The ninety-ninth time I barged into the casino's private room, Lewis Harding assumed I'd throw a tantrum like all the times before.

He casually pulled his jacket over the dealer beneath him, then lit a cigarette.

【Stella, I've told you before. There's a limit to my patience.】

【You've hit Lydia Edwards ninety-nine times now. