"Mommy, look at this ugly necklace! The chain is broken!" Damien exclaimed, pointing to Violette's broken necklace.

"Damien, don't be naughty, Sweetie. That's Violette's precious necklace."

"This ugly necklace is useless. It breaks so easily!" Damien stuck out his tongue and threw the necklace carelessly, causing the diamond pendant to separate and shatter on the floor.

Irene chuckled, then looked at Violette with a satisfied smile. "Looks like you can't wear that dress and jewelry. If you want, I can lend you my old dress."

Violette's hands clenched and trembled as she tried to hold back her anger. "Irene, watch your attitude in my house. Don't try to provoke me if you don't want to regret it."

Irene flicked her hair back over her neck with a haughty attitude. "Still pretending to be the lady of the house? Tsk, did you know that Hans and I made love on your bed?" She showed the hickey on her neck. "Look, he's so wild and can't stop. He said he was bored to death when he was with you. You can't make him excited because you're like... "

Before Irene could finish her sentence, Violette slapped her hard. Her expression was very dark.

" Irene, you're just Hans' mistress. Hans doesn't even dare to admit it and show you to everyone, don't overstep your bounds. I've been patient enough with you! If you provoke me again, you'll suffer the consequences."

Violette didn't want to waste her energy dealing with a mistress, especially since she was going to divorce Hans. But Irene repeatedly provoked her, causing her patience to run out.

Irene glared at Violette with red, hate-filled eyes. Her lips curled into a cynical smile as she glanced at the door, seeing Hans approaching from a distance.

"You evil woman! How dare you hit my mom!" Damien shouted and bit Violette's hand.

"Damien, let go!" Violette shouted, pushing Damien away, but he bumped into the ironing board.

Irene suddenly grabbed Damien and protected him, just as the iron fell on her shoulder.

"Akhhh..." Her cry was loud. She cried as she hugged Damien in her arms. "Violette, I know Damien isn't your biological child, but you don't have to burn him with an iron! He's just a little boy! You'd better burn me instead!"

"Irene!" Hans rushed in and took the hot iron away. He stood up and slapped Violette very hard.

"Violette, this time you've gone too far in hurting Damien and Irene!"

The slap was so hard that it tore the corner of Violette's lip. This was the first time Hans had ever hit her.

Violette smiled bitterly as she wiped the blood from the corner of her lip.

"I didn't mean to hurt Damien. But Irene started the fight by destroying my dress and jewelry."

The second slap struck Violette's face again.

"Just because of a dress and some jewelry, you had the heart to burn Damien and Irene with an iron. Your heart is so cruel," Hans snapped. "You have to apologize to Irene!"

Violette gritted her teeth. "Don't you dare tell me to apologize to that bitch!"

"You..." Hans was about to hit her again, but seeing Violette's face already bruised and the corner of her lip torn, he lowered his hand, feeling guilty. However, when he saw Irene crying protectively as she hugged Damien, her back injured, his heart hardened.

He lifted Irene into his arms, then ordered the guards.

"Lock Violette in her room and don't give her food or drink until she apologizes."

Violette stared coldly at his back. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She wiped them away roughly.

Enough, Violette. Don't cry for him anymore!

Violette was locked up without food or drink. Her mother called again, asking why she had let Hans take Irene to the Lombardi family party in her place.

Apparently, to calm Irene down, Hans had taken her to the Lombardi family party and given her the best dress and jewelry. They had claimed that Violette was sick and had asked her sister-in-law to replace her.

Even though they were in another country, the Renault family received a lot of information about what was happening here.

Violette wiped her forehead, then hung up on her mother. Her ears hurt from hearing her mother's accusations.

After that night, Hans didn't come home and took Irene and Damien on vacation to Italy, Japan, and Greece.

Irene showed off their vacation in videos that she sent nonstop to Violette—everything, without exception, including intimate photos and videos of them in bed.

