My daughter, Nora Tyler, has congenital heart disease. When her disease relapses once again, I scoop her into my arms and travel to the hospital on foot on a rainy night.

By the time I reach the hospital, I accidentally see the note my husband, Lionel Tyler, has left for the doctor.

"I don't care what you do, be it dragging the time out to kill Nora or failing to save her life. No matter what, Nora isn't allowed to leave the hospital alive!

"Chloe's due date is almost here. I want you to pay more attention to her. Only her child has the right to become the first child of the Tyler family."

I can only stare at the note with bloodshot eyes. At that time, the medical staff has already wheeled Nora out from the ER. A white sheet can be seen draping over her body.

When I was still pregnant with Nora, Lionel had taken leave for two years just to take care of me. He truly viewed me as the apple of his eye back then.

After I gave birth to Nora, he even purchased an island and named it after her. My favorite gardenias filled every inch of that island.

The Lionel who once refused to take any other woman but me as his wife and had prioritized me more than his own life… is also the same man who has personally killed his own daughter just because his first love, Chloe Meyer, is pregnant.

My heart has officially died. After leaving a divorce agreement behind, I go home and inherit my family business. Now, Lionel can never hope to reach me ever again.

Rain poured in torrents.

I held my daughter, Nora Tyler, tightly in my arms and sprinted toward the hospital. Not a single car stopped for us along the way.

I could feel her body turning cold. Choking back sobs, I refused to let tears blur my vision and kept running even as my strength gave out.

"Help! Someone, please! Save my child!" I screamed until my voice went hoarse.

It wasn't until I burst into the emergency room with Nora in my arms that several doctors finally strolled over.

After they wheeled her into the operating room, I caught a glimpse of a message on the computer screen, and my pupils constricted.

"Honey, how did Nora suddenly get so sick?"

Lionel Tyler appeared out of nowhere with genuine-looking anxiety written all over his face.

"Poor Nora inherited that congenital heart disease and suffered through so much misery since she was a baby. If she doesn't pull through this time, it might be a blessing for her."

I turned and gawked at his conflicted expression in disbelief. "Are you saying that you hope she doesn't make it?"

"Of course not. You're overthinking it," he said, soothingly patting my back. "I just don't want you to be sad. We can always have another child even if the worst-case scenario happens."

I looked down and spotted a wristband in his pocket with the words "Chloe Meyer" printed on it. A mocking smile curled up at my lips.

"No, we won't. If anything happens to my Nora today, you and I will never have another child."

As we spoke, the lights above the operating room went off, and Nora was peacefully wheeled out with a white sheet draped over her face.

Completely devastated, I threw myself at her and raised my hand to touch her stiff body.

"We're sorry. She had stopped breathing by the time she arrived. Her condition was too severe, and we did everything we could," the doctor announced.

I fought back sobs and gently fixed her hair. The pain in my heart felt unbearable, but I couldn't squeeze out a single tear.

"Go to sleep, good girl. Once you're asleep, it won't hurt anymore."

Lionel sniffled and stepped closer to pull me back a little. "Let's not hold up the hospital, Evie. We should have Nora cremated so she can rest in peace."

"Why are you in such a rush? Do you have a guilty conscience?"

I snapped my head back and fixed him with a deadly stare. I couldn't understand how someone could change this quickly.

It wasn't until doctors wheeled Nora away, and I watched her fade into the distance, that I finally broke down in unbearable grief. Tears streamed down my face uncontrollably.

Maybe I had used up all my strength rushing to the hospital, because after a few gut-wrenching wails, I blacked out.

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself lying in a ward with an IV drip finishing up in my arm. Everything that had happened that day flashed through my mind like scenes in a movie.

Thinking of Nora, I instinctively scrambled out of bed and frantically rushed into the hallway to find her.

That was when a familiar voice hit me like a blow.

"Just one more bite, babe. You're the center of my universe now, and so precious to me that I'm even afraid to touch you."

Lionel's eyes were full of affection as he fed Chloe. They stayed in one of the hospital's luxury suites, surrounded by a handful of nannies taking care of them.

Chloe was Lionel's first love. Years ago, she had abruptly fled the country and vanished without a trace on the night before their engagement.

I took a deep breath and approached them. "Chloe, the last time we met, I never thought I'd see you pregnant the next time we cross paths. What does the baby's father do for a living?"

Both of them froze the moment they noticed me entering the suite. Chloe lowered her head, and her expression turned grim.

"To be honest, this baby was an accident, Evie. Abortion is illegal where I was living, so I had no choice but to keep it…"

"That's right. She's too kind to get rid of the baby," Lionel explained and walked over to me. "Her situation is unique right now, and I'm stepping in to take care of her.

"The doctor said you caught a severe chill and need plenty of rest. Chloe is due to give birth in a few days now, and since I've helped this far, I can't just leave her alone.

"I might not be able to manage everything all by myself, so why won't we stay here too for now?

"Go back to your ward and rest. I made you some soup, and I'll come over to keep you company shortly."

