizable.

“I'm sorry.”

Bartholomew wasn't satisfied. “I told you to apologize to Vivien. Look at her and say it.”

I turned my head slowly toward Vivien, standing behind Bartholomew, her face a perfect portrait of smugness dressed up as innocence. I forced the words out with everything I had.

“Vivien, I'm sorry. I was wrong.”

Vivien's lips curled into a smile. She waved her hand with exaggerated magnanimity.

“Kay, I don't blame you. We've always been like sisters. I know you just lost your temper in the moment.”

Bartholomew's expression eased slightly. He tossed the urn back to me.

“Remember what you said today. From now on, know your place. Be the wife the Vance name requires. And don't upset Vivien again.”

He paused, looking down at me from on high.

“The day after tomorrow is Vivien's birthday gala. I'll announce her pregnancy in front of everyone. But after the child is born, it will be registered under your name. You'll raise it. You'll remain the Vance family's wife in name. That is the most generous arrangement I can offer you.”

“At the gala, you will hand over the full jewelry set and the Vance family ring to Vivien. Give her and the baby the recognition they deserve.”

I laughed. The irony was suffocating. He spoke as if he were tossing scraps to a beggar and expected gratitude in return.

He wanted me to keep the title of Mrs. Vance while raising his mistress's child. That was what he called generous.

I said nothing. I just held the urn against my chest, and scalding tears fell onto my hands, each drop landing like a burn.

Bartholomew, this is the last time I will ever cry in front of you.

He wrapped his arm around Vivien and left without a single glance back.

Two days later, I left the house early. First, I picked up the finalized divorce papers. Then I went to the hospital.

Lying on the operating table, I felt the cold instruments enter my body, felt the child who shared my blood being separated from me piece by piece.

Tears slid down in silence. The pain in my heart had gone numb.

After the procedure, I held myself together long enough to bury both children's ashes side by side.

Then I went back to the house, grabbed the bags I had already packed, and walked out without looking back.

I pulled out my phone and dialed the number.

“Irvin. I need you to come get me.”

Irvin didn't ask questions. He agreed immediately.

“Okay. I'm on my way. Wait for me.”

After I hung up, I took every piece of evidence the private detective had sent, along with the video of Bartholomew and Vivien together, bundled it all up, and sent it to every major media contact in the capital.

【A birthday gift for Ms. Pruitt!】

I hit send, and a smile tugged at the corner of my lips.

A second later, my phone rang. Bartholomew. I didn't need to guess. He was calling to rush me to Vivien's birthday gala.

I didn't answer. I stared at his name on the screen and whispered,

Bartholomew, I hope you and Vivien enjoy the gift.

May it destroy you both.