My husband's first love and I were kidnapped at the same time.

As a professional negotiator, my husband rushed to the scene as soon as possible to save us.

When the kidnappers agreed to release one hostage, he chose to let them keep me to protect her.

I knelt on the ground, desperately begging him to save me first, but his face was expressionless.

"Tammy is still a virgin. If she's raped, she won't be able to handle it.

"You're different. You're already married to me. I won't hold it against you even if something happens to you."

He shoved me toward the kidnappers.

He probably did not know I was three months pregnant and he was about to become a father.

...

"Sandra, go with them."

John pointed at me, signaling with his eyes for me to walk toward the kidnappers.

"What did you just say?"

I thought he must have made a mistake, staring at him in confusion.

His gaze was firm, and he did not even glance at me.

"I said I had to save Tammy first. If you hadn't invited her out, this wouldn't have happened. How could I let Tammy suffer for your mistake?"

Two hours earlier, John had messaged me to meet him outside the city. When I arrived, I found his first love waiting for me instead.

I snorted and turned to leave, but someone covered my mouth and dragged me aside. It was not until my hands were tied behind my back that I realized I had been kidnapped. Tammy was tied up next to me.

I thought John would rush to save me immediately. After all, I was carrying his child. Even though we had not been on good terms for over a month, he would still come for me first. Alas, I was far too naive.

When John finally arrived, the kidnappers held a knife to Tammy's neck.

He became anxious immediately and begged the kidnappers in a low voice to let her go. However, the kidnappers were unmoved, and they just pushed me toward John.

I felt my stomach was beginning to ache, and begged him to take me to the hospital.

He remained stoic, insisting on trading my life for Tammy. I looked at him with tears welling up in my eyes.

"What do you mean? Today was supposed to be—"

Before I could finish my sentence, a gasp interrupted me.

I turned to see that the tip of the knife had grazed Tammy's skin, leaving a shallow cut. A small bead of blood appeared. That was enough to send John into a panic. He frantically begged the kidnappers to release Tammy.

I dug my nails into my palms, trying not to break down in tears. I had a heart condition, and if he did not save me, both my child and I would be at risk.

Driven by a desperate will to survive, I abandoned all dignity and knelt on the ground, begging him.

"John, you can't just leave me here. I'm carrying your child. Maybe—"

"Sandra, don't be so selfish. You shouldn't lie to trick me!

"Tammy isn't like you. She has to get married one day. Who would accept her if she were raped?"

His face was calm as he looked at me, his gaze as cold as if he were looking at a stranger, not the wife who had been by his side for ten years.

"Don't worry. I've seen these kinds of criminals before. They either want money or something else. As long as you cooperate, you'll be fine.

"My colleagues will rescue you. No matter what happens, I won't hold it against you."

He walked forward, placed a hand on my shoulder, bent down, and whispered indifferently, "Besides, you were never a virgin to begin with. When you and Chris did what you did back then, didn't I still marry you?"

His words stunned me, and I began trembling uncontrollably.

"It wasn't like that. Chris and I—"

He did not give me a chance to explain, impatiently shoving me toward the kidnappers.

I wanted to resist, but the cold blade pressed against my neck. I was left helpless, watching as John walked away with her.

As John cradled Tammy in his arms, softly comforting her, the kidnappers dragged me by the hair toward their car. The pain was unbearable. It was like my scalp was being torn off. I could not help but cry out. One of the kidnappers slapped me hard across the face.

"If you keep making noise, I'll kill you. Be quiet. Your husband didn't even look at you. Why are you still acting so pitifully?"

I watched as John helped Tammy into the car, protecting her, and then sped off without a second glance. The last bit of hope in my heart was finally extinguished. I bit my lip, closed my eyes in despair, and let the kidnappers throw me into the car. He did not even check if I was hurt.

At that moment, I finally understood. My child's life and my own meant nothing compared to Tammy's virginity. I had loved him for ten years. He should have been moved by that. However, he had so easily placed me in danger, unwilling to even look at me one last time.

Just before I lost consciousness, I looked in his direction with a bitter smile. He probably did not know that someone had staged that whole kidnapping just to take my life.

John's colleagues did not arrive at the scene until two hours after I had gone missing.

After taking Tammy to the hospital, John stayed by her bedside the whole time. Apparently, he was so preoccupied with her that he even forgot to notify his colleagues to rescue me.

By the time he remembered, I had already been beaten to the brink of death, left in a hidden cave in the mountains, quietly waiting for my death.

His colleague, Wilson Waters, searched the mountains with a flashlight, desperately looking for me. Unfortunately, I had already died in that cave. My spirit followed him, watching as he anxiously called John.

"John, I've searched the entire mountain, and there's no sign of Sandra. Could she have—"

On the other end of the line, John's voice came through, indifferent.

"What could've happened to her? She's probably already released and is hiding somewhere, angry at me."

Wilson hesitated before speaking again.

"John, Sandra's not that kind of person. If she were safe, she wouldn't waste police resources like this.

"You should probably help with the search, just in case."

At that point, I had disappeared without a trace. If something had happened to me, no one could bear the responsibility.

John, suppressing his frustration, replied coldly, "Why would I go? I already told you she'd be fine. The kidnappers were only trying to scare her. They didn't hurt Tammy, did they?

"Alright, just go home and rest. When she sees no one is paying attention to her tantrum in a few days, she'll come out on her own."

