After my sister gave birth to the child of the Sanchez Family’s heir, she refused the planned marriage and ran away overseas with her true love.

Since Nielson Sanchez once treated me kindly years ago, I agreed to admit the child and because of that, I became Mrs. Sanchez in place of the Powell Family, just as planned.

On the day of my wedding, holding my baby who was not even three months old, I watched the man meant to be my brother-in-law throw a marriage contract at me with a cold face.

“Heather Powell, you are only a stand-in for Katniss Powell. Know your position.”

I quietly read through the rules written on the pages.

“Term one: The woman must not reach out to the man. How often they sleep together is decided by the man. She is not allowed to have children.”

“Term two: If the child gets sick or feels unwell, the woman must be punished.”

“Term three: The man holds full control at all times…”

After reading more than ten pages of rules, I held back my anger and the urge to slam the door, then raised my head and looked straight at Nielson.

“Mr. Sanchez, can you explain what this line means, ‘No matter how many children I have that are not mine, I must raise them as my own’?”

Nielson laughed coldly and lifted my chin.

“I don’t need to explain anything to you. Katniss left because she didn’t want to marry. You just need to act as Mrs. Sanchez. That’s it.”

I took a slow breath, my fingers shaking a little and signed the marriage agreement with care.

For the harmless child and for that weak hope still living in my heart.

Before the ink had even dried, Nielson impatiently told his assistant in a cold voice, “Cancel the ceremony, go back to the company.”

Quiet talk rose around him.

“See? A replacement is still a replacement, used once and thrown away.”

“President Sanchez only cares about Katniss; this one just took her sister’s spot.”

“She thought too highly of herself, dumped right at the wedding. Being Mrs. Sanchez is not easy to keep.”

A loud slam rang out as the banquet hall doors were kicked open and several men holding knives rushed in, closing in on my baby and me.

“Don’t move, or I'll kill them right now.” The kidnapper pressed the knife against my neck and blood quickly ran out.

The baby in my arms was scared and started to cry loudly.

Nielson’s face turned dark in an instant. “Let them go, name what you want.”

The kidnapper smiled badly, his eyes moving over my wedding dress.

“What do I want? Then let Mrs. Sanchez take off this wedding dress, so everyone sees what kind of woman she really is.”

I felt cold all over, holding my crying baby tight, looking at Nielson with begging eyes.

But Nielson’s eyes landed only on the baby, his voice cold. “Heather, for the child’s safety, take it off.”

I stared at Nielson in shock, my heart dropping fast.

Yes, what did pride matter to a stand-in who had signed a deal to sell herself?

Under many looks full of pity and hate, my hands shook as I slowly untied the wedding dress. The dress fell to the floor, leaving me standing there in only my underwear.

I bit my lip hard and refused to cry.

“Give me the baby first,” Nielson urged the kidnapper.

The kidnapper, smiling badly, passed the child to Nielson. At that moment, Nielson rushed forward, aiming for the kidnapper’s knife arm. After a few blocks, he knocked the knife away.

The kidnapper reacted fast, swinging the knife he lost and cutting me hard.

“Ah!” I cried out as a long, deep cut burst open on my arm, blood soaking the wedding dress spread at my feet.

The strong pain, the deep shame and the messy scene in front of me made my head spin badly.

My sight went dark. The last thing I saw was Nielson’s worried look as he looked at me after taking back the child.

When I woke up in the hospital, Nielson was beside me. He seemed asleep, but his hand held mine tightly.

This scene shocked me.

I was the unwanted second daughter of the Powell Family. It was Nielson who spoke up for me again and again when I was surrounded and laughed at by wild heirs from rich families.

He may have only helped me a little, but that small warmth was carefully kept in my heart.

Later, I gathered my courage and went to him using the excuse of “making things right for my sister.”

During that time, as I awkwardly fed the baby and sang badly off-tune songs, a soft warmth would briefly show in his eyes. He would even drive back late at night just to mark my birthday.

At that moment, Nielson woke up and put his hand on my forehead. “Do you still feel sick?”

I was about to reply when his phone rang. “Katniss? Are you at the airport? Don’t walk around, I’m coming to get you right now.”

Katniss really came back, only three months after she left!

After hanging up, Nielson walked fast toward the ward door.

“Nielson, you…” I called out without thinking.

He paused at the door but didn’t turn back, his voice turning cold. “The doctor said you’re fine. Rest well.”

Watching him leave, I quietly found a familiar number and called it. “Helios Gutierrez, help me one last time. In seven days, collect all the evidence and use special ways to get me the divorce papers. After seven days, I will leave right away, anywhere, the farther the better.”

I went home alone after being discharged from the hospital and stopped in place. I saw Nielson and Katniss kissing deeply in our wedding room; She even let out a soft, tempting moan.

Nielson seemed to notice something, slowly turning his head, a bit of worry passing through his eyes.

“Heather is back. How is your arm? You need to rest well, after all,” Katniss looked up toward the nursery upstairs, “you still need to take good care of my son.”

I looked at Katniss’s winning smile and answered with a cold laugh, “A woman who can heartlessly leave her newborn baby and now she talks about needing others to care for him. Sister, your motherly love is really something special.”

“Heather!” Nielson suddenly stood up, his face very dark. “Who allowed you to speak to Katniss like that? Say sorry to her.”

“Nielson, don’t blame Heather. She’s probably just upset. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have come back.”

Katniss’s words made Nielson even angrier. “Heather, get out and think about what you did in the wine cellar. Don’t come out without my permission.”

When the heavy wooden door slammed shut behind me, darkness and cold quickly closed around me.

I was only wearing light clothes; the cold sank into my skin, making the wound on my arm ache again.

