For eight years in a marriage devoid of light, I had abortions five times. Every time, Sam would grip my hand when I woke up, his eyes red, and promise to find the best doctors to help me recover.

After the third miscarriage, he finally hired a team of top-tier nutritionists, ensuring that every single meal was planned perfectly.

He always comforted me, "Don't worry, Penny. We're still young, so we can have another baby!"

When I found out I was pregnant again, snowflakes were dancing outside my window.

I wrapped my fur coat tightly around my body and rushed to the company, only to hear Wren's furious voice outside the VIP suite, "Are you insane? Those five babies were your own flesh and blood!"

Sam replied coldly, "Nicole needs specimen for her experiments. All I'm doing is providing her with the materials she needs."

His words dug into my heart like icy spikes, and I could even hear my own bones cracking.

"As for Penelope…" He chuckled. "Do you think that our marriage certificate is the real deal?"

Snowflakes stung my face like needles, and I finally found out the truth about our marriage.

From the very beginning, I was nothing more than a living test subject for the woman he truly loved.

Sam was right. Those unborn children never even had legal identities, and were worth less than a piece of paper, just like my so-called marriage.

Glass shattered from inside the room, and I could hear Wren cursing, but I turned and walked towards the elevator.

Since Sam's priority was Nicole and nothing else, I was hell-bent on making him pay the price.

Wren's expression was complicated as he voiced his confusion, "If Nicole is the only one you care about, why did you propose to Penelope, and even try and have children with her?"

Sam replied with mockery in his voice, "Well, Nicole needs to go study overseas, see? I have to deal with my physical needs somehow, don't I? Penelope was very innocent and naive back then, so it was easy enough to trick her into a secret marriage. I didn't want her to cause me any trouble, after all.

"As for the kids… I don't like using protection, and that woman's real intent on being a mother, so I just let it happen. I didn't plan on keeping them, anyway."

Wren's expression was sympathetic. "So you led her on for eight years without name or status, killed five of her unborn children, and now you're marrying someone else? Penelope loves you so much! Knowing this would…"

Impatiently, Sam cut him off, "Bah, enough of that. She's just a poor college student from the boonies, so she had her fill of the luxurious life. I'll get married to Nicole in three days, so make sure you're there, yeah?"

Seeing how insistent Sam was, Wren sighed. "Well, don't say I didn't warn you. I can't see anything good coming from this… Penelope's a good girl, so I hope you don't regret it."

"Hmph, as long as I can marry Nicole, I won't regret a thing! Save your nonsense for someone who cares."

Wren only shook his head helplessly, not saying more.

Meanwhile, I was drained of all the happiness in my heart, standing there dumbly as tears streamed down my face.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sam caught sight of me standing outside the door, face streaked with tears, and he was scared out of his mind.

Immediately, he rushed outside. "Penny, when did you get here? W-Why are you crying?"

His voice was tinged with a trace of panic.

I wiped the tears off my face and smiled. "It's… It's nothing, I just got a fake eyelash in my eyes. I'm terrible at makeup, haha…"

Sam let out a breath of relief and pulled me tightly into his arms. "It breaks my heart to see you cry! There's no need for makeup, alright? You're the most beautiful girl out there just as you are!

"Come on, let's go home."

His words were still as sweet as ever, but I could no longer feel their warmth.

Back when I had just graduated and became an employee at his family business, I was bullied and harassed by my superiors. Sam stepped in, back then, and protected my dignity.

He told me that he'd support and protect me for the rest of my life, and I believed him, devoting my heart and soul to him.

When he requested that I keep our marriage a secret, I agreed without any hesitation. I was afraid that if the news that the CEO's wife was from the countryside went out, the stocks of Wilson Group would plummet.

Every time I got pregnant, Sam was as happy as a kid, overjoyed at the prospect of being a father. Every time, he worried about my pain, insisting that the doctors use general anesthesia and staying by my side the entire time.

I thought that he sincerely cared about me and our children.

In reality, he only wanted to kill them in cold blood, and all for Nicole's sake.

All this time, I'd assumed that the stillbirths and miscarriages were because of my own body, and I had even felt guilty about the fact.

Thinking back, it was all just laughable.

When I got home, I made an appointment for an abortion and bought plane tickets for three days later while Sam was taking a shower.

After his shower, Sam casually dried his hair and said, "Penny, I'll go overseas on a business trip in three days. It'll probably take a month or so."

A month, just enough time for a wedding and a honeymoon.

"Sam, I haven't been feeling well lately… Can't you keep me company at home instead?"

Sam frowned, and his tone turned cold, "Penny, I thought you knew that I don't like it when women interfere with my work. Be obedient and wait for me at home, and I'll bring you a gift."

My last shred of hope shattered, and my heart turned cold as I nodded.

"You're right. I was being unreasonable. Go ahead."

Only then did Sam smile and press me onto the bed, his breaths smelling of alcohol as he leaned in, speaking with a drawl, "Penny, the nutritionists said that you're recovering well, so why don't we try making a baby tonight? I want to raise a child with you…"

Hearing those words, I felt nothing but irony and disdain in my heart.

Without a trace of emotion, I gently pushed him away. "Let's do this another time, okay? You've been drinking. It won't be good for the baby."

I had always been the type to worry about this sort of thing, so Sam didn't suspect anything, pressing a kiss on my forehead and falling asleep.

While he was fast asleep, I reached for his jacket, and that's how I found out that he actually had another phone.

And the lock screen wallpaper was a photo of him kissing Nicole.

