“Mrs. Lizzie, you’re already 34 weeks along, aren’t you? You’re nearly due. I hear it’s twins—a boy and a girl. We can’t afford to be careless. Everything you need is ready at our hospital, so please rest assured.”

I lowered my head and let out a cold laugh. I had only a five-month-old child at home and my surname wasn’t Lizzie—it was Scott.

“Are you sure this prenatal appointment was scheduled by my husband, Louise Darren?”

The nurse answered with absolute certainty. “Of course! Didn’t he come with you today?”

My heart skipped and I rushed forward. Sure enough, there was Louise—the man who had told me he was in a meeting.

And he wasn’t alone. He was holding a woman who looked strikingly like me. No wonder the mistake.

Every time I asked him to accompany me to prenatal checkups, he always claimed he was too busy. Yet here he was, kneeling in a hospital corridor, massaging another woman’s legs.

Karen Lizzie leaned into Louise’s arms, her voice soft and full of meaning.

“Now that I’m back and carrying your child, what are you going to do about that stand-in wife of yours?”

“With you here, she means nothing to me.”

“If it weren’t for merging the Scott Corporation into the Darren Group and swallowing up Scott’s market share, I never would have bothered with her farce of a marriage.”

“Besides, she still doesn’t know about that secret.”

So, my marriage had been a lie from the very beginning.

Ridiculous. But what he didn’t realize was that the very secret he mentioned would one day destroy him.

This marriage wasn’t worth keeping. For all the pain they’d caused me, I would make them pay double.

***

“Oh, I climbed the 999 steps of Greylock Mountain, bowing at each one, just to get this safety charm for you and the baby. It’ll protect you both during childbirth.”

Louise fastened the charm around Karen’s neck with great care, whispering “safe and sound” again and again.

Her eyes shimmered with tears before she playfully pouted.

“I heard you got one for that stand-in at home too.”

Louise chuckled and soothed her with practiced patience.

“Nonsense! Hers was just a trinket from a street vendor. Yours is the one I prayed for, step by step.”

At those words, my heart froze completely.

When he gave me that amulet, I’d been worried sick, believing he had worn himself out climbing all those steps. I had cherished it like a precious treasure.

But mine was a fake.

Karen was back. And to Louise, I was nothing but a substitute. Even the child in my belly was just a pawn in his power game.

My hands trembled as I dialed my private investigator.

“Dig into Louise—and that woman he calls his ‘first love.’”

Half an hour later, the files lay spread across my desk.

The red markings burned into my eyes.

Three months into our marriage, Louise had already begun his frequent “business trips.” Sixty trips in three years, each destination perfectly aligning with Karen’s whereabouts.

In other words, not long after our wedding, Louise and Karen had rekindled their affair.

Last year, when Karen returned to US, he even bought her a villa—just blocks from our home.

Was he running into her arms the moment he walked out of mine?

Even worse, on March 7th, Louise had accompanied her shopping for baby supplies.

I remembered that day vividly. I had suffered vaginal bleeding and called him, crying, begging him to take me to the hospital. He had said he was too busy.

Now, staring at the documents, I didn’t know whether to laugh or weep.

Just then, my phone rang.

“Miss, I’ve uncovered something about Louise.”

The tone was grim—it wasn’t trivial.

“Louise had his assistant procure abortion drugs. Potent, banned ones. A single dose could leave someone permanently infertile.”

The target was obvious.

“I understand. Thank you.”

That night, Louise returned home, carrying a steaming bowl of silver ear fungus soup.

“Honey, this is from Japan. I waited in line an hour just to get it for you.”

I looked into his eyes and pain pierced straight through me.

“Is it okay if I don’t want to drink it tonight?”

Louise—for Karen’s sake, are you really this cruel? This is your own child.

“What’s wrong, honey? You usually love this. Come, let me blow on it for you.”

“I said I don’t want it!”

The ceramic bowl slipped from my hands, shattering into pieces on the floor.

Louise’s expression darkened instantly, but within seconds he smoothed it over.

“Fine, don’t drink it. No need to get so worked up—you’ll upset the baby.”

That night, he didn’t go to Karen.

Instead, he held me in bed, his voice gentle as he told me a bedtime story. He looked every inch the loving husband and expectant father.

But with my back to him, silent tears soaked my pillow.

When I opened my eyes again, I wasn’t in my bedroom—I was in an operating room.

My mind was clear, but my body wouldn’t move. My eyelids felt glued shut.

Then came the doctor’s cold voice.

“Mr. Darren, are you certain you want to terminate this pregnancy? At five months, the procedure will cause the mother severe pain and may leave permanent damage.”

I felt Louise’s hand stroke my belly and his voice fell like ice.

“I’m certain. Don’t worry about anything else. Just do as I said.”

Trapped inside my own body, I screamed and pounded against invisible walls.

“Please, don’t hurt my baby. I’ll give you anything you want!”

But the truth was, no sound left my lips. I couldn’t move at all. I could only endure as the cold instruments tore through me.

The next morning, when I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was Louise, his eyes bloodshot.

“Honey, are you still in pain?”

“The baby… What happened to my baby? Why am I in the hospital?”

Louise pulled a sheet of paper from behind him and handed it to me with trembling hands.

It was a medical report. The diagnosis was brutally clear: due to “improper diet,” the fetus had developed congenital deformities. Continuing the pregnancy would have posed a fatal risk to both me and the child.

“Honey, I had no choice…” His voice cracked. “This child wasn’t meant for us. It was endangering your life—I couldn’t let you stay in danger…”

His expression was drenched in regret, his tone thick with pain and sorrow.

Hearing his words, my tears finally broke free.

Louise, how could you be so heartless? You took my baby away for that woman and then you blamed it on the child.

He was already five months old—so close to opening his eyes to this world…

Just then, Louise’s phone rang. On the screen, the caller ID read: Treasure.

His eyes flickered nervously, hesitation flashing across his face. But the next second, he grabbed his suit jacket and stood up.

“Honey, there’s a crucial deal at the company. I need to rush back and handle it.”

“Rest here at the hospital. If you need anything, ask the doctor. I’ll be back soon.”

But he didn’t come back the next day. Or the third. Or the fourth.

Days passed without him showing up.

Every time I called, he had the same excuses—meetings, negotiations, urgent deals.

It wasn’t until my discharge date that I finally got him on the phone again.

“Honey, I’m being discharged today. Can you come pick me up?”

On the other end, his voice sounded startled—like he had completely forgotten.

“You’re being discharged today?”

“Honey… I have a crucial partnership meeting right now. Could you go home on your own?”

My anger flared instantly.

“Who’s more important—your wife or your work?”

“Of course you are. But this deal… it really requires me to be there in person…”

I hung up before he could finish.

In the past, whenever I was upset, Louise would drop everything to be by my side. But this time, he didn’t come.

Instead, he sent a car to pick me up.

I didn’t get in. I wandered aimlessly instead, until fate shoved the truth right in front of me.

On the street, I saw Louise—with Karen.

He was singing One and Only to her, his voice tender, every word filled with devotion.

Above them, a drone spelled the same words in glowing letters across the sky: One and Only.

When the song ended, Louise dropped to one knee, looking at Karen with eyes overflowing with love.

“Karen, I love you. Will you marry me? I’ll make you happy forever.”

Karen’s tears spilled as she nodded.

He slipped a jade ring onto her finger.

Petals rained down as they kissed passionately, surrounded by cheers from the crowd.

The scene before me was a cruel echo of Louise’s proposal to me years ago.

So that song, One and Only, had never truly belonged to me. It had always been meant for Karen.

That jade ring he once claimed was a family heirloom, a keepsake for his daughter-in-law—it wasn’t meant for me at all. In his heart, Karen was always the true daughter-in-law of the Darren family.

He wasn’t too busy to pick me up from the hospital after my surgery. He was busy proposing to another woman.

I wiped my tears away and dialed my brother overseas.

“I’m divorcing Louise.”

As though he had expected this, he didn’t sound surprised.

“Are you absolutely sure?”

“Yes. Brother, please send someone to help me with the divorce proceedings.”

Two weeks later, I received a congratulatory package from the hospital.

I froze. I had just lost my child—why would the hospital be sending congratulations?