I held my knees, curled up in the corner, my body shaking without control. It was cold, so very cold.

I did not know how long I was locked inside, until my arms and legs were almost numb from the cold and my mind was fading, before the heavy door finally opened again.

Nielson slowly went down the stairs, looked at me curled on the floor, frowned and lifted me up sideways. “Heather, behave, okay?”

I firmly shut my eyes, refusing to reply.

Nielson softly carried me into the main bathroom, personally filled a bath for me, picked up a bath sponge and gently cleaned me, slowly warming my body bit by bit.

“So cold, why be so stubborn?” His breath brushed my ear, as if we were just a couple having a small fight.

“Come with me to Katniss’s art exhibition opening later,” Nielson’s voice was gentle, but his hand movements carried a warning. “You know what to do, don’t let me down again, okay?”

I looked at Nielson’s big hand, moving over my neck with a clear threat and thinking about the plan that was slowly moving forward, I finally nodded quietly.

At the art exhibition, celebrities gathered. Katniss stood in the middle of the crowd, smiling brightly, while Nielson stood next to her, guarding her. I only wanted to stay unnoticed and endure this sick show.

But Katniss clearly did not plan to let me go.

She walked over holding a cup of coffee.

“Ouch!”

With her raised cry, most of the hot coffee spilled onto a clear painting nearby, the dark brown mark quickly spreading over the canvas.

“My painting.” Katniss’s eyes quickly turned red. “Heather, how could you ruin my hard work? This is a piece I prepared for a whole year!”

Nielson rushed over at once, standing up for Katniss, “Heather, what is wrong with you now? Say sorry to Katniss right now!”

Voices rose around us. “How cruel! Being jealous of your own sister doesn’t mean you should ruin a painting.”

“So this is how a dirty stand-in acts, small and mean.”

Seeing Nielson’s clear favoritism, the anger and shame that had built up for days finally broke my guard.

“I did nothing wrong.” I straightened my back. “She spilled the coffee herself. I will not say sorry.”

A hard slap hit my face, so strong it made my sight go dark and my ears buzz.

“I told you to say sorry, do you hear me?” Nielson’s voice was cold, full of force that could not be argued with.

I covered my face, stubbornly lifting my head, staring at him.

Nielson’s last bit of patience disappeared. He grabbed the cold champagne from the waiter’s tray.

The whole bottle of freezing liquid, with ice, was poured over my head without mercy.

Right after that, two bodyguards rushed up, one on each side and roughly grabbed me, kicking hard behind my knees. The strong pain made my legs give way and I fell to my knees in front of the coffee-stained painting.

At that moment, a familiar voice broke the dead silence. “Enough! Haven’t you shamed yourself enough?”

I looked up fast, staring in shock at my father, Evander Powell, the chairman of the Powell Group, who was now pushing through the crowd, his face pale.

He walked straight to Nielson’s side, his eyes passing over me with nothing but deep hate.

“What a shame to our family, Nielson. It is my fault for not teaching my daughter well, letting her do such awful things out of jealousy, vandalism and lies, making you and Katniss suffer.”

I looked at my father in silence. We were all his children, yet I would never get his love.

My mother also forced her way through the crowd, quickly walking to me. She grabbed me, soaked and messy and pulled me to my feet, almost dragging me away from the middle of the show hall.

We walked quietly for a long time. At an empty corner, my mother suddenly stopped and dropped to her knees with a loud thump.

“Heather, I beg you, please stop fighting, stop upsetting your sister and Nielson, okay?”

She looked up, her eyes full of begging.

The memory played again like a bad dream. They had done the same thing before, crying and begging me to marry into the Sanchez Family instead of my sister, to accept that child, for the family’s sake.

Now, my sister was back and they begged me to keep putting up with her.

My mother’s voice begged, “Your sister’s birthday is in three days. Nielson is going to hold the biggest birthday banquet to announce her return and place to the whole city. Are you trying to cause trouble now, to make our Powell Family a joke? I’m begging you, please?”

I looked down quietly at my mother kneeling in front of me, feeling only something ridiculous and sickening.

At that moment, a person walked quickly from the other end of the hallway; it was Helios Gutierrez.

He didn’t even look at my kneeling mother, but went straight to me and wrapped his arm tightly around my shoulders.

“Heather, don’t think about it, let’s go.” Like a rope saving me, I grabbed his sleeve tightly and nodded without a word.

Helios drove calmly, but my body felt worse and worse. I suddenly covered my mouth and retched a few times.

A detail I had ignored burst into my mind: my period was late and that drunk night with Nielson more than a month ago.

My hand moved without thinking to my still flat stomach, my eyes shrinking fast.

No, impossible, how could it be such bad timing…

“Heather? What’s wrong? You look awful. Is something else troubling you?” Helios noticed something was wrong, his voice full of worry.

I snapped back to myself.

“Helios,” my voice was dry and shaking, “Turn back. We’re not going to your place. Take me to the hospital, now, right away!”

He was right. Nielson and I had unexpectedly created a new life.

Helios frowned, looked at me with worry and asked softly, “Heather, what are you planning to do?”

“No.” I cut him off, my voice calm and without any feeling. Since I was ready to leave, this child couldn’t stay.

“Okay, I’ll set it up.”

Lying on the moving hospital bed, just as I was about to be pushed into the surgery room, my phone suddenly shook nonstop.

It was a message from Nielson. [Where are you?]

[What are you doing now?]

[Heather, I’m giving you one last chance.]

I ignored it, but unexpectedly, Nielson called the number directly. The ringtone kept ringing, as if he wouldn’t stop until he got what he wanted.

I quietly pressed the power button and the world became silent right away.

I handed the phone to Helios beside me, took a deep breath and said, “Go in.”