Meanwhile, Violette was still locked up. The maid gave her food and drink, kept asking if she had apologized, and then reported it to Hans.

Violette survived by drinking tap water from the bathroom.

Hans extended her confinement until they returned from vacation.

When Violette thought she was dying and starving to death, she woke up in her room with an IV tube attached to her hand.

Hans sat on the side of the bed with a stiff face and guilt covered by an angry gaze.

"If only you had admitted your mistake earlier, this wouldn't have happened."

Violette covered her face. She didn't want to see Hans's face—the man who had torn her heart apart.

Hans sighed.

"Violette, stop being stubborn and just apologize to Irene."

Irene appeared behind Hans. She smiled understandingly and said softly, "Hans, it's okay. Violette is the daughter of the Renault family. Of course, her pride is so high that she won't apologize to me, who is nobody."

Hans glared at Violette angrily.

"Being the daughter of the Renault family has made you so arrogant!"

Violette did not answer and closed her eyes.

"Are you going to keep your mouth shut? Fine, shut your mouth forever!" Hans angrily got up from beside her bed and left the room.

He ordered a servant outside the door. "From now on, Violette is not allowed to leave the house. Her daily food is only bread and water. She must learn to live like a poor person. Don't give her any other food."

In the days that followed, she ate only bread and water, causing her body to become increasingly thin and frail.

This made Irene feel powerful in the house, and she took the opportunity to torment Violette by ordering the servants to give her stale bread.

Violette consoled herself with the fact that her divorce was only five days away. She spent her time in her glass house.

She heard the maids whispering next to her glass house, thinking Violette couldn't hear them.

"Oh my... I've never seen Mr. Lombardi so wild and reckless during sex. Hans isn't even like that with Mrs. Lombardi."

The maids giggled.

"I feel sorry for Mrs. Lombardi. She has no idea that while she is locked up, her husband is sleeping with another woman right next to her room."

"Shh, you don't know, Mrs. Lombardi is as cold as a refrigerator. She must be boring in bed, which is why Mr. Lombardi is bored. Besides, we all know that five years ago, Mr. Lombardi's first love was Irene. I'm sure the death of the second young master had something to do with Mr. Lombardi so he could take his sister's wife. Damien must be his biological son. Otherwise, why would Mr. Lombardi make him the heir to the Lombardi family? "

" That's for sure. Since Miss Laurent moved into this house, Mr. Lombardi smiles more often. He treats her like a queen. They go on vacation to various countries, just the three of them, Mr. Lombardi, Damien, and Miss Laurent. They are a real family."

Violette clenched her hand holding the flower watering can while the maids had left.

She came out of the greenhouse and bumped into Damien, who was running down the hallway. He almost knocked her over.

Violette caught his hand before Damien fell.

"Damien, I've told you many times not to run. You'll get hurt," she said gently.

Although Damien was Irene's son, Violette had raised him since he was a baby. She still loved him.

"Stop pretending to care about me! You're not my mother! I hate you!" Damien snapped and pushed her away.

"Damian," Violette looked at him gloomily. "Even though I'm not your biological mother, you shouldn't yell at me and be rude to me. I have raised and loved you all this time. "

Damien grinned arrogantly.

"You're only pretending to be nice to me because you're afraid Daddy will leave you! You're a barren woman who's jealous of my mommy! If you're nice and beg me, I might persuade Daddy not to kick you out of this house, you barren woman."

Violette stared at him in pain, her voice choked. "Damien, who taught you to say such cruel things?"

"Is that wrong? You're barren. My daddy only loves my mommy! You forced my mommy to go abroad and took me away from her. If it weren't for you, me, Daddy, and Mommy would have been living happily together for a long time!”

Damien pushed Violette roughly and hard until she fell onto the hard ground.

Suddenly, a sharp pain appeared in her stomach. Her face turned pale.

"Damien, don't be rough!" Hans suddenly appeared with Irene.

