After I discovered I was pregnant, I slammed the pregnancy test report down in front of my playboy boyfriend.

Alan Rivers lit a cigarette and blew smoke rings at me, his tone casual and cruel. "Seeing as you've kept me company for seven years, I'll give you two choices.

"First, you can abort the baby. I'll compensate you with a million dollars, and you can stay by my side. Second, keep it, take the kid, and disappear. The farther, the better."

Why did I have to choose? I wanted both, so I took the million dollars and vanished from his world without a trace.

Summer's POV:

The smoke rings choked me until I could not stop coughing. Everyone in the private room turned to stare at me.

Alan Rivers watched me with pointed interest, waiting for my answer.

I looked at him calmly. "I choose the million dollars."

Alan was clearly satisfied with my response. He said with a scoff, "Good girl. Summer, as long as you behave, there'll always be a place for you by my side."

With a grand wave of his hand, he signed a check for one and a half million. At least buying out seven years of my youth came at a decent price.

Mocking laughter filled the room.

"As expected of someone who's been by Alan's side for seven years. She knows her place."

"Not like mine! She nags me every day to marry her without even considering what her status is!"

"If you ask me, when it comes to picking women, you've got to learn from Alan!"

The young woman in Alan's arms pouted. "If Summer has a place in your heart, then what about me?"

Alan smiled indulgently, took a sip of wine, and passed it to Leilani Laurent by the mouth.

"You're different from her. You're my precious darling."

Leilani was indeed different from me. Unlike me, who clung desperately to Alan's side for years, Leilani had merely brushed past him at a flower shop entrance while he was buying me a birthday gift.

Just one glance was enough. Alan fell for her at first sight.

He even skipped my 29th birthday celebration with zero explanation that evening. Alan disappeared completely from my life for a month, then brought Leilani back with him.

It took me seven years to earn a place in Alan's heart. She needed only seven seconds.

Leilani smiled and handed me a glass of wine. "Summer, I just got here and don't understand anything. You'll have to take good care of me from now on!"

I took the glass. The doctor's instructions from this afternoon flashed through my mind, and the words slipped out of me. "Pregnant women can't drink alcohol."

Leilani was not satisfied with that answer. She lifted her head to look at me, her doe eyes appearing innocent and harmless. She looked naive yet alluring. "But the baby's going to be aborted anyway, no? Or do you just dislike me, so you refuse to drink what I'm offering you?"

I instinctively glanced at Alan. He frowned at me. "Summer, don't try playing games with me. Put away all those petty schemes of yours and drink it now!"

I took the glass and drained it in one gulp. The alcohol burned, making me cough continuously, but Leilani still was not done. She forced me to drink three more glasses in succession.

Only then was Alan satisfied. Leilani sat in his lap, smiling at him sweetly. "Alan, don't you have something else to announce?"

Alan's lips curved into a smile. "Feeling jealous, huh? I haven't forgotten."

He tapped the table and spoke seriously. "From today on, Leilani is your future Mrs. Rivers! I've already proposed to her."

Alan raised Leilani's hand. The matching diamond rings on their fingers glinted with dazzling light. The moment he finished speaking, cheers erupted in the room, the noise deafening.

Leilani looked at me, her eyes full of innocent sincerity. "Summer, aren't you happy for us?"

Her tactics seemed crude to me. Over the years, women of all types and methods had surrounded Alan, and I had seen them all. Alan was not blind to her pretense either. He simply chose to indulge her.

"Summer, say congratulations."

I forced out a smile and said word by word, "Congratulations on your engagement. I wish you happiness and a long, lasting love."

After I finished speaking, I grabbed a bottle of alcohol to prove my sincerity and drained it in one gulp.

Alan was a playboy with countless women around him. He had once declared he would never settle down with any woman. I refused to believe it and fought my way to his side with bloodied determination, thinking I could move him with my love.

I was indeed the woman who had stayed by his side the longest. However, Leilani's arrival shattered everything.

It turned out that Alan would settle down for someone—that person just was never going to be me.

Amid the lively commotion and laughter, I walked out with a smile while clutching the pregnancy test report and the check. I should not disturb their wonderful time.

The first heavy snow of winter fell quietly. This was my seventh year with Alan. He remained young, reckless, flirtatious, and thrill-seeking, but I was no longer young.

I pulled out my phone. Alan had sent me a message: [Send me proof of the abortion when it's done.]

I knew he was worried I would go back on my word, but seeing those words still made my heart ache. Before coming here, I had already mentally prepared myself for two outcomes.

It was either going to be marriage or a breakup. However, before I could even speak, Alan had already made his choice.

My phone showed a new post from Leilani on social media. [From love at first sight to a lifetime together. Alan, please take care of me from now on.]

The attached photo showed their hands intertwined, both wearing rings. Many people had already liked and commented with words of congratulations. I liked it too, then pulled out the diamond ring from my pocket that I had bought seven years ago.

When I first purchased it, I never imagined I would be entangled with Alan for seven years. In the end, I never gave it to him.

I laughed bitterly and tossed both the test report and the ring into the trash.

Opening my phone, I dialed a number. "Yeah, I've made up my mind. This time, I'm the one leaving him."