I looked at them and almost laughed. Staying in the suite for even a second longer made me so nauseous that I could barely breathe.

After I stepped out of the suite, Chloe casually spat a bone into a bowl in front of her and started whining softly.

"It feels like we're some dirty secret, Lionel. Do my baby and I have to live in shame forever, just because I love you? I don't want that.

"We can't hide this secret forever. There's no turning back for you ever since Nora died in that operating room, and if you still can't bring yourself to break things off with Evie, I don't want to make things difficult for you…"

Lionel intimately tapped her nose. "What nonsense are you talking about? I'd do anything for you.

"Don't worry, Chloe. I'll take care of everything. I could even harm my own flesh and blood, so why would I think twice about an outsider who means nothing to me?

An outsider who meant nothing to him?

My heart felt like it was violently shredded by a branch of thorns, and the pain was so sharp that I could barely speak.

Before Nora had her attack, she had excitedly clutched her report card and eagerly waited for Lionel to reward her by taking her out to dinner. Yet she had fought her illness until her last breath and still never got to see him again.

The man she longed for the most was the same man who had plotted to take her life, all while looking forward to the birth of another baby.

Upon returning to the ward, I contacted the most renowned lawyer to handle the divorce and hired a moving service to pack up all my belongings from the house and ship them away.

After some hesitation, I finally decided to investigate how Lionel had set up the trap that took Nora's life.

Later, Lionel and Chloe walked into my ward together. He carried over a bowl of chicken soup, while she presented a bouquet, acting all apologetic and repentful.

"Evie, you and Lionel have always been like family to me. I won't disrupt your lives again once the baby's born. Please forgive me for stepping out of line and borrowing your husband.

"Lionel mentioned that since you had a kid, you have a lot of experience. We're all going to be living together for a while, so I'll be counting on you to teach me all about it."

I turned my head away to avoid looking at her. It didn't matter what sick show they wanted to put on in front of me; I just had to bide my time until next week, secure my share of the marital assets, and walk away.

When Chloe noticed that I didn't reply, she reached out to place the flowers on my bedside table. But as she set them down, she gave a violent shove sideways.

The mug of scalding hot water on the table tipped over and dumped onto my bare arm.

A burning pain shot through my arm. My heart lurched, and I frantically rushed to the sink to shove my wound under a running tap.

Lionel's anxious voice rang out behind me.

"Chloe, are you okay?

"How could you be so clumsy now that you're about to be a mother? What would I do if you burned yourself?"

As I quietly tended to my burn, a wave of sudden grievance welled up in me, and tears filled my eyes.

The man who once cared about my every little detail could now ignore me as if I didn't exist. His eyes and heart only had room for someone else.

That night, both rooms shared a single power grid, so all the heating was channeled into the next room.

I wrapped myself tightly, but leaving my burned arm exposed to the air made it so cold that I could barely breathe.

With no other choice, I opened my door to knock on Lionel and Chloe's, only to hear intimate voices coming from within the suite.

"It's just a few more days, so hang in there a little longer. I promise to make it up to you as much as I can after the baby's born. We can use every single move you like!"

"Help me out for some relief, babe. I swear I can't leave you for the rest of my life."

Intimate noises followed, while I stood frozen to the spot. Cold wind howled through the hallway, but I couldn't feel the slightest trace of the chill.

Until then, I had clung to a sliver of wishful thinking, hoping that maybe Lionel just wanted to make amends to his first love, that Nora's death was just an accident, and that the relationship I prided myself on wasn't shattered.

But reality felt like a brutal slap in my face. The signs had been there all along.

After snapping out of the shock, I pressed my hands tightly over my ears and ran back to my ward. Right now, all I wanted was to escape to a place where they didn't exist.

Once I pulled the blanket tightly over my head, endless grievance and misery flooded my heart. I could no longer force myself to maintain the calm facade and broke down, sobbing uncontrollably under the covers.

I didn't know how I eventually fell asleep, but when I woke up again, the courier delivering my divorce papers brought in a box of valuables.

"I found this box of expensive items in your closet. You'll need to check them yourself since they're covered under a special insurance policy."

I looked at the box before me and felt a strange urge to laugh. It was filled with evidence of how Lionel used to love me.

Back when we were separated during a lockdown and couldn't contact each other by phone, he had handwritten over a thousand letters to me just to set my heart at ease.

When I had a fallout with my family and moved to Jangleton for college, he saved up his first pot of gold to buy me a house, giving me my first home in the city. That was also when he found the courage to propose to me.

"This is a wedding ring, right? You should keep it safe. Small items like this are impossible to find once they're lost."

From the bottom of the box, the courier picked up a huge diamond ring and placed it in my hand.

I stared at the ring for a moment before hurling it into a nearby trash can, feeling the weight lift off my chest.

"Throw everything away. I don't want any of it anymore."

The courier looked at me in shock, paused for a second, then nodded. He kept looking back at me every few steps before dumping all the items into the trash can.

"What a waste, throwing all those treasures away," Chloe remarked and proudly walked up to me.

"So, did you enjoy listening in last night?"