When I opened my eyes again, I was lying in an unfamiliar hospital room.

“Water…”

My throat burned with dryness and my voice came out weak and broken. I didn’t expect anyone to answer me in the dim light.

“Faye, you’re awake?”

It was Dustin. His voice was full of joy and excitement.

I frowned and quietly pulled my hand out of his grip. Before I learned about his affair with Giselle, before I knew what he had done to my Noah, I would have melted into that familiar warmth.

Now, every touch from him only made my stomach turn.

“Faye, you’re pregnant. Why didn’t you tell me? This is my fault. I’ve been too busy lately. I didn’t take good care of you.”

He gently touched my lower belly and looked at me with tender eyes.

But cold sweat instantly broke out across my body. I tried to sit up, to get away from him, but I had just woken up and had no strength at all.

“Giselle wants to apologize. You know Jonah is still just a child…”

I waved my hand to stop him. “I’m tired. I want to rest.”

I quietly turned my back to him. Three minutes later, I heard him talking to Giselle on the phone.

“Dustin, I really didn’t mean it. I was just scared when I saw Jonah fall. What mother wouldn’t protect her child? If Faye is angry, I’m willing to kneel and apologize, as long as she doesn’t blame Jonah.”

Her words tightened something in my chest.

Yes. What mother wouldn’t protect her child?

And I failed.

The image of Noah lying on the cremation table forced its way into my mind. His bright eyes would never open again. His once rosy cheeks had turned pale from massive blood loss.

And the hollow place in his chest after his heart was taken out…

Everything reminded me how unworthy I was to be a mother.

My hand slowly moved to my lower belly. There was a new life here now. This time, no matter what, I had to protect this child.

“I’ve already talked to Faye. She’ll forgive you. I won’t let anyone hurt you or Jonah. You’re the most important people in my world.”

“Then… will Faye still be willing to give stem cells from the baby in her belly to help Jonah’s immunity? You won’t stop caring about Jonah just because she’s pregnant, right?”

Her words slithered into my ears like poison. She still wanted to hurt the child inside me.

And Dustin’s answer made my heart sink into ice.

“No. You and Jonah will always come first. As for the stem cells, I’ll make Faye agree.”

I covered my mouth and tried hard not to cry. Dustin, who was deeply immersed in his sweet talk with Giselle, did not notice me at all. He hurried toward the underground parking lot where they had agreed to meet.

Half an hour later, Giselle appeared in front of my hospital bed.

“Faye, how should I thank you? You really are the lifesaver of me and my son.”

“If your unlucky son had not died, how could my Jonah become the only future heir of the Arnell Group?”

“You killed my child.” I looked at her with burning hatred in my eyes.

She didn’t care. She gently touched her chest.

“You really are impressive. You took a company on the edge of bankruptcy and brought it to the stock market. But unfortunately, you’re a failed wife. And an even worse mother.”

Every word pierced straight into the deepest wound in my heart. She knew exactly where to stab.

Before I realized what I was doing, I grabbed her by the neck and slammed her down onto the bed. Her face turned red from lack of air, yet there was still mockery in her eyes.

She lifted a thin finger and pressed hard against her chest.

“Here. This is your son’s heart. If I die, the last trace of him in this world disappears too.”

“Go on. Use more strength.”

I instantly pulled my hands back.

As I watched her walk out laughing wildly, I tremblingly sent a message to Javier Frost.

[The plan has changed. Help me investigate something.]

Not long after Giselle left, Dustin walked back in.

“Faye, I brought you your favorite beef patties. You’re pregnant now. You need to take care of yourself. You’re so thin. How is the baby supposed to get enough nutrition?”

My gaze shifted from the paper bag in his hand to his shirt.

This man had always been neat and careful about details. But now, three of his shirt buttons were fastened wrong. Through the open collar, faint red marks were visible on his neck.

When he noticed my stare, he touched his nose awkwardly. As he moved, a familiar scent drifted into the air—Chanel No. 5. The same perfume Giselle wore.

He had also forgotten something else. Half a year ago, on the day Noah died, he had been holding beef patties he bought for me too. Ever since that day, the sight of them made my stomach twist.

I looked at him without saying a word. He sat down beside my bed.

“Faye, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”

The memory of his phone call with Giselle flashed through my mind. My hand instinctively covered my belly. I had to protect my child.

I looked at him coldly. “There is nothing left to talk about. You know exactly what you’ve done.”

My strength hadn’t fully returned. The smartest choice right now was to avoid direct conflict.

A flicker of panic crossed Dustin’s eyes.

“There’s nothing between me and Giselle. The breakfast I bought her was all food you don’t even like.”

As he spoke, his eyes darted toward my phone.

My heart tightened. I opened Giselle’s Instagram.

[The greatest happiness in life is sharing breakfast every day with the one you love.

The person who truly loves you will always give you everything you want.

️️️]

The photo showed a table filled with different breakfasts. In the trash bin beside it was a paper bag, exactly the same as the one sitting in front of me.

“Faye, this is a misunderstanding. Let me explain,” Dustin said as he rushed toward me to grab my phone.

The heavy perfume on his body, mixed with the smell of crushed beef patties, made my stomach churn. I gagged uncontrollably.

When Dustin heard me retch, he pushed me off the bed. I stumbled and fell onto the cold floor.