After hanging up, I went home. Perhaps the baby in my belly was unwilling to leave just like that, or maybe it was the alcohol. Sharp, icy pain shot through my abdomen.

I curled up on the bed, drenched in a cold sweat. My consciousness drifted hazily back to the past.

I first met Alan when I was 18, and it felt like a small miracle. I had just gotten into college, finally escaping my father and his endless cycle of drinking, gambling, and violence. I thought I could leave behind all that sadness and pain.

Yet, within three months, my father tracked me down. He said he had raised me for 18 years, and it was time for me to repay him. Naturally, I refused, but I was just a frail woman who had never eaten her fill growing up. How could I fight off a tall, brutish thug?

He beat me until my face was bruised and swollen, breaking both my hands and legs. He took the living expenses I had earned from working day and night, even the money from my student loans.

I lay in that alley in despair. At that moment, I truly felt that dying would not be so bad.

Alan happened to pass by and found me. He took me to the hospital. I was not grateful to him, at least not then. I was full of resentment.

Why did I have to suffer all this? I hated everything, and I hated him for saving me. What was the point of living such a desperate life?

However, Alan seemed to see right through me. After I went on another hunger strike, he grabbed me by the collar and dragged me to the hospital rooftop.

The howling wind swirled endlessly around me, and I shivered from the cold. He looked at me expressionlessly.

"You want to die? I'll help you! You think your gambling addict of a father will get what he deserves if you die?"

Death was just one step away, and suddenly, I felt the injustice of it all. Alan was right. I had done nothing wrong. Why should I be the one to die?

Trembling, I grabbed his hand and said word by word, "I don't want to die. I want to live!"

A brilliant smile bloomed on his face as he pulled me into his arms. "Then live well!"

After that, the Rivers family supported me financially under the guise of aid for impoverished students. My father later died in a car accident.

During my four years of college, I fell hopelessly in love with Alan. On graduation day, I gave myself to him as a gift, and Alan did not refuse.

I officially stepped into Alan's life, becoming one of his countless women. Back then, I truly believed we could have a future together.

…

The next morning, I got up early and went to the hospital. I scheduled the earliest abortion appointment available. The procedure went quickly, taking just an hour. That little life I once looked forward to, the child who shared both mine and Alan's blood, disappeared just like that.

I sent the completed procedure report to Alan. He did not reply.

After the observation period, it was confirmed that there were no issues, and I took a cab home. The moment I walked in, I saw Alan holding Leilani on the couch I had carefully chosen. Alan gently peeled grapes and fed them to Leilani.

Seeing me arrive, Leilani touched her belly and smiled at me. "What a coincidence, Summer. I'm pregnant too."

I clutched my cold abdomen and looked up at Alan. He smiled indulgently. "Silly girl, Summer's baby was aborted today."

Seeing my pale face, Leilani stuck out her tongue and covered her mouth in mock surprise. "Oh no, I'm sorry, Summer. I forgot Alan didn't want your baby and you already got rid of it. What a shame. If your baby were still alive, maybe they could have kept my baby company!"

My heart felt like it had been slashed open and was bleeding from every corner. Alan called my child a burden yet treasured another woman's baby.

On the very day I lost my child, he brought a pregnant woman home. From beginning to end, he never considered my feelings, or perhaps my feelings simply did not matter to him.

Without love, there was no care. The difference between being loved and not being loved was painfully clear.

Alan gave me orders as if nothing had happened. "Leilani just got pregnant. She's still young and doesn't know anything. Since you just had an abortion and need to rest anyway, stay home and take care of her.

"Leilani has already moved into the main bedroom. I need to watch over her these next few days. I had your things moved to the maid's room."

I looked at him calmly. "Hire a nanny. I don't have time to take care of a pregnant woman."

Leilani looked displeased. "Summer, I don't trust outsiders. Alan told me he saved your life, so you're reliable. I can't believe you're making excuses over something this simple. Even ungrateful wretches don't act like this!"

I said nothing, only looked at Alan. "Is this what you think too?"

Alan lit a cigarette. The smoke blurred his expression.

The man I once loved deeply, who had been by my side for seven years, now seemed completely unrecognizable.

After a long silence, he said, "Summer, be good."

The last shred of hope in my heart shattered completely. I forced out something that might have been a smile. "Since this is what you want, I'll oblige."

Then, we would be even.

Leilani's first request was for me to cook her lunch. She demanded an elaborate seafood stew, the kind that took hours of careful preparation.

Leilani gave me a sweet smile. "Alan said you're really good at cooking, Summer. The baby and I are going to eat well from now on. We'll even save money from not having to hire help."

I dragged my weakened post-abortion body around the kitchen for three hours. When I finished, Leilani insisted I bring it to the bedroom myself.

I opened the door. The bedroom I had slept in for seven years looked completely different.

Everything that belonged to me had been thrown on the floor like trash. The previously bare walls now displayed photos of Alan and Leilani together.

Leilani wore a flimsy camisole nightgown, her expression coy. Her chest was barely covered, and Alan's hand rested on it.

Seeing me, she directed me to place the dish on the nightstand. Just as I was about to leave, she called out to me, "Summer, this stew is too salty. The baby is still small and can't handle this much salt. Make me another one!"