He scolded Damien and pushed him unconsciously, then checked on Violette with a worried expression. "Are you okay?"

"My stomach..."

Before Violette could finish her sentence, Damien's loud cries could be heard.

"Daddy doesn't love me anymore! Mommy, it hurts!"

Hans' attention was immediately drawn to Damien, who was crying in Irene's arms.

His small palms were scraped and bleeding.

"Hans, I'm sorry for Damien's behavior. Please don't hurt him like this. After all, Damien is small, how could he push someone as big as Violette to the ground?" Irene said. Her eyes were teary, tears streaming down her beautiful blue eyes as if her heart ached to see her son hurt.

A guilty expression flashed across Hans's face, and he quickly grabbed Damien and calmed him in his arms. "I'm sorry, Daddy was wrong. Damien, don't cry anymore."

"Daddy, it hurts, my hands are bleeding..."

"Daddy will take you to the hospital." Hans stood up anxiously.

"Hans, my stomach hurts..." Violette tried to call out to him, her voice weak from the pain in her stomach.

Hans turned without glancing at Violette and left.

Irene smiled triumphantly at Violette, then left following Hans.

Violette lowered her eyes to the cold ground, her shoulders slumped as if she had lost all hope. She covered her face and laughed. Her hopes had soared for a moment when Hans showed concern for her, then those hopes fell cruelly in an instant.

The laughter turned into cries of pain.

Pain spread through her body. She curled up, feeling warm liquid flowing down her thigh. Violette's face paled as she saw blood flowing from her leg and pooling on the ground.

"Ah! Ma'am!" A gardener passing by found Irene and shouted in panic as he approached her. "I'll call Mr. Lombardi."

Violette immediately held his hand. "No need. Call an ambulance, take me to the hospital. And please tell the hospital to keep my identity confidential."

They arrived at the hospital. As Violette had requested, the doctors kept her presence at the hospital confidential.

"Where is Mr. Lombardi? We've called him, but he's not answering the phone!" a nurse said anxiously. "We need him to sign the consent form."

"Ma'am, what should we do? Mr. Lombardi isn't answering his phone even though I've called twenty times using your number," the gardener said anxiously.

The doctor said seriously, "We can't wait. The situation could be dangerous for Mrs. Lombardi if we wait any longer. This child cannot be saved because of the delay, and Mrs. Lombardi's body is severely malnourished..."

Violette turned to look at the nurse and took the consent form. "Perform the surgery. This child... I don't need it anymore."

She had waited for this child for fifteen years. She found out about her pregnancy today and lost it on the same day.

Hans had always looked forward to this baby coming into their lives. But he wasn't there when this child needed him to save her.

Violette took off her wedding ring and threw it in the trash.

"Okay, we'll perform the surgery immediately, ma'am."

Violette stared at the ceiling of the operating room. Her face was pale, her lips colorless and marked with bite marks because she kept biting them.

The doctors and nurses were busy around her, preparing the equipment for the surgery.

"Mrs. Lombardi, we're about to begin the surgery. We'll give you anesthesia so you won't feel any pain."

"No need. Don't give me anesthesia."

She needed a reminder of when the fully developed fetus was removed from her womb and how Hans was not present.

"Okay, start the operation."

"Yes, doctor."

Violette felt something being pulled out of her body, and the pain grew sharper. She tried not to cry, but her tears could no longer be held back.

"It's over, Mrs. Lombardi. The fetus has been removed."

Violette felt her body go weak, and everything went dark.

Tears streamed from the corners of her eyes.

Violette woke up to the sound of a nurse talking beside her bed.

"... yes, that's what I heard. Mr. Lombardi has been at the hospital since this morning, but he doesn't know that his wife is being treated at the hospital. He is in a VIP room with a woman. I heard that he is at the hospital because his nephew is sick after falling. Mr. Lombardi even called in all the best doctors at the hospital just to treat a child who had only a scratch. "

" I feel so sorry for Mrs. Lombardi. While her husband was taking care of another woman's child, she was waiting for approval for her surgery, but Mr. Lombardi didn't answer her calls. In the end, the baby in her womb couldn't be saved."

