I felt very mad, so I laughed loudly instead.

“Adrian, go outside and check how many performers want to join my birthday party, your partner dancing for me, should I thank you for that?”

“You say that I only think about myself.”

“So, you're bringing your mistress to my birthday, isn't it selfish? You think I should kindly welcome that woman back and take care of her?!”

Adrian clearly did not think I would talk to him like this in front of others; his expression quickly turned cold.

“Eloise, you really are unbelievable. Now you even speak against me in front of everyone! You are nowhere near as reasonable as Amira!”

He could not win the argument, angrily placed his arm around Amira’s shoulder, and left.

I breathed in deeply, holding back the worry of wanting to see the child, saying sorry, making small talk, and sending the guests away one by one.

After everyone had fully left, the smile on my face slowly faded away.

I quickly moved toward the baby's room, hoping to get some comfort from the child.

But the nursery had no one inside!

And the helper who was about to enter was also not holding the baby.

A bad feeling rose up at once.

“Where is my child?”

I asked the nanny with teary eyes. “I told you to stay with her, where did she go?!”

The nanny’s face turned white right away, and she started to speak with breaks.

“M-Ma’am, the baby…”

“It was, sir, he said you cannot care for a child well, your feelings are not calm, it will affect the child’s nature…”

“For these days the baby will stay with him, and you… should think about yourself.”

I stood still, and even breathing felt hard.

After I came back to my senses, I quickly tried to reach Adrian’s staff, his assistant, but every message got no reply.

Adrian stayed away from me on purpose. For now, I had no way to know where he went.

Just as I was about to break down, my phone showed that last extra live stream of the dating show.

When I noticed what the live video showed, anger rose in my eyes at once.

On screen, Adrian told everyone the baby was given by the show team so they could practice caring for a child.

I watched Amira, next to him, give the baby a small cookie. The baby was just one month old, and even drinking was hard, but it was pushed into her mouth, and she cried loudly in pain.

The milk formula I asked someone to make was spread all over the floor, then Amira picked it up carelessly and kept mixing it.

She gave it to the baby, but it was too hot, and the baby refused to drink. She even gave the baby’s own bottle to a dog!

Amira also placed the baby on the floor, letting her stay with a big dog. The floor was cold and dirty, and her clothes quickly became messy!

Adrian, on screen, still showed a pleased smile. “See how joyful the baby is.”

Joyful?

I looked at the screen, my eyes felt hot.

How can she be happy?

Her face clearly showed fear!

The last small hope in my heart that “Adrian might be a good dad” fully broke.

That was the baby I kept safe with care, scared she might get hit or hurt.

The precious child I slowly raised with love!

But in Adrian’s view, she was only a “thing” he could easily bring to the show to flirt with!

I almost lost control and ran straight to the hotel where the show group stayed.

The front desk saw me, their expression changed a little, and the assistant quickly ran after me to stop me.

“Mrs. Wilkinson, now is really not the right time…”

I shoved the person aside and rushed straight to the room door.

I kicked the door open.

What was inside came into sight right away.

The air felt strange, clothes were thrown around, and everything looked messy.

Adrian’s clothes were not neat, and his face showed anger from being interrupted. Amira stayed in his arms, her face red, her look uneasy.

My sight went dark for a second, but I made myself stay standing.

My voice shook as I asked, “Adrian!”

“Where is my baby? Where did you take my baby?!”

Amira looked scared, quickly hiding in Adrian’s arms.

“Sister-in-law, please don’t get mad. I thought brother brought the baby to the show to build a bond with the baby, did he not tell you?”

“If I knew before, I would have told him to bring the baby back, ah, that milk formula, was it for the baby to drink? I thought brother bought it for the dog, so I gave it to the dog…”

My head hurts. Before I could talk, I heard Adrian give a small laugh. “Why are you saying all that to her?”

He lifted his eyes to face me, his eyes cold with no warmth.

“As the baby’s dad, what is wrong with me building a bond with the baby?”

“No need to say sorry to her, the milk formula had no words saying it is for the baby, what is wrong with giving it to the dog? Do not blame yourself, you did nothing bad.”

What was wrong with giving it to the dog?

What was wrong?!

My voice almost came out with force from my throat.

“Adrian, do you know that milk formula was made just…”

“Stop, how long will you keep making trouble? Look at you now, like a loud woman from the street.”

“Do you think we are not ashamed enough already?”

Adrian cut me off; his eyes showed a bit of harshness, he touched Amira’s cheek, and slowly spoke.

“And is this not because of you? Yesterday, you thought Amira could not care for the baby and pushed her aside, making her look bad in public.”

“So I let the baby stay with Amira more so she can learn how to care for a baby, what is wrong with that?”

I caused this?