“Faye, you know I have issues with cleanliness. I know pregnancy makes you sick, but you could’ve gone to the bathroom.”

I sat on the floor, too weak to stand. The cold seeped through my body and straight into my heart.

It felt like I was seeing Dustin for the first time.

No, I should have known long ago how fake and selfish he was.

“Ms. Watson, it’s time for your stem cell extraction procedure. Please come with us to the operating room.”

Before I could react, two nurses stepped forward and tried to lift me up.

“I never agreed to any surgery,” I struggled. “Let go of me.”

Dustin stepped in, forcing an apologetic smile.

“My wife hasn’t been emotionally stable since our older son’s accident. She blames herself for his death and still hasn’t recovered from the shock. I’ve already signed the consent form on her behalf. If necessary, you may use sedatives.”

His words exploded in my head.

Because Dustin often blamed Noah’s accident on my carelessness, I once believed that I was the one who killed Noah. I almost had a mental breakdown and was sent to a recovery center. Only now did I understand that he had been planning this all along.

He wanted to label me as mentally ill.

I stared at him and forced myself to stay calm. Slowly, I took out my phone and opened my chat history with my divorce lawyer.

“I’m already divorced from him. His signature means nothing.”

Before anyone could respond, Giselle suddenly stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me, her lips close to my ear.

“Your son’s heart is rejecting my body. If you refuse to give me stem cells, I’ll throw his heart to the dogs.”

I turned to look at her.

“So this was your plan all along?”

She smiled faintly. “Don’t worry. Soon, you’ll be able to go to hell and settle your accounts with your dead children.”

My body went cold as the nurses pushed me out of the ward. My fingers moved across my phone by pure instinct.

I will make everyone here pay the price.

A huge shadowless surgery light hung above my head in the operating room. The white light made my eyes ache.

“Ms. Watson, the embryo stem cell extraction will begin in ten minutes. We will administer anesthesia now,” the nurse said in a cold voice, like an emotionless machine.

“No…” I cried out softly.

A twisting pain came from my lower belly, as if someone was scraping inside me with a cold, dull knife.

My baby…

My arms were strapped down and I could only struggle weakly. Soon, I felt something warm and sticky spreading beneath me.

“Doctor, please save my child,” I begged in panic. The doctor frowned at me, then turned to the nurse.

“Stop the procedure. The patient shows signs of miscarriage.”

I grabbed his sleeve desperately. “Please, save my baby. I can’t lose this child too.”

The doctor looked at me coldly and pushed my hand away. “Some people aren’t meant to have children. Sometimes, the fetus chooses to leave on its own.”

Those words pushed me straight into despair.

Did I really not deserve a child?

My heart collapsed in an instant. I clutched my hair, crying and laughing at the same time. The doctor sighed and exchanged a look with the nurse.

The next moment, darkness swallowed me.

When I woke up, it was already late at night. I immediately reached for my belly. It was still flat, but the warmth I once felt was gone.

My eyes fell on the hospital wristband.

[Faye Watson.

10 weeks pregnant.

Miscarriage.]

My child was gone.

Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, I cried in silence. Then my phone began to vibrate again and again, breaking the heavy stillness.

In the company group chat, Dustin kept tagging me.

[From now on, all business matters will be handled by Giselle.]

[Giselle is appointed Vice President of the company. She does not need to report to Faye and has the same authority as me.]

I closed the group chat, only to see his private message.

[Faye, the doctor said the stem cell extraction was a minor procedure. After you’re discharged tomorrow, come to the office and help Giselle.]

[Come now. Giselle needs you urgently.]

I took a deep breath.

Perhaps, the one who did not deserve children was him. Not me.

***

When I stepped into Arnell Group, this building where I had spent countless days and sleepless nights, I felt strangely detached.

Perhaps because soon, I would personally destroy everything here.

The receptionist froze when she saw me.

“Ms. Watson… why are you here?”

I said nothing. She quickly gestured to others, then raised her voice on purpose.

“Mr. Arnell is not in the office right now. Would you like to wait until he returns to schedule a meeting?”

I walked straight toward my office. But everything inside was gone.

I pushed the door open.

The business plan I had stayed up eight nights to finish was being used to support a table leg. The simple white walls were now covered with Giselle’s personal photos.

The small ceramic figure Noah had made with his own hands lay broken in the trash can.

In the quiet room, I heard sobbing sounds. I rushed to my lounge room and saw Giselle playing a video on the computer. It was a video of me crying when I missed Noah.

“Giselle, how dare you secretly record me?” I shouted angrily and pointed at her.

She calmly tucked her hair behind her ear.

“I wouldn’t dare. These videos were given to me by Dustin to cheer me up. Didn’t you record them yourself?”

She casually turned the screen toward me. Only then did I realize… Every clip was something I had once sent to Dustin in my weakest moments.

He had turned my most painful and weakest moments into entertainment.

“Oh, right. This isn’t your office anymore. You already know that, don’t you?”

She walked over in her high heels and waved her red-painted fingers. “The storage room next to the restroom. That’s where you belong now.”

Then she called in two tall men dressed in black.

“Dustin arranged them to protect me. They’ll escort you to your new workspace. Everything here belongs to me now, especially the business partnerships you secured.”

I looked at her proud face and said nothing.

Because I knew…

Very soon, she would learn where she truly belonged.