He adjusted his cuff and spoke casually.

“Stacy’s back, so I’m going to pick her up.

“Clean up the mess at home. She’s not like you and doesn’t adapt to things as easily. She’s very innocent.”

William’s tone held no obvious contempt, but that calmness felt like a hard slap across my face.

I watched him rush out the door without looking back.

At that moment, I wanted to ask him something.

What exactly did I mean to him?

Was I a girlfriend he planned to marry, or a living toy he could summon and discard at will?

But I did not dare ask because I feared the truth, and I feared that I could not bear it.

In the end, I refused to give up.

I refused to believe William felt nothing for me. I believed even less that he could desire someone he did not love.

I waited from morning until afternoon. When he finally returned, it was with Stacy.

She stood at the door and pointed at me.

“I don’t like her. Make her leave.”

In that instant, I finally understood what it meant to be spoiled rotten.

She did not need schemes or tricks.

One sentence was enough for William to throw me out, along with my luggage.

That day, heavy rain flooded Harbor City as I dragged my luggage through the streets, unable to flag down a single cab.

By the time the moon rose, William found me.

He booked a presidential suite for a month and pulled me into his arms without hesitation.

That night, he wanted me again and again. He whispered my name in my ear.

In a daze, I held his shoulder and asked him if he loved me.

William froze and was silent for a long time before he said, “Emma, if I ever get married, the bride will be you.”

I forgave him just like that because I loved him too much.

I loved him enough to accept that I was not the only woman in his life.

I loved him enough that even knowing certain truths, I would still run to him the moment he called, like a dog desperate to please.

I would roll over, wag my tail, do anything just to earn his favor.

After that, William and I seemed to silently agree that marriage was inevitable.

I began looking at wedding venues, dresses, and rings.

I sent him what I chose, and he replied while accompanying Stacy.

Most of the time, his responses were short.

[Whatever you like is fine]

[I’m good with anything.]

Other times, he did not even reply.

Stacy would take his phone and curse at me. She always accused me of being shameless.

Then, William would take the phone back and send me a cold voice message.

“She’s still young. Don’t take it to heart.”

I found that funny, but I agreed that I was indeed shameless.

And yet, I enjoyed it.

A few days later, William suddenly suggested we go look at rings.

Stacy came along.

I picked out more than ten designs. Stacy rejected every single one, always with some absurd excuse.

“This ring brings bad luck to the husband, so we can’t take it.”

“This ring makes me uncomfortable, so it won’t work.”

Even the sales assistant could not take it anymore and asked us who was getting married and who was actually buying the ring.

Stacy’s pride was bruised, and she curled up in William’s arms, crying softly.

“William, I don’t want you to get married! If you marry, you won’t care about me anymore, and then anyone can mistreat me. You can’t get married!”

William’s eyes reddened.

He restrained himself, and his voice trembled.

“How could I not care about you? I’ve always been your… brother…”

“That’s not true!” Stacy shouted. “Ever since Emma showed up, you sent me abroad and wouldn’t let me come back!

“It’s all Emma’s fault. It’s all her fault! If she disappears, will you treat me like before?”

She suddenly looked at me, and madness flashed in her eyes.

She grabbed my head and slammed it hard against the counter.

The sound of shattering glass exploded in my ears, and blood blurred my vision.

But Stacy was not satisfied.

She lifted her four-inch heels and drove them into my abdomen. Pain exploded through me.

I lay on the floor like a discarded rag doll.

Before my consciousness faded, the last thing I saw was William clutching Stacy’s hand in panic.

“Stacy, are you hurt anywhere? Don’t ever scare me like that again…”

When I woke up, I was lying on a hospital bed.

William was gone. Only a nurse moved busily around the room.

“The head wound required twelve stitches,” she said gently. “It’s no longer serious.

“But the baby…

“The pregnancy was still very early. We did everything we could.”

My mind went completely blank at the nurse’s words.

I stared at my abdomen and reached out to touch it.

So… there had been a child in there.

And by the time I knew, the child was already gone.

Tears streamed silently down my face. The nurse hurried to comfort me.

“You’re still young. You can have another child. Call the baby’s father first.”

‘The child’s father…’ I thought.

When I remembered the way William had looked at Stacy before I passed out, my tears would not stop.

If I had not been so stubborn and obsessed with him, maybe my child would not have ended up like this.

It was all my fault.

I should have left long ago.

I blocked William’s contact and stayed in the hospital to recover in peace.

I did not expect him to burst into the ward the very next day.

He grabbed my hand and spoke in a mix of urgency and anger.

