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.

Nicole blushed. "But I haven't had the chance to pick out a wedding dress yet… Oh, and the ring…"

Before she could finish speaking, twenty sets of exquisite and lavish wedding gowns were brought into the room. Each set was a custom creation by a world-famous designer, and they had to be ordered years ahead.

All the wedding dresses had different styles and matching diamond rings, each diamond as big as a pigeon's egg.

One of the pink diamonds, I recalled, was auctioned at the price of two hundred million dollars just last month.

Clearly, Sam came prepared.

Nicole's heart was filled with joy, and she pressed a kiss on Sam's cheek.

"Wow, these all fit me perfectly! And did you think that I wouldn't notice that twenty was the number of years we've known each other? You're so thoughtful!

"Hey, don't tell me you've been plotting to marry me ever since we were kids!"

She acted coy, feigning anger, and Sam just smiled and didn't say a word, but his gaze said it all.

I looked down at my simple wedding band, the one Sam had given me when he asked me to marry him. It was a bit too small for my finger, and had always been painful to wear, but I never took it off.

Right then, I noticed how the size was the same as the ones he picked out for Nicole.

Ah, so that was the truth.

It wasn't that he was careless or that he forgot, but that he reserved all the good things in life for Nicole.

Standing there, I felt like nothing more than a court jester.

I silently retreated to the restroom, splashing my face with cold water from the faucet to make it seem like I wasn't crying.

The moment I stepped out of the restroom, I was greeted with a warm hug. Sam handed me a lovely bottle of perfume, his tone gentle, as if trying to coax a pet, "Are you jealous? Today's Mom's birthday, so I just went along with it. This is all just temporary, and those dresses are all just for show!

"Once Nicole and I go overseas, I'll tell her that we are lawfully wedded. I promise that after I finish my work this month, I'll tell her about our relationship and give you the wedding you deserve, alright? Can't you be a good girl and understand me?

"I know you like perfumes, so I went through a lot of trouble to get my hands on this one! This is the latest creation of a world-class perfumer. Can't you see how much I love you?"

I felt a bitter taste in my mouth, knowing where exactly that perfume came from.

That perfume was actually one of the wedding favors for Nicole and his wedding ceremony. He had invited over a thousand guests, and each and every one of them would receive a bottle.

This perfume was nothing more than a weak attempt at placating me.

A notification popped up on my phone, reminding me the time I scheduled for the surgery, and Sam caught sight of it. "Penny, are you having a surgery?"

I stuffed my phone back into my bag and squeezed out a weak smile. "It's nothing, just a spam message. Anyway, don't worry. I understand."

Sam pressed a gentle kiss on my forehead. "I knew my Penny's the most sensible girl there is. I'll go welcome the guests and come home to keep you company later, alright?"

I nodded, but quietly tailed him after he left. However, it wasn't to the main hall, but upstairs instead.

One of the doors to a guest room was left slightly ajar, and inside, Nicole gently whined, wearing a sexy piece of lingerie, "What took you so long, Sam? I've been waiting for ages…"

"Oh, Penny was just feeling under the weather. How about we cancel it for now? We have lots of time to do it after we get married, after all, so…"

Nicole wrapped her arms around his shoulders, her voluptuous figure pressing tightly against him. "Aw, do you want to leave me all by myself? We haven't been together for so long… Don't you miss me?

"We're going to get married soon, so won't you let me give you a baby? You don't have to wear protection tonight, and you can do it as many times as you want… I'll be good, please?"

Sam's gaze darkened instantly, his restraint completely shattering. He pressed Nicole down onto the bed, losing himself in a frenzy of passion.