Arielle's POV

But Chester prevented me from leaving, blocking the cab's door.

"Aren't you curious who that woman was? Weren't you always the one following me around?" His voice was dripping with annoyance, as if my indifference was some kind of challenge.

Unfortunately for Chester, having endured so much of his favoritism in my past life, I had long since grown numb to his behavior. The difference between his actions and words hardly affected me anymore. I had no interest in playing along with whatever twisted game he was trying to start.

"Why should I be curious? I've got no interest in being a third wheel. Enjoy your date, Mr. McKinsey."

Chester's expression darkened, his gaze unreadable.

He slammed the taxi door shut, dismissed the driver, and dragged me straight into a jewelry store at the mall.

"Bring out your best piece," he ordered, his tone as cold as ever.

The saleslady, assuming we were a couple, smiled brightly and excitedly fetched a pink diamond. She showered us with compliments, clearly thrilled at what she thought was a romantic moment.

"You two are such a perfect match. You're both talented and beautiful!"

Just as she was about to slide the ring onto my finger, Chester snatched it away with a swift, almost violent motion.

His face was as cold as ice. "She? Worthy of this?"

An uncomfortable silence fell over the store. It was clear now that Chester wasn't keeping me around because he cared. He just wanted to humiliate me.

But I didn't care.

I tilted my chin and broke the silence, my voice steady. "Miss, I'm afraid you've misunderstood. He's my guardian, and we're picking out a gift for his girlfriend."

The mood in the store relaxed a bit, but Chester's chill only seemed to grow thicker, surrounding him like a dark cloud.

Without asking for my opinion, he dragged me off again, this time to the airport.

When we saw Lorraine, I greeted her as naturally as I could.

"Lorraine!"

She beamed, her smile lighting up the room.

Chester, on the other hand, stared at me in disbelief. "What did you just call her?"

I didn't answer, pretending not to notice the storm brewing in his eyes.

Instead, I shoved Lorraine into his arms with a quick, purposeful motion.

"I'll leave you two to it, Chester."

Without a second glance, I walked quickly out of the airport, eager to escape the suffocating tension and distance myself from the mess.

By the time I got home, a video of Chester and Lorraine kissing passionately at the airport had gone viral, making its rounds across social media.

Someone online questioned if the woman's side profile matched the one from earlier paparazzi shots.

Chester's official account posted a simple reply:

[It's her.]

Just those two words, and the entire McKinsey family was thrown into a frenzy.

...

That evening, Lorraine was warmly invited to the McKinsey family home to discuss marriage.

I had planned to stay quietly in my room, away from all the chaos, but Lorraine came upstairs herself to check on me.

Once the door closed behind her, her sweet smile vanished in an instant, replaced by a cold, calculating look as she glanced at my lower abdomen.

"Arielle, I know it was you who spent the night with Chester. Since you're being so sensible, take this pill. I don't want any 'accidents' between me and Chester."

She handed me a pill, and I figured this was probably Chester's idea. Maybe it was his way of slapping me in the face, telling me to give up on him once and for all.

So I said nothing and swallowed the pills without resistance.

Lorraine left shortly after, feeling satisfied. She went downstairs to inform the others that I wasn't feeling well and needed to rest.

Meanwhile, Grace tried to come upstairs to check on me a few times, but Lorraine and Penelope blocked her every time.

Not long after taking the pill, a dull pain started spreading in my abdomen.

I didn't want to worry Grace, so I forced myself to sleep through the discomfort.

In that semi-conscious state, I sensed someone entering my room. A bitter taste filled my mouth, and I suddenly woke up.

It was Chester.

Still half-conscious, I reflexively whined, "Chester, my stomach really hurts… I think I need to go to the hospital…"

He brushed the damp hair from my forehead gently, but his voice was as cold as ever.

"Didn't I tell you to come to my room to take the medicine? Why didn't you? Are you trying to keep that bastard child?"

It was only then that I realized what he had just given me: three more emergency contraceptive pills. The doctor had clearly warned me that no more than two should be taken.

Including the ones Lorraine had given me, I had now taken four.

Arielle's POV

"Chester, didn't you have Lorraine bring me the pills already? I've taken them..."

I tried to sit up, desperate to make myself feel better, maybe even make myself throw up.

But Chester wasn't having any of it. He shoved me back onto the bed with surprising force.

"Arielle!" His voice was sharp, almost accusing. "I'm getting married soon. As long as you behave and don't make a scene, I'll let you be the bridesmaid."

So that was the most 'kindness' he could offer me—being the bridesmaid at his wedding? That was all?

It didn't even matter that I had just gone through hell to try to erase everything between us.

I didn't want it. I didn't want any part of it.

Before I could even react, a sharp, searing pain suddenly gripped my abdomen.

It was the most intense experience I had ever had, even more painful than childbirth in a past life. It felt as though something was tearing from within me, as if my body was rejecting itself.

Then, before I could make sense of what was happening, a gush of warm blood flooded between my legs. Panic surged through me, and I instinctively grabbed Chester's hand, clutching it as if my life depended on it.

"I don't want to be the bridesmaid," I whispered, my voice shaky. "Please take me to the hospital…"

He observed the blood on the sheets, his face showing no emotion. For a brief moment, a hint of compassion shone through his features, but then his expression reverted to its typical cold, detached mask.

"Arielle, the doctor said bleeding is a normal reaction to the pill," he said, his tone eerily calm. "Just sleep it off. Come morning, everything will be like it was before."

He believed that taking the morning-after pill was equivalent to having an abortion, thinking that heavy bleeding indicated the problem was resolved. The more I bled, the more he convinced himself that the unwanted child inside me had vanished.

I saw how visibly relieved he was, how his shoulders eased.

Without so much as a glance in my direction, he pried my fingers open one by one, took my phone from the bedside table, locked the door behind him, and walked out without a single backward glance.

One door between us, and it felt like I had been transported back to my past life—once again abandoned in the bridal chamber, left to die alone, with no one to hear me.

"Chester," I whispered hoarsely to the empty room, my voice barely a breath. "We will never go back to the way things were…"

The bleeding wouldn't stop. The pain wouldn't stop. And in the distance, I could hear the sounds of celebration for Chester's upcoming wedding echoing through the house, so far away from me.

Desperate to survive, I rummaged through the drawer and found an old mobile—one I had hidden away for moments like this.

My fingers jittered as I dialed a number, with just one word slipping out in a shaky breath:

"Help me…"

And then, everything went dark.

...

Chester's POV

The following morning, I was in a cheerful mood, so I asked the housemaid to clean Arielle's room as usual.

She went to unlock the door, just as I had asked. But when she stepped inside, the door was wide open, and she was hit immediately by the sharp, heavy smell of blood.

I had no idea what was happening at first, and when I heard her scream, "Something's wrong, Mr. McKinsey! Miss Arielle... she's gone!"