The paper tore apart, and with it, the last scrap of hope I had left.

“Wallace, my stomach hurts so much……” Adeline's eyes brimmed with tears, her voice pitiful and thin.

Wallace scooped her up without a second's hesitation, didn't so much as glance at me, and strode toward the elevator.

Rachel spat at me as she passed.

“Can't even keep a bastard alive. Useless. Sign the divorce papers tomorrow—stop squatting on a seat you've got no right to!”

I lay flat on the cold tile floor, watching the three of them walk away together.

My phone screen was still lit, still showing that post on the online forum.

Seven years ago, I'd been in the comments, giddy, typing back：【He said today that our baby will be called Farley Nian-Wren—he picked a name that holds mine inside it. He said he'd give the whole world's best to the two of us, me and our child.】

I closed my eyes and let the tears fall onto the screen.

Wallace, your "everything" belongs to someone else now.

A nurse helped me back to my room.

This was a private hospital. Mine was the most ordinary single room.

Upstairs, Wallace had booked out an entire floor of top-tier VIP suites.

All so Adeline could have peace and quiet for her pregnancy support treatment.

The IV fluid ran cold into my veins, and I couldn't stop shaking.

Someone kicked the door open.

Rachel walked in flanked by two bodyguards, her face murderous.

“Throw all her things out!” She jabbed a finger at my bed.

I struggled upright：“What are you doing?”

“What am I doing? Addie doesn't like the way the rooms face upstairs. She wants this one.” Rachel's smile was ice. “A cursed thing who just miscarried—you think you deserve a room this nice?”

I bit down hard on my lip：“I paid for this room myself!”

“You paid? With what money that wasn't ours?” Rachel stepped closer and swung her hand up.

“Crack!”

The slap landed full across my face.

My ears rang. I tasted blood at the corner of my mouth.

One of the bodyguards ripped the IV needle from the back of my hand. Blood welled up instantly.

They dragged me off the bed like a dead dog and dumped me in the hallway.

The little baby clothes and bottle I'd just bought, the ones I'd chosen to welcome my child, lay scattered on the floor, covered in dust.

Adeline walked over slowly, leaning on Wallace's arm, in no hurry at all.

She looked at me on the ground, pressed a hand to her mouth, and let out a pretty laugh：“Oh my, Jacqueline, why are you sitting on the floor? It must be so cold down there.”

Wallace's gaze caught on my bleeding hand. His brow tightened, barely enough to notice.

But the coldness came right back：“If Addie wants this room, move to a standard ward.”

“Wallace, I just had a post-miscarriage procedure.” I stared at him, my voice barely there, ready to break apart at a breath.

“So what?” Not a trace of warmth in his tone. “Addie is pregnant right now. She can't be upset. You're Mrs. Farley—giving way to her is the least you can do.”

Giving way to her.

Seven years ago, a roommate said one unkind word about me, and Wallace charged downstairs to my dormitory lobby with a megaphone and cursed the girl out for half an hour.

He'd said his Jacqueline—no one was allowed to bully her.

Now he was the one crushing me underfoot, clearing the path for his first love.

Adeline walked over to me and pretended to bend down for the little clothes on the floor.

“Jacqueline, these are so cute. Too bad you won't be needing them anymore. Why don't you give them to me? They'd be perfect for……”

Before she could finish, her fingers loosened.

The white baby outfit slipped from her hand and fell to the floor.

Adeline screamed and let herself topple backward.

Wallace caught her with sharp reflexes, his expression turning black.

“Jacqueline! You actually pushed her!”

I hadn't so much as touched her with a finger.

But I was past the point of explaining.

“Yeah, I pushed her.” I twisted my mouth into something uglier than crying. “And I didn't just want to push her—I wanted to kill her.”

Something vicious flashed through Wallace's eyes.

He closed the distance, seized my collar, and hauled me off the ground.

“Touch one hair on Addie's head again, and I'll make you wish you were dead.”

He flung me aside.

I slammed down beside the hallway trash can, my forehead catching its sharp metal edge, and blood ran into my eyes.

Through the blur I saw Adeline leaning into Wallace's arms, smiling at me in triumph.

The phone in my pocket buzzed.

My hands were shaking as I pulled it out.

A new reply on the forum post.

The "me" from seven years ago had sent a direct message：【What's wrong with you? Why would you say I'll die on the operating table? Wallace is so good to me. Are you sure you have the right person?】

【Who are you?】

Staring at those naive, bewildered words on the screen, I felt my chest seize so hard I couldn't breathe.

The right person?

I'd asked myself that same question countless times.

Was the cruel, brutal man standing before me really the same boy who once ran through three blocks of pouring rain just to buy me a strawberry cake?

My fingers trembled as I typed out a reply.

【Him being good to you now doesn't mean he'll stay that way. He'll cheat. He'll throw you away for another woman. You won't even get to keep your child.】

I hit send, shoved the phone back into my pocket, and closed my eyes.

A nurse who couldn't stand watching any longer snuck me into a makeshift room converted from a storage closet.

No heat. Just a hard iron-frame cot.

I curled up on it and spent the first night after losing my child.

The next morning, Wallace's assistant pushed open the door.

He tossed a document at me, tone strictly business：“Mrs. Farley, Mr. Farley wants you to sign this agreement.”

I picked it up. 《Screenplay Copyright Transfer Agreement》.

That screenplay was 《Spring Banquet》, the one I'd spent three full years writing, burning through countless sleepless nights.

It was the only proof I had that I was more than a caged bird living off Wallace Farley.

“What is he trying to do?” My grip on the papers tightened.

“Miss Henson's about to make her comeback. Mr. Farley plans to use this film to get her a Best Actress award.” The assistant's face betrayed nothing. “Mr. Farley says that as long as you sign, he'll consider not pursuing the matter of you pushing Miss Henson yesterday.”

I laughed. The kind of laugh that comes when fury burns past its limit.

He wanted to take my life's work and hand it to the woman who cost me my child?

I threw the blanket off, didn't even stop for shoes, and ran barefoot to the VIP suite on the top floor.

The door was open.

Adeline sat on the sofa, holding the first draft of my screenplay.

Wallace was half-kneeling in front of her, gently massaging her swollen calves.

“This script is so good, Wallace… do you really think I could play the lead?” Adeline cooed, voice dripping sweetness.

“Of course. It was made for you.” His eyes were soft with indulgence.

I rushed in and snatched the script from Adeline's hands.

“This is mine! Who gave you permission to touch it!”

Adeline flinched and shrank back into Wallace's arms.

He rose, his face going cold in an instant：“Jacqueline, what the hell is wrong with you now?”

“Wallace, you want money, I'll give you money. You want me to step aside for her, fine, I already have. But this screenplay is my life! What gives you the right to take it!” I screamed, tears spilling down my face before I could stop them.

“Your life?” Wallace scoffed. “Jacqueline, have you forgotten? Every single thing you've eaten, worn, and used for the past three years came from me. Even the computer you wrote your scripts on, I paid for that.”

“Besides, Addie needs this script more than you do.”

He looked down at me like I was a beggar throwing a tantrum over nothing.

Adeline peeked out from behind him, a vicious smile spreading across her face.

She reached for the cup of freshly brewed hot coffee on the table, and her hand slipped.

Scalding coffee splashed across the back of my hand.

“Ah!” I screamed and the script fell from my fingers.

Adeline gasped：“Oh no, Jacqueline, I didn't mean to! I was only trying to pour you a cup of coffee.”

Wallace didn't even glance at my scalded, blistering hand.

He shoved me aside and grabbed Adeline's hands, turning them over and over：“Did it burn you? How could you be so careless?”

Watching the two of them fawning over each other, I felt sick.

Adeline glanced down at the script on the floor and pressed the pointed toe of her heel into the cover.

“Oh no, the script got dirty.” She blinked, all innocence. “Jacqueline, why don't you wipe it clean for me? Once it's clean, I'll give it back.”

She wasn't even trying to hide it. This was humiliation, plain and open.

I stared at the smug triumph on Adeline's face, then looked at Wallace standing there, unmoved.

The blisters on the back of my hand had already burst, the pain piercing and raw.

But I laughed.

I crouched down slowly and reached out, not to wipe the script clean, but to grip it by the edge.

“Riiip!”

I tore the script in half. Three years of my life, ripped down the middle.

“What are you doing!” Wallace's voice cracked like a whip.

I didn't stop. I shredded it to pieces, then flung the scraps into the air.

Paper fragments drifted down over both of them like snow.

“If it's dirty, then no one gets it.” I dusted off my hands and stood. My voice was so calm it frightened even me.

No more hysteria. No more begging through tears.

Because I finally understood: a heart that's already dead can't feel pain.

Wallace stared at the shredded paper covering the floor, and something like panic flickered through his eyes.

He was used to me making scenes like a resentful wife. He'd never seen this—this dead stillness in my gaze.

“Jacqueline, don't forget who you owe everything to.” He ground the words out through clenched teeth.

“I'll sign the divorce papers. I'll have a lawyer send them over tomorrow.” I turned and walked out without sparing him another look.

Adeline watched me go, something venomous flashing behind her eyes.

That afternoon, I received a text from Adeline.

【If you want your mother's jade bracelet back, come to the hospital rooftop.】

That jade bracelet was the only thing my mother left me. A few days ago, Rachel had taken it by force, claiming Adeline needed it to settle her nerves.

I went to the rooftop without a second thought.

The wind was fierce. Adeline stood near the edge in a thin maternity dress.

She was turning the jade bracelet over in her fingers, smiling like a snake.

“Jacqueline, you really think you can just sign some papers and walk away?”

I looked at her coldly：“Give me the bracelet.”

“Give it back?” Adeline laughed softly and opened her hand.

“Crack!”

The jade bracelet hit the concrete and shattered into pieces.

My heart shattered with it. I threw myself to the ground, scrambling to gather the fragments.

That was when the rooftop door slammed open.

Wallace came charging through, out of breath.

The instant Adeline saw him, her face twisted into terror. She screamed and stumbled backward.

“Jacqueline, stay away from me! The baby is innocent!”