“Why didn’t you answer my calls? Do you have any idea how long I’ve been looking for you?”

I was not foolish enough to believe that he was worried about me.

Sure enough, William pulled out my IV and dragged me out of the ward.

“Stacy was in a car accident. She urgently needs a blood transfusion. You’re the only one with the same blood type—”

I struggled with all my strength.

“Let go! Let go of me! William, I just had surgery too, and I don’t want to…”

He did not let me finish. He looked at me with open disgust.

“Emma, haven’t you always wanted to marry me? Save Stacy, and I’ll marry you.”

William pushed me into the operating room and pleaded with the doctor behind him.

“Please, doctor, you must save Stacy!”

“Stacy?” The doctor flipped through the chart and frowned slightly.

“But the name written here is Emily Langley…”

William froze.

He instinctively glanced at me, and his eyes shone guiltily.

After a brief silence, he nodded slowly.

“Yes, Stacy… is Emily Langley.”

Emily…

It suddenly hit me.

Before the Wells Family adopted Stacy, her name had been Emily Langley.

All those times he had whispered Emily’s name in moments of passion and promised to marry her had not been for me.

From beginning to end, I was nothing more than a substitute.

William had never loved me!

At that moment, my heart was numb, and my consciousness sank into darkness under the influence of the cold anesthesia.

When I woke up again, I bought a plane ticket and returned to my hometown.

Before boarding, I used a public phone at the airport to call William.

“William, I don’t love you anymore. We’re done.”

I never expected that six years later, we would meet again.

I gave William a brief nod before turning to leave.

William suddenly grabbed me. His grip was so tight that my wrist reddened at once.

He picked up the diamond ring from the ground and held it out in front of me.

“Emma, did I ever agree to a break-up? Put it on now, and don’t make me angry!”

William pried my hand open and tried to force the ring onto my finger.

But the instant my fingers spread, he froze.

His eyes locked onto the massive diamond already on my ring finger.

“That’s not possible…”

He was about to say more when a sturdy little boy suddenly rushed over.

He planted himself between us and wrapped his arms tightly around my leg.

“Hey, let go of my mommy!”

My son, Luke, appeared too suddenly and caught me off guard.

I had not brought him with me today.

When William heard him call me “mommy,” he looked at us in disbelief.

I pulled Luke closer and shielded him behind me as I looked at William with caution.

I wanted to attend the event quietly, and yet, I had become the focus of the entire room.

Luke was shy around strangers. He clutched my hand tightly, and his face flushed.

His eyes shone with a mix of curiosity and unease.

He looked at William in open hostility.

William had not treated me kindly earlier, so it was only natural for Luke to think his mother was being mistreated.

I patted his back gently and comforted him in a low voice.

I tried to appear calm, but inside, my emotions churned and refused to settle.

William’s gaze felt like a sharp blade, piercing straight through me, as if he were trying to carve something out.

I could hear the whispers around us, closing in like a tight net.

The pressure wrapped around me, making it hard to breathe.

“Is that really Emma’s child?”

“A child who made Emma give up her career and disappear for so long? Who’s he really?”

“Do you think he could be William’s?”

“That can’t be! If the child were William’s, why would Emma have left?”

“Difficult to figure out, to say the least. Everyone in our circle knew how desperately Emma chased after William…”

Every word struck my heart like needles.

I knew they were curious, eager to uncover the truth and pry into my past.

I held Luke tightly as painful memories surfaced.

It felt as though only by doing this could I protect him and us.

William’s friend Jake, who had grown up with him and Stacy, stood beside him with a stunned face.

Jake looked at me. His gaze was conflicted with doubt and shock.

There was also something else that I could not read in his face.

“Emma, is this your child? What’s his name?”

He clearly needed confirmation.

After all, in their eyes, I loved William so deeply that I would have died for him.

How could someone like me suddenly have such a grown child?

No one answered him.

I stayed silent and held Luke close.

He seemed to sense the heavy atmosphere, and his grip tightened around me.

Then, in a soft, childish voice, he said, “My name’s Luke Green.”

It was not Wells but Green.

William felt the world spin, and he nearly collapsed.

His eyes were filled with doubt.

“You… you don’t believe he’s my child?” I said softly. My voice was filled with mockery and exhaustion.

William looked at me, and he seemed shocked.

He opened his mouth as if to speak, but in the end, he said nothing.

He simply stood there, silent, like an abandoned child.

“Don’t Luke and I look alike?”

William trembled slightly.

He looked at Luke and then at me, finally seeing the resemblance between us.

Regret filled his eyes.

He remembered the hospital notice he had received after I left.

It clearly stated that I had miscarried.