When I opened it, a family portrait slid out.

Louise stood proudly with a woman who looked strikingly like me, cradling two rosy-cheeked infants.

The four of them beamed with joy. A perfect, happy family.

At the bottom of the box lay a card: “Congratulations to Mr. Darren and Mrs. Lizzie on the safe arrival of their dragon-and-phoenix twins!”

Staring at the photo, my fingernails dug so deep into my palms they nearly broke the skin.

They killed my child—how dare they smile so happily?

That night, Louise came home earlier than usual, his face glowing with excitement. He pulled me onto the sofa and handed me an envelope.

Inside was an adoption agreement.

“Honey,” he began, voice soft, “I know you’ve been heartbroken every day since losing the baby. You don’t know how terrified I was when the doctor said you might not make it. If anything had happened to you, I couldn’t have gone on.”

“So… we won’t have our own. Let’s adopt instead.”

I glanced at the papers. Twins. Less than twenty days old.

My heart went cold. Just as I thought—he wanted me to adopt the children he’d had with his mistress.

He was dreaming.

Fury overtook me. I tore the agreement to shreds, sobbing until my throat burned.

“Our child was just taken from us—and you want me to raise someone else’s?” I screamed. “I refuse!”

Louise clearly hadn’t expected my reaction to be so fierce.

At first, he tried to soothe me. But when he realized I wouldn’t give in, his expression hardened.

“Whether you agree or not, this is happening.”

“I will never agree!” I shouted back, eyes blazing red.

Smack—

His palm cracked across my face. The first time he had ever struck me since we married.

Before I could recover, he dragged me down into the dark basement and locked the door.

“Reflect on your actions. I’ll release you once you come to your senses.”

I never imagined Louise would go this far—for Karen, for their children. He didn’t care about the Scott Family’s power. In his eyes, I was nothing more than a trapped bird, powerless to leave.

I remained in that basement for ten full days.

No matter how I cried, screamed, or begged, he refused to let me out. Only the servants came at noon, silently sliding in a tray of food.

Hunger clawed at me, fear gnawed at me and I began to wonder if I would die down there, alone and forgotten.

But one day, when the servant came, I seized my chance and escaped.

The moment I stumbled into the living room, the phone rang. It was my brother, Jimmy Scott.

“Sis, you must divorce Louise immediately,” he said, voice sharp with urgency.

“I just uncovered the truth. Mom and Dad’s car accident years ago—it was orchestrated by Louise and Karen. Back then, he sent her abroad to cover it up because he was terrified we’d find out.”

Shock rooted me to the floor. But before I could process it, I saw Louise charging at me, a club raised high.

Panicked, I screamed into the phone. “Jimmy, save me!”

The next instant, pain exploded in my skull and everything went black.

When I woke, I was back in the basement, chained by despair.

Tears streamed down my face as my brother’s words replayed in my mind.

My parents had loved me dearly. And yet I had been deceived into marrying the man who murdered them.

No. I couldn’t die here. I would make them pay—with blood.

I grabbed a stone and began prying at the iron bars. Bit by bit.

I didn’t stop, even as my hands split open and bled.

Days passed. Finally, the bars gave way.

When I stepped outside, I was met with the sight of a lavishly decorated house filled with guests.

I hurried up to one of them. “What’s happening?”

The guest beamed at me. “Mrs. Scott, isn’t this your twins’ full-moon banquet? How could you not know?”

He pointed toward the stage. “See? Mr. Darren and Mrs. Scott are holding the babies right there, toasting the guests.”

“Who are you?” I demanded.

Others began to gather, curious at the commotion.

On stage, Louise and Karen’s faces darkened, panic flashing in their eyes before Louise straightened his posture and barked coldly.

“You! Have you lost your mind? How dare you impersonate my wife, the heiress of Scott Group!”

“Security! Get this imposter out immediately!”

Three or four burly guards lunged toward me.

“I’m not—ugh—let go of me!”

A nod from Louise and a guard clamped a cloth over my mouth. My desperate struggles meant nothing.

But then—

“Who said my sister is an imposter?”

At that critical moment, my brother Jimmy appeared.