"It turns out that the love story of Mrs. and Mr. Lombardi was just a fairy tale. I saw Mr. Lombardi treat a woman named Irene as if she were the apple of his eye."

"Shh, let's go. We can't talk about this. No one can know about Mrs. Lombardi's surgery."

"Yes, we have to leave before Mrs. Lombardi wakes up."

The nurses' voices finally faded away. They didn't notice Violette's clenched fist under the blanket.

She opened her eyes with a blank stare, then got out of bed and pulled the IV out of her hand.

Her face was still pale. Barefoot, she walked out of her room.

She stopped at the door of the VIP room, hearing laughter and cheerful chatter from inside.

"Daddy, I'm sleepy. Read me a story."

Through the crack in the door, Violette saw Hans sitting back on the bed with Damien on his lap. Irene sat on the side of the bed, cutting fruit.

Hans was dressed casually, showing that he wasn't going to work.

Violette remembered that when she was sick, Hans had only sent a doctor to check on her, but had still gone to work.

When he received the message that Irene had a fever, he immediately rushed to her apartment and stayed the whole night, his phone off.

It was very clear how differently Hans treated the people he loved.

Violette had had enough of all this. She was going to disappear from Hans's life.

She backed away and turned to run, but bumped into a nurse carrying food for a patient, making a loud noise that drew attention.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry...."

Hans came out of the VIP room and was surprised to see Violette sitting on the floor.

Violette quickly wiped her tears and tried to smile.

"Vio?" He frowned and knelt to help her up. "Why are you here? Why are you wearing a patient's gown?"

"I'm being treated here."

"Are you seriously injured?" His face turned panicked and anxious when he saw the blood flowing from Violette's wrist because she had forcibly pulled out her IV. "Why didn't you tell me?! You're bleeding!"

Violette stared at her wrist. Only a single drop of blood had come out, but it was enough to make Hans's cold face turn fearful and panicked.

He was a man who never flinched when faced with dozens of enemy guns and sneered when pushed to the brink of death. But now he was panicking and anxious just from seeing a single drop of blood on Violette's hand.

But all of that was just a facade.

Violette's heart was tired.

"I'm sorry, I was so focused on Damien that I forgot you were hurt."

"It's okay. I know Damien is more important because he is the heir to the Lombardi family." Violette smiled widely. However, her heart was crying for the child she had lost.

Hans looked at Violette's smile, sensing that something was different about her, and it made him uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry..." That was all he could say, then he realized Violette wasn't wearing shoes.

"Why did you forget to wear your shoes? Who took care of you at the hospital?”

“There is a gardener. But I've already sent him home.”

Without saying anything, Hans carried Violette bridal style.

"Hans..." Irene came out of Damien's room and froze when she saw Hans carrying Violette.

"Damien is looking for you. His wound hurts again and he scratched it until it bled. Please persuade him to stop scratching his wound.”

"Sorry, Irene. I have to take Violette to her room first."

For the first time, Hans refused Irene's request and walked away.

Violette watched Irene's face darken behind Hans's back.

Hans put Violette to bed and called the doctor to check on her.

Violette had already told all the doctors and nurses to keep quiet about her miscarriage.

“Mrs. Lombardi fell, and on top of that, she's malnourished and very weak.” As he said this, the doctor looked at Hans strangely and muttered, “How can Mrs. Lombardi be malnourished?”

A look of embarrassment flashed across Hans's eyes. “It's because she's on a diet. I've told her repeatedly to stop dieting.”

Violette stared at him expressionlessly, seeing the lie he was telling to cover up his embarrassment.

The doctor nodded in understanding and left.