As I expected, the password was Nicole's birthday.

Opening up their chat history, I instantly found the photos of my five unborn children.

"Nicole, I got you a new specimen. I'll have it sent over by helicopter by afternoon. It's fresh, so it'll be good for research!"

"You finished using the last one? Don't worry, Penelope got pregnant again, so I'll make sure she delivers early. You'll have another specimen soon, okay? You're so hardworking, you'll definitely be a great doctor someday."

"When are you coming back from overseas, Nicole? You're the one who's going to be my wife. I only used that woman to fulfill my physical needs."

My hands trembled as I reached to caress my stomach, bitter tears flowing down my cheeks.

This child shouldn't be brought into this cruel world.

I scrolled through their chats, seeing the tens of thousands of photos they took together. With each photo sent, Sam left Nicole a heartfelt note, never once repeated.

So this was where he had been for the past eight years when he told me he was on business trips. He was together with Nicole.

He even sent her more than a hundred wedding layouts and banquet designs, all personally planned by himself.

Each set was luxurious, and Nicole had the choice to pick whatever she wanted.

For every holiday, no matter how busy he was, he always prepared an extravagant gift for Nicole and personally delivered it to her.

Meanwhile, I was nothing more than an afterthought.

I never even got a bouquet of flowers on the day we registered for marriage.

That evening, he saw how much I wanted them as we walked past a florist's, but he only said, "Only immature little girls like this sort of thing. You're not someone like that, right?"

The very same man who said those cold words to me bought an entire estate for Nicole overseas, filled with precious flowers.

Watching them embrace and kiss in the sea of flowers, I suddenly laughed so hard I cried.

After I took photos as evidence, I dug out the fake marriage registration certificate.

That day, we had our wedding registration at home because Sam didn't want me to go through tiring procedures. Thinking back, those were probably actors he hired, huh?

I ripped the wedding certificate to shreds and threw it into the trash.

Going back to the bed, I found that seeing his face didn't make my heart flutter anymore.

I couldn't fall asleep the entire night, my heart filled with sorrow.

The next day, Sam still had the nutritionist prepare me a lavish breakfast.

In the past, I would have been touched by how much he cared, but I knew that all of this paled in comparison to what he did for Nicole after last night.

Every nutritious meal I had, Nicole tried it first. Not only that, but her meals were personally prepared by Sam too.

Thinking of this, I suddenly felt so disgusted that I hunched down, dry heaving, and Sam immediately tried to hold me steady.

"What's wrong, Penny?" He asked, before a flicker of surprise flashed in his eyes. "Wait, are you…?"

Irony was the only thing I felt as I looked at his expression.

What was he happy about? That he had another convenient gift that he could use to curry favor with the one he truly loved?

"I'm not… You know my health has never been good, and getting pregnant has become even harder after all those miscarriages…"

Sam comforted me, his voice gentle, "Don't say that, Penny. That's not your fault, so I won't blame you, okay? Take care of yourself, and I'm sure we'll have a healthy baby in the future!

"Cheer up, okay? Today's Mom's sixtieth birthday, and a lot of people are going to celebrate, so we can't miss out. Come with me and have some fun, yeah?"

Then, as if remembering something, his tone shifted.

"Oh, but we're secretly married, and Mom doesn't know either, so if anyone asks about your identity…"

I knew what he was going to say, so I cut him off calmly, "I know. I'll say that I'm your assistant."

"You're the best, Penny."

At the hotel, I immediately came across Nicole affectionately clinging to Sam's mother, Greta. In her custom-made gown, she made a show of taking Greta's pulse, and said that she'd live until she was two hundred years old.

Greta was so pleased that she immediately took off the bracelet on her hand, wanting to gift it to Nicole.

That bracelet was an heirloom passed down in the Wilson family, only to daughters-in-law.

Nicole simpered when she caught sight of me, but she said, "This is too precious, Ma'am. I can't take this.

"Sam brought his girlfriend here, see? That's your future daughter-in-law who might even give you five grandchildren, so give it to her instead."

Greta glanced at me, her gaze filled with unfiltered disdain as she saw me in my plain one-piece dress.

"Girlfriend? That's nothing more than a little assistant in Sam's company. Gosh, so young yet so shameless… Did you know that she had babies before marriage, and they ended up being five stillbirths? Honestly, I'd say she deserved it.

"Back in my day, a woman like her would have been stoned for being so shameless! She's a far cry from a self-loving girl like yourself, Nicole.

"Sam's at the age where he should get married, so I'll tell him to marry you today."

This wasn't the first time I attended a function held by the Wilsons as an assistant.

Years ago, Sam said that his mother looked down on my upbringing, and didn't want me to become part of their family. He told me that he didn't care, however, and that I was the one he loved, so he said that we'd get registered for marriage while he worked on changing Greta's mind.

I was touched by how strongly he wanted to be with me, so I didn't refuse.

To be fair, I didn't expect to wait eight whole years.

Once his mother caught wind that I'd given birth to five stillbirths, she was convinced that I was a promiscuous woman who slept around with men everywhere, calling me cheap and demanding Sam to throw me out.

In the past, Sam would at least try to act like he was protective of me, but now? All he had in his heart was Nicole, so I was the last thing he thought about.

Hearing his mother's words, he pretended to hesitate, but ended up saying, "Well, if you say so… I'll be heading on a business trip the day after tomorrow, so Nicole can go with me. We'll have our wedding there."

When he spoke, there was no hesitation in his words whatsoever.