Sebastian's expression twisted and his eyes were full of disgust as he ordered, “All of you, get out. Don't let that wretched woman, Chiara, deceive you any longer. Lock her in."

"She'll be released only when Sofia's wounds no longer hurt. I’ll personally release her when that happens."

He drove all staff out and left me trapped inside the scorching steam chamber. Without care of my wailing cry, he closed the cafeteria door and sealed my fate.

My baby, my poor, fragile baby, cried only a few times before his tiny body stiffened in my arms. His skin had lost its elasticity, his breath had faded into nothingness.

I sobbed but my cries of agony eventually swallowed by the searing heat. My body slowly disintegrated and turned into boiling water.

While my flesh melted away, Sebastian was busy making grand gestures of love for Sofia to compensate for the six months of being pregnant alone. Sebastian would orchestrate a grand proposal that shook the entire city.

Even without a marriage certificate, he swore to give her the honor of being his wife.

As my lifeless body turned into a bloody mess, he dominated the top ten trending searches with headlines celebrating his love for Sofia. Every major city’s billboard broadcasted his vows to Sofia in an endless loop.

As I took my last breath, he stood aboard a helicopter and showered the city with rose petals in a publicized, extravagant proposal that was broadcast live to millions of netizens.

Now, I watched them spend their wedding night while lying on what was once my marital bed.

Sebastian held Sofia lovingly in his arms and said, "I'm sorry, Sofia. Chiara tricked me back then. She claimed she willingly gave herself to me that night to save me from the effects of the herbal medicine that I took. I married her because I felt responsible to her, after all, we had already done it and I was not the kind of person that abandons someone after having sex."

"You don’t have to worry though. She owes you too much. This time, I made sure she paid for everything. From now on, she’ll have to behave. She won’t dare interfere with our life again. Once you're fully recovered, we'll have another child. The three of us will become a family and ..." He hesitated for a moment. "Since Chiara already has a child, she and her baby can live with us. The five of us will coexist peacefully."

Sofia’s smile faltered, a flicker of unease and malice flashed in her eyes. "What?"

"Don’t worry," Sebastian reassured her. "She may still be my legal wife, but to the world, you're my true partner. Just think of her as a live-in nanny. She will help you to cook and clean for us. Besides, our child will have a playmate."

When she heard this, Sofia's eyes flashed with a hint of viciousness and satisfaction that she quickly masked it with a soft smile. "Of course, I agree. I'll get along with her."

I laughed bitterly at the absurdity of it all.

After everything he had done, he still did not want to let me leave. He truly believed I would willingly watch him showering Sofia with love while serving as a maid in my own home.

I took a deep breath but my tears were now nothing but an invisible memory.

I understood why he was so confident that he thought I would never leave, no matter how much he hurt me. It was because I had endured everything in silence.

A month ago, Sofia, Sebastian's first love collapsed at my doorstep. Out of compassion, I rushed her to the hospital. However, when she woke up, she cried to Sebastian and accused me of pushing her down and causing her to lose her child.

Shocked, I tried to explain to him that I did not do anything to her except take her to the hospital.

Sebastian's eyes turned icy as he stared at me.

Seeing the doubt in his eyes, I pulled out her medical report to prove that she had lost the baby long before I ever found her. However, before I could show him, Sofia burst into tears and sobbed pitifully in his arms.

With a cold glare, Sebastian struck me across the face and sent me sprawling to the floor.

"Enough! You’ve gone too far! Sofia has already forgiven you, yet you still refuse to admit your wrongdoing! “He ordered the guards to take me home and lock me up while demanding that I reflect on my actions.

I foolishly believed that once he calmed down, he would listen to reason. However, after half a month of imprisonment, when I finally saw him again, his gaze held nothing but seething hatred and he looked at me as if I were his greatest enemy.

Back then, I couldn't understand how things had come to this. I had clung to a sliver of hope and believed that maybe, just maybe, once our child was born, he would change his mind.

However, I finally understood that all of these stemmed from what happened a year ago. At that time, Sebastian’s company faced a major crisis and it was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.

At that time, Sofia disappeared after she took every last penny that he had and left him without saying a word.

The double betrayal crushed him. In his devastation, he shut himself in his room day after day.

I became frantic and did everything that I could to pull him back from the edge. I worked tirelessly, chasing every potential deal and searching for clients.

Day after day, I drank with a potential client and finally got a big order that could bring the company back to life.

I rushed to his place, fell to my knees and begged him to remember the man he once was and to give himself another chance and not give up.

Something in my words must have reached him. He agreed to meet with the client.

That night, the business mogul we were negotiating with brought along his mistress. However, the woman fell in love with Sebastian. She determined to have her way with him and slipped a drug into his drink.

This caught me in a dilemma. If I made a scene, I was afraid the boss would cancel the deal if he knew. On the other hand, I could not stand to see Sebastian struggle in agony.

So, I claimed to be his girlfriend and led him away to a hotel room. That night, he held me tight, his burning body pressed against mine and we had intercourse all night.

The next morning, when I woke up, panic took hold of me. I feared that if he knew that his former partner had become his bed partner, he would push me away. So, I ran in a hurry.

Then three months later, when I discovered I was pregnant, with a blush on my face and a thumping heart, I went and met Sebastian then confessed.

Sebastian stared at me for a long time in silence. There was a complicated look on his face. Just when I thought he wouldn't take responsibility, he suddenly exhaled, smiled pulled me into his embrace and said, "Chiara, maybe you are an angel sent from heaven to save me. Help me to start over."

I laughed through my tears. I cried for how pitiful I was and laughed at how foolish I had been.

Now, I realized that while I was being locked up for half a month, Sofie had managed to twist the truth of that night and told him her version. She told Sebastian that she was the one who had given herself to him and ran away with a child in her womb. Meanwhile, I, a vile and scheming woman, had stolen her place and tried to saddle him with a bastard.

No wonder Sebastian looked at me with such deep hatred.

“Boss, it's already been a day and a night ah, you are really going to kill someone if this goes on …." the subordinate said jitterily,” Maybe even, she's already...”

"What nonsense are you spouting?" Sebastian cut his subordinate off impatiently. "It’s just one night. What could possibly happen?"

His voice dripped with irritation. "The appliances in the cafeteria are all high-tech. There are built-in safety measures. If they detect someone inside, they’ll shut off automatically. I was only trying to scare her."

The subordinate’s face was pale. He swallowed nervously. "Um but … but the fire was always on …"

"Enough!" Sebastian slammed his tableware onto the table. "Did Chiara put you up to this? If you plead for her one more time, I’ll lock her up even longer!"

The subordinate fell silent.

Sofia spoke hesitantly, "Maybe we should stop now … If this goes on any longer, sister might truly hate me and if she ever…"

She trailed off, her voice soft and pitiful. "I’m not saying she would hurt me. However, … if she did, I suppose I’d deserve it. It’s only right for her to resent me …"

Seeing her eyes glisten with unshed tears, Sebastian pulled her into his arms protectively. “Sofia, she has made you scared like this. She deserves everything that’s happening to her. You are my love, my savior. I won’t let anyone hurt you."

I will never hurt the woman you love ever again and so, you already got what you wanted.

Sebastian had an unexplainable irritation settling in his chest. The food on the table, which usually satisfied him, now felt unbearably bland.

As he served a bowl of soup to Sofia, he watched as she imitated his previous actions. She took a sip before pressing her lips to his and fed him mouth-to-mouth.

He should have enjoyed her shy yet daring teasing, but instead, the unease in his heart grew stronger.

"Why does this soup taste awful!" He blamed his frustration on the food. "If the chef can't do his job properly, he should just leave!"

"Even Chiara’s cooking tasted better than this." He spoke without thinking and ignoring the way Sofia’s face instantly darkened. He said to himself, "Speaking of which, Sofia needs proper nourishment. We should let Chiara out to prepare her meals."

His expression softened slightly as he remembered Chiara was about to give birth. "She keeps using the baby as an excuse, doesn’t she? Fine. Tell her she has to prepare meals for Sofia for a week. In return, I’ll make sure she has a proper maternity ward so she can have a safe childbirth."

His subordinates exchanged uneasy glances as if they had something to say but didn't dare to tell him.

"Why are you all just standing there?" His impatience flared.

"Sir, y … you should check the cafeteria," one of them stammered. They wiped the sweat from his forehead and they looked very panicked.  "The steamer ... it's full of blood."

Sebastian looked panicky but he soon chuckled, "Ah, it's fine. She may have gone into labor and her water probably broke."

"Well, this's truly a perfect timing. She should take this opportunity to apologize properly to Sofia and then I’ll take her to the hospital."

The subordinate shuddered. "Sir ... Madam … she is already dead." His voice was barely above a whisper. "Yesterday afternoon ... she stopped making any sounds and then ... there was a smell ... like cooked meat from the steamer."

"What! “Sebastian shot up from his seat. His move was so powerful that it knocked over the table and chairs and they fell in disarray all over the floor.

"That’s impossible!" His face turned deathly pale with anger. "I personally chose those kitchen appliances. They were designed with advanced safety features to prevent accidents. I heard the power cut off before I left … I heard it myself! How could something go wrong?""

"You’re all lying to me, aren’t you?" He laughed coldly while striding toward the cafeteria. "You’re all in on it with her and try to scare me. I’ll see for myself what trick she’s playing this time."

When he arrived at the cafeteria, a group of employees stood frozen outside the locked door. Their expressions were stricken with terror.

"Why are you all just standing here? Don't you have work to do?" Sebastian roared. He then had the door opened and stepped inside.

The moment the door was unlocked, a weird, nauseating stench filled the room. "What is that smell?" He frowned. "Who’s responsible for cleaning? Did your cafeteria staff fail to clean up?"

No one dared to speak. All eyes were fixed on the enormous steamer in the center of the room in horror.

A sharp, suffocating pain spread through my chest. Even though I couldn’t see what had happened, the agony of being burned in my final moments made me choke back a sob.

I whimpered and walked over to see that poor child of mine.

Sebastian, his face dark and unreadable, approached the steamer as well. He hesitated before placing a hand on the lid then immediately yanked it back after a while.

"Hah," he actually let out a short laugh. "See? I knew Chiara was just being stubborn and trying to fool me again."

"The metal is cold," he stated flatly. "I told you. The appliances have automatic shut-off features to kill the power. There’s no way anything could have happened."

Knocking on the steamer, he smirked. "Chiara, have you learned your lesson?"

I smiled bitterly. How could I possibly answer him now?

Sebastian’s expression darkened even more as the silence stretched for a long time. His hands trembled slightly as he reached forward and opened the streamer.