Hans held Violette's hand gently. “Vio, I'm sorry. My behavior was outrageous. If you had apologized to Irene, this wouldn't have happened.” He was still blaming Violette for what had happened.

“Just forget it. Irene has forgiven you, as long as you are nice to her, she will forget about this problem.”

“Then please thank her for me, ” Violette replied with a fake sweet smile. Inside, she was gritting her teeth.

Since she would be leaving soon, Violette knew it was better not to waste her energy arguing with him.

Hans smiled softly and stroked her cheek. “As long as you behave yourself, everything will go back to the way it was. You will always be Mrs. Lombardi.” Hans pulled the blanket up around Violette and kissed her forehead. Violette turned her face away, avoiding his kiss.

“Vio...” Before Hans could ask her anything, his attention was diverted by the ringing of his cell phone.

It was a call from Irene.

"Sorry, I have to go check on Damien," he said and walked out of the hospital room.

He didn't even stay long to keep her company.

Violette lay in bed and closed her eyes. Tears streamed from the corners of her eyes. She cried until her eyes were puffy and her voice was hoarse.

To make up for his mistake, Hans changed his attitude and treated Violette as he had before. He gave her many gifts and asked Violette's favorite restaurant to send her favorite food to her hospital room every day until she recovered.

A few days later. While waiting for Hans to pick her up, Violette walked around the hospital. She sighed enviously as she watched a pregnant woman being taken for a checkup by her husband.

She rubbed her stomach, and the pain stabbed her again. Her child was gone. She still remembered the pain when the fetus was removed from her body.

Violette took a deep breath and turned to return to her room, but bumped into someone who had just come out of the obstetric examination room.

"Ouch!"

Violette froze when she saw who was coming out of the examination room.

"What a coincidence to run into you, Violette!" Irene smiled. "Why are you here?"

Violette looked around for Hans, but only Irene was there. This was unusual because Hans was always by Irene's side.

"I should be the one asking why you're here alone and out of the examination room..." Violette's breath caught slightly when she looked toward the obstetric examination room.

Irene followed Violette's gaze and smiled proudly. "As you can see, I'm having my pregnancy checked.”

Then she picked up the papers that had fallen on the floor when Violette bumped into her.

"Look, these are my pregnancy ultrasound results. I'm three months pregnant." She pointed to the ultrasound image of Violette and stroked her stomach. "This is my baby with... Hans. Isn't it beautiful? Hans always wanted a cute little daughter. He hopes this baby is a little girl."

Violette's eyes were fixed on the ultrasound image in her hand. It was painful to see that, while she had just lost her baby.

Irene was very shameless. She was carrying the child of the Lombardi siblings. Violette looked at her with disgust.

Irene watched her, as if waiting for a devastated reaction on Violette's face.

But Violette was indifferent, refusing to give her the satisfaction of seeing her pain.

"Oh."

"Oh?" Irene followed Violette's words in disbelief. "You should be sensible and divorce Hans!"

"Why don't you ask Hans to divorce me?" Violette shook her head in derision. "If it's Hans's child, he will definitely take responsibility for you," she continued indifferently, then walked past Irene.

Irene followed her quickly.

"Violette, don't be arrogant just because everyone praises you for Hans's love for the world. It's all fake and solely to maintain the alliance between the Renault and Lombardi families because they have to keep a barren woman like you." She then continued her sentence, smiling victoriously.

"Did you know that Damien is Hans' biological son?"

Violette didn't stop walking and considered Irene's words to be nothing more than the buzzing of insects.

It wasn't that she had never suspected it, but she was too afraid to do a DNA test on Damien and Hans.

But now she didn't care about that anymore because in two days she would leave everything behind and disappear from Hans Lombardi's life.

"You don't believe me? I'll prove it to you at the Lombardi family dinner tomorrow. Oh, I forgot to tell you that Camila didn't invite you." After saying that, Irene bumped Violette's shoulder and walked past her with her chin raised.

Violette stared coldly at her back.