Wilson wanted to say more, but John, growing impatient, had hung up.

A chill ran through me. We had ten years together. Even animals would have been more loyal to each other. However, not John. Not only did he not care, but he also felt searching for me was a nuisance.

For the first time, I felt thankful that I was already dead, no longer having to entangle myself with someone so heartless. I wanted to leave, but I could not help but follow Wilson. My spirit drifted along until we reached John.

At that moment, he was still sitting by Tammy's hospital bed, so focused on her that he did not even notice Wilson entering the room.

Tammy was curled up in his arms, sobbing.

"John, I was so scared. When the knife was pressed against my neck, all I could think about was how much I regretted being so stubborn before, how I might have missed out on a life of being with you."

John gently stroked her hair, smiling softly with a tenderness I had never seen. He spoke to her in a soothing voice.

"Don't be afraid, Tammy. I told you, no matter what happens, I'll do everything I can to protect you."

As I watched that deep affection between them, my heart twisted with unbearable pain. He must have forgotten that his wife was missing and potentially dead at that very moment. He had always been cold toward me, and I used to think that was just his nature. I never imagined he did not want to be kind to me.

We had known each other since childhood; our families had been close friends for years. I had always hidden my feelings for him, thinking we were never meant to be together. Shortly after graduation, he insisted on marrying Tammy, but his parents vehemently opposed it, and Tammy left in a fit of anger.

That night, I was sent by my father to deliver some documents to John's father. Unexpectedly, I ran into a drunken John, who, in his drunken stupor, pushed me against the wall and kissed me.

I knew I should not have let myself give in, but my love for him was too strong. Even though I knew he had mistaken me for someone else, I could not stop falling deeper into the moment. All night, when we made love, he called out Tammy's name.

The following day, when he sobered up, he was furious, grabbing me by the neck and accusing me of seducing him. However, it was he who had come on to me.

In the end, he still decided to marry me. At our engagement party, I was drugged and thrown onto a hotel bed, unconscious, alongside an equally intoxicated Chris.

I would never forget the disappointment in John's eyes. No matter how much I tried to explain that I had been framed, he refused to believe me.

To avoid gossip, Chris was sent abroad by John's mother. After that incident, every time John looked at me, his disgust was impossible to hide. I knew he thought I was damaged goods.

However, I was powerless to defend myself. I silently endured it. As long as I could stay by his side, I did not care if he did not love me or treated me as a replacement. I was willing to accept it.

Three months ago, I unexpectedly found out I was pregnant. I wanted to tell him, but lately, his face was cold whenever he saw me. He did not even want to speak to me.

I kept comforting myself, thinking maybe he was just busy with work or in a bad mood. I decided to wait for the right time to tell him.

If it were not for the fact that I ran into him at the hospital that day, holding Tammy's hand while she was getting her finger bandaged after accidentally hurting it while cooking, I might never have realized that the reason for his coldness was because his first love had returned.

I stood at the entrance of the busy clinic, watching in a daze as he gently cradled Tammy's hand, filled with concern. At that moment, I realized John could show tenderness and care for someone. It was not that he was incapable of it—he just never cared enough about me.

I was heartbroken as I returned home. I did not even have the appetite for dinner.

He did not come back until late at night, reeking of alcohol. When he finally walked through the door, he did not ask why I had gone to the hospital or if I was feeling unwell. He just threw his coat on the floor in front of me, his face stony, and walked straight to the bathroom.

Holding his coat in my hands, I saw faint lipstick traces on it. For the first time, I lost control in front of him.

I smashed everything in the room, screaming, demanding to know why he was still carrying on with Tammy while I was pregnant with his child.

He stood there in the mess, coldly watching me go mad.

"Sandra, look at yourself. You're acting like a crazy woman. How can you ever compare to Tammy?

"Do you know what I regret the most? It is marrying you. Honestly, just looking at you makes me sick."

He grabbed his coat and walked out, leaving me alone, sobbing until my eyes were swollen. The husband, who did not care about me, lavished care on his first love.

Tammy barely winced in pain, and John was already clutching her hand, his voice full of concern.

"Tammy, is your hand still hurting? Do you want me to call the doctor?"

I wanted to laugh.

When we had just gotten married, my mother-in-law fainted at home. I was so worried that after calling the ambulance, I carried her downstairs myself. In the process, I twisted my ankle and could not walk for days.

I begged John to help me to the bathroom, but he just gave me a cold look and shook his head. I had to lean against the wall, moving inch by inch, until I slipped and fell to the floor, unable to get up. I cried out, telling him my foot hurt terribly and asking for help. He scoffed, refusing to lift a finger, and mocked me instead.

He said, "Do you even know how old you are? Stop acting like some dramatic teenage girl, threatening to die over every little thing.

"If you want to die, do it far away from here. Don't bother me."

Just as he had said, I had died far, far away, never to bother him again.

He was finally free of me and could chase after his true love without me standing in his way.

It had been three days since I disappeared. Wilson approached him multiple times about the matter.

"John, we still haven't found Sandra. I've checked with every police station, but there's no news."

John ignored him, continuing to peel an orange nonchalantly.

"I told you, the kidnappers wouldn't dare hurt her. At most, they took whatever valuables she had and dumped her somewhere remote. Why are you so worried?"

He refused to believe that I could be in any real danger and showed no concern about where I might be.