Just because I made his mistress feel ashamed, he treats the baby like this?

I couldn’t stop myself from stumbling.

My chest seemed like a heavy rock pushed on it, going down bit by bit.

I’d always believed that when it came to the kid, Adrian had some limit.

No matter how messy he acted, how careless, he wouldn’t treat the kid like a joke.

But then I understood I’d been too innocent.

If even he could, just because I upset Amira, take the kid and hand her off to someone like a plaything.

Then later on, would things turn even worse?

My heart slowly turned cold, and fear wrapped around my thoughts.

Adrian held the sleeping kid and walked out.

“The baby is my daughter, with me here, would I treat her badly?”

“It’s only milk powder, it’s not like I can’t pay for it, if the dog drank it, then just get more, and our baby isn’t that fragile, right?”

He played with the baby, then lightly touched my head.

“Okay.”

Adrian’s voice sounded relaxed.

“The payment for taking the baby won’t be small for you.”

I pulled away from his hand, held the child tight with shaking arms, like I’d gotten something precious back, and I couldn’t stop my tears in the end.

I just felt that the man before me was very strange, very strange.

The Adrian from earlier kept himself neat; we’d grown up together, loved each other first, both simple and pure.

This last year, Adrian tried many times to play around, but all were stopped by me in a strict way.

About the condom, before, I tried to act like I didn’t notice.

Even though I’d already made up my mind to divorce, I still couldn’t accept that Adrian

had hurt both my body and feelings.

But now, I saw the messy black stockings in the room, saw the birth control pills near the bed.

I couldn’t keep denying that Adrian had already turned unclean; he wasn’t the same Adrian from before.

My stomach turned, and I just felt very sick.

I didn’t want to lose control, so I turned around and walked away.

After I came back, I slowly moved my and the child’s things to the home I’d bought overseas.

Adrian started giving me money for my “compliance”, sending it over; the sums were very big.

Different presents also started being delivered to the house.

Like this could cover up his guilt for cheating.

I took everything and then sold it for money.

That was what he was meant to give from the start; the more he sent, the better.

I didn’t fight, didn’t cause issues, didn’t go to Adrian anymore, didn’t care about him anymore.

He instead started acting like a “good dad”.

Sometimes when he returned home, he wanted to carry the child.

But I always found ways to pull the child away, not letting him come near.

Until now, Adrian had never asked what the child’s name was. What kind of good dad was he pretending to be?

I bent my head to look at the child in my arms, gently asked her, “Baby, do you hate mommy?”

The child, of course, didn’t understand, but smiled at me.

At that time, my nose felt sore, and I hugged her more tightly.

At the same moment, parts of the dating show live stream started spreading fast.

Someone saved the part where Amira gave the baby a cookie.

Someone enlarged the clip of the milk powder dropping to the floor and being picked up again.

There were also people who kept cutting the part where the baby was put on the floor to play with the dog.

The comments section burst.

“This is too much, right? Such a tiny baby can eat this?”

“The milk powder dropped on the floor and was picked up again?”

“That woman even gave the milk powder to a dog?”

Soon, someone found out that Adrian was married.

Right after that, the clip from five years earlier was also found.

A helicopter stayed in the sky.

Rose petals dropped from above.

“This was the way Adrian chased Mrs. Wilkinson before.”

“Even more over the top than now.”

The comments area was full of angry voices.

“So this is cheating, wow, even joining a dating show to cheat, you rich people, I can’t get it?”

“What kind of show is this?”

I read those comments, and my fingers stopped for a moment.

If it had been before, I would’ve at once asked people to take down the trending topic and hold down the public talk.

At any price, keep the Wilkinson family’s name and shares safe.

But now I didn’t do anything.

There was one comment, pushed very high.

“Love can change. Childhood lovers, how many can beat someone who comes later?”

I looked at that line for a long time.

Yes.

If back then, I hadn’t married Adrian so soon.

Now he would also be drawn to the so-called new person, right? Maybe this had been meant from the start.

There were three days left until the divorce.

That day was Thanksgiving; this year, the Thanksgiving show in Daly City was handled by our company.

This had been a plan that Adrian and I had done together for two years.

We’d once put in a lot of work for it; every show list, every act was chosen after a long time of thinking.

And the most important thing was that day I would present my podcast show in front of everyone.

That would be my first time showing up before the crowd; I’d been waiting for that day very much.

But just one hour before, I went up on stage at the Thanksgiving show.

I got a message that my show had been taken off by force.

At the same time, the screen in the broadcast room showed the scene, in the middle of the large stage, where Amira held Adrian’s hand and walked onto the stage.

I stood there, fixed in place, watching Amira spin around and around.

But in my heart, it felt like a fire was slowly burning bit by bit.

This spot should have been my show.

