Before Theresa could even speak, Jeanette was already sneering from the side.

"You can't have kids, but plenty of women can. My brother can find someone else to carry his baby. You're a barren hen anyway. IVF babies aren't even healthy. Just let my brother have a child with someone who can actually deliver, and you foot the bill to raise it."

She crossed her arms, looking down at me like I was something stuck to the bottom of her shoe.

"You just focus on raising my Sunny. Keep me happy, and maybe I'll let him take care of you when you're old."

I was so furious I could barely see straight.

She wanted me to raise her son, let Victor have children with another woman, and pay for it all out of my own pocket? What did that make me?

A walking ATM?

The angrier I got, the more I wanted to blurt out the secret I'd been carrying for three years.

"The one who can't have kids isn't me. It's—"

"Edith!"

Victor dropped to his knees in front of me with a heavy thud, eyes wide, frantically signaling me to stop.

"Honey, I know you've been treated unfairly. My sister saved my life when we were kids. I owe her. I have to repay that debt. I'm begging you, please just agree."

My blood boiled over.

"You owe your sister, then you pay her back! What gives you the right to trade our children's lives for it? I'm telling you right now—over my dead body!"

Jeanette yanked him to his feet and fixed me with an ice-cold glare.

"Why are you even negotiating with her? You're the father. You have every right to decide to get rid of it."

Without another word, she grabbed my arm and started dragging me toward the door. I screamed.

"This is illegal! I'm calling the police!"

I snatched up my phone, but Theresa ripped it out of my hands.

Then Jeanette slapped me across the face.

"Call the police? Go ahead. This is a family matter at most. I'll tell the officers you're carrying some other man's bastard and we're just disciplining a cheating wife. See if anyone lifts a finger for you."

My cheek burned white-hot. My whole body trembled uncontrollably.

I stared straight at Victor. "Victor, are you just going to stand there and watch your sister hit me?"

He shrank back like a turtle retreating into its shell, glancing timidly at Jeanette before mumbling to me in a small voice.

"Honey, that's just how my sister is. Just bear with it."

"Bear with it? Victor, your mother and your sister want to kill our children! Do you even have a heart?"

Before I could finish, Jeanette kicked me square in the chest.

"So what if I hit you? Listen up, Edith—if you come to the clinic quietly, this'll be a lot easier on you. Otherwise, I'll kick it out of you myself. You'll hemorrhage so bad they won't even be able to save your uterus. Try me."

I stumbled backward and crashed to the floor. For a moment, I couldn't breathe.

Victor shifted his weight, half-stepping toward me as if to help me up, then froze. He just stood there, utterly spineless, watching me on the ground.

"Honey, just agree. I promise, I'll make sure they give you anesthesia at the hospital—"

"Anesthesia for what?"

Theresa shot him a withering look. "She's a barren hen. Spending money on her is a waste. Save every penny for Sunny!"

She turned to me with a smile, but something venomous lurked behind it, like needles dipped in poison.

"Edith, sweetheart, don't blame me for being heartless. Blame your bad timing. Who told you to be the one who couldn't conceive? If you'd gotten pregnant right after the wedding three years ago, your child would be running around by now. This is just your fate, dear. Accept it."

I jerked my head up and stared at Victor.

"Victor, say something! Tell your mother the truth—the one who can't have children isn't me! This baby can't be aborted! You have azoosperm—"

"Honey!"

Victor pulled me up from the floor and spoke in a tone heavy with forced patience.

"My mom's just blunt. Haven't I stood by you all this time without complaining that you couldn't conceive?"

"Sunny and my sister are everything to my mom. She can't stand to see either of them suffer even a little. She's just beside herself with worry."

"Don't worry, I won't make you wait twenty years to have another one. Just get rid of this baby first, and I'll talk to my mom and my sister. I'll convince them to let you try again soon."

He leaned close to my ear, his voice barely above a whisper. "Come on, Edith. I have a low sperm count, not zero. Worst case, you tough it out for a few more years. You'll get pregnant again."

My heart went cold. Ice cold.

Three years ago, the premarital physical had revealed his low sperm count. He'd cried that day, helpless and pitiful, terrified I'd leave him.

I chose to marry him anyway, because I couldn't bear to throw away three years of love.

To protect his pride, I let everyone assume the fertility problems were mine.

Three years. Eighteen rounds of IVF. Each one stripped a layer off me, body and soul. And all I got in return was his not complaining and his worst case, a few more years.

A laugh tore out of me, sudden and raw, tears streaming down my face.

"Sunny is your mother's whole world, and your sister treats him like her lifeline. So why isn't my baby my lifeline?"

I tried to grab his collar, but my fingers trembled so badly I couldn't grip anything.

"Victor, do you understand this might be your only child? Are you really that heartless?"

Something flickered in his eyes. He turned to face his mother.

"Mom, maybe we should keep the baby. It wasn't easy for Edith to get pregnant. We can raise Sunny ourselves. Whatever conditions Jeanette has, we'll agree to all of them."

Theresa exchanged a glance with Jeanette, then softened her tone.

"I don't want to lose my grandchild either. Your sister's just worried that once Edith has her own baby, she'll neglect Sunny. How about this: to put your sister's mind at ease, have Edith sign an asset-transfer agreement. Everything goes to Sunny. Then the baby can stay."

Jeanette immediately produced a document and shoved it in my face.

"Sign it."

"Babe, just look it over," Victor said. "If there's anything they don't know about, hand it over too. Give my mom and sister some peace of mind."

I stared at the agreement, numb. Every asset I owned was listed in meticulous detail.

A twenty-one-hundred-square-foot luxury apartment in a top school district. Value: $3 million.

Two commercial storefronts in the downtown business district, each over a thousand square feet. Combined value: $20 million.

A beauty clinic. Value: $5 million.

Fixed deposits across three major banks. $4 million.

A Mercedes. Seven ounces of gold. Appliances, furniture...

Everything from real estate and savings down to the smallest household item, documented with surgical precision.

I hadn't even realized I owned this much.

The final clause stood out like a brand.

All assets to be managed by the legal guardian on behalf of the minor. Designated guardian: Jeanette Chavez.

A voice screamed inside my head, and suddenly it all made sense.

Getting rid of the baby was just the excuse. Seizing my assets was the real goal.

I lifted my head and locked eyes with Victor, my teeth clenched so hard my jaw ached.

"Victor. For this, you'd sacrifice your own child's life?"

His gaze darted away. "Babe, you said the baby was your whole life, right? Trading everything you own for the baby's life... that's a fair deal."

The blood drained from my face. I snatched the agreement and hurled it to the floor.

"I won't sign. This is my premarital property. It has nothing to do with any of you. This is extortion, and I will press charges."

Jeanette erupted. She seized a fistful of my hair and slapped me across the face, once, twice, three times, until my skull rang like a bell.

"Shut your filthy mouth, you little tramp! You belong to the Chavez family. That means your money belongs to the Chavez family!"

She grabbed my hand and forced it down onto the red ink pad.

"I was being nice, giving you a choice. Now press your thumbprint and sign before I stop being polite."

Her grip was terrifying. I felt the bones in my wrist grinding together, ready to snap.

The pain ripped a scream from my throat. "Victor, are you dead?! Do something!"

Victor didn't move. He didn't even try to stop them. He just spread his hands and looked at me with that helpless expression, as if none of this had anything to do with him.

"Babe, giving the assets to Sunny is just giving him some security. We're all family. Why do you have to be so petty about it?"

"Just sign it like a good girl, and you won't have to suffer anymore."

It felt like someone had punched a hole straight through my heart. Cold seeped in from every direction.

Theresa raised a thick wooden stick and brought it down hard across my lower back. "Are you going to sign or not?" she snarled. "If you don't, the next one goes straight to your belly!"

I screamed. White-hot pain radiated through my back, and a dull, dragging ache bloomed deep in my abdomen.

Terror seized me. I squeezed my eyes shut in despair.

"I'll sign..."

My hands shook as I pressed my fingerprint to the paper, tears streaming down my face.

The moment my print appeared clearly on the asset-transfer agreement, all three of them exhaled at once.

"See? Would've been a lot easier if you'd just cooperated from the start. Saved me the trouble." Jeanette blew on the still-wet ink, then folded the agreement with a satisfied smile and tucked it away.

Only then did Victor come over, reaching out to help me up.

"Babe, you're so good. What do you want to eat? I'll make you anything."

My stomach clenched in waves of cramping pain. My face twisted.

"My stomach hurts. Take me to the hospital."

Victor's eyes went wide with panic. "It's okay, babe. I'll take you right now. We'll save our babies, I promise."

He was helping me toward the door when Theresa's voice stopped us cold.

"Hold on. You just signed everything over to Sunny. Where are you going to get money for a hospital visit?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Have you been hiding money from us? Unlock your phone. Let me see how much she's got stashed away."

Theresa snatched my phone and marched over. Her open palm cracked across my face.

"What's the passcode?"

My already swollen cheek exploded with fresh pain. Blood seeped from the corner of my mouth.

"This is all I have left," I choked out. "I need it for the delivery..."

"Delivery?" Theresa scoffed. "You're Sunny's adoptive mother now. Everything revolves around Sunny. The babies aren't even born yet and you're already thinking about your own kids? Whatever you have belongs to Sunny. Hand it all over."

I looked at Victor, desperate, pleading.

He shifted uncomfortably. "Babe, just give it to her. Don't make Mom angry."

I shook my head, stubborn despite everything. "No. That money is for me and my babies. It's our lifeline. You're not getting it."

Thud.

A foot slammed into my stomach. My back crashed against the door with a sickening thump.

Searing pain tore through my lower abdomen, and a rush of warmth flooded between my legs.

"Not talking, huh?"

Theresa grabbed a fistful of my hair and smashed my head against the door.

"Then you can forget about keeping those babies!"

My vision went black around the edges. A ragged, desperate scream clawed its way out of my throat. "Victor..."

Victor grabbed his mother's wrist.

"Mom, stop. She's still carrying my children."

I slumped against the door, every ounce of strength drained from my body. Blood ran down from my forehead, smearing across my face.

Victor gripped my chin. For one fleeting second, I thought he was checking my injuries.

But he held my phone up to my face instead.

I thrashed, trying to pull away, but I had nothing left.

The facial recognition unlocked without resistance.

He opened my banking app. His eyes grew wider with every digit.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven..."

Jeanette and Theresa crowded in behind him. When they saw the string of zeros in the balance, their voices trembled.

"Two million dollars!"

Theresa seized my hair again.

"You conniving little tramp! You've been hiding this much money behind Victor's back? Tell me, how much more are you keeping from us?"

Victor's eyes gleamed, but his voice dripped with wounded outrage.