It was work I had spent so much time fixing, a setup I built piece by piece, the name that the Pearson family had finally kept steady.

But now, it was simply taken over by Adrian.

So the next steps would not fall apart, I could not even stop it right there, and I could not go up after Amira finished her act.

I could only stay here, watching everything happen with no control.

Watching all the effort turn into nothing.

A feeling of no control spread across my whole body. I just hated that I did not end things with Adrian earlier, even sooner.

After one track finished, the applause was light.

Before I could take a breath, Adrian took the mic and said, “Using this chance, I will share one thing: Amira will later join our Wilkinson Group and will become someone we plan to train.”

At that time, I did not even feel shocked anymore.

Adrian would even let go of tens of millions in the market just to clear an easy path for his lover.

My phone shook hard in my hand.

Calls from Daly City leaders came one after another.

I shut my eyes with no strength, turned around, and walked fast to the backstage.

In the backstage area, Adrian stood there, softly calming Amira, who felt nervous after the show.

Amira saw me first, moved forward half a step, standing in front of Adrian, her voice low and shaking.

“Sister-in-law, do not feel angry, and do not blame brother Adrian. I asked him, I wanted this chance to go on stage, if you want to blame, blame me.”

Each line, she said, meant that this show was what she wanted, and Adrian had given it to her.

And I was only that spare choice that got pushed aside.

The small bit of control I was still holding in my heart suddenly broke apart.

Without any thought, I lifted my hand.

A clear sound, Amira’s whole body was hit and turned to one side.

“Eloise, are you out of your mind?!”

Adrian’s face quickly became very dark, pulling her into his arms.

His voice dropped low, but you could hear clear anger.

“You crazy woman, why’re you hitting someone!”

I showed no feeling and tossed the phone right in front of him.

On the screen were missed calls from leaders one after another.

My tone was cold.

“See it yourself. The leaders are already blaming us.”

“Adrian.”

“Today, do you dare take the result of everything you’ve done?”

Adrian looked at the display, his look showing a short moment of unease.

He didn’t think the leaders would get so angry just for swapping a show.

But soon, that feeling was pushed away by impatience.

“Do we need to care?”

His tone sounded easy, even holding a bit of annoyance.

“It’s only switching a show, at most we pay some fine.”

“But why are you hitting someone? All choices today were made by me; if you want to blame, blame me.”

“Amira’s a performer, what if you mess up her face? Aren’t you ruining her future?!”

Adrian looked at me, proudly said, “And also—”

“Your show, how good can it be?”

“Next to Amira’s dance, it’s only average.”

At that second, I heard this, and I felt like my whole self dropped into water.

The one who once listened closely as I spoke about ideas, helped me fix drafts line by line, praised my clear thoughts and smooth speech, at that second, fully faded away.

I suddenly didn’t want to ask anymore, calm to the limit.

“Alright.”

“Then you go tell the leaders yourself, go tell the partners.”

As for who Adrian wants to push, he should start an entertainment company by himself.

From now on, he couldn’t step into the Pearson family’s film and TV department at all!

Even though I wanted to just walk away, the work of the Wilkinson family and the Pearson family was still tied together.

If this issue spreads, it would also ruin the name of the Pearson family.

I could only call the partners one by one.

Adrian and I stayed at the company all night, but neither of us wanted to look for the other.

Late at night, I went to the break room to make coffee, just as I picked up the mug, the door got pushed open from outside.

Amira stood at the doorway.

Her face looked red in a strange way, her hair a bit messy, the lipstick on her lips slightly smeared, as she had just come from something intimate.

She looked toward me and gave a proud smile.

“President Pearson, it’s pretty late, still busy?”

I didn’t reply.

She didn’t need any answer, going on by herself, “And now, work’s all you’ve got left.”

“Honestly, I feel a bit sorry for you.”

“You tried so hard for so many years, only had a daughter, and now you’re still not liked by your husband.”

She gave a small smile.

“If you still have some pride, don’t want me to throw you out myself one day, you might as well leave Adrian sooner on your own.”

I looked at her pretty face, lifted my hand, and poured the full cup of very hot coffee over her.

“Ah!”

Amira shouted, stepping back at once.

Coffee ran down through her hair, her carefully kept look fully messed up.

I set the used cup down, my tone cold with no warmth at all.

“What are you, that you think you can talk to me?”

“A mistress should know her place.”

“Don’t make people sick everywhere like garbage.”

Amira shook with anger, her eyes red, looking at me with teeth clenched.

“Eloise, you’ll regret this!”

I didn’t care to look at her again, turned around, and hadn’t taken a few steps.

All of a sudden, there was a sound of something heavy dropping behind me.

I quickly turned around.

A cold feeling I couldn’t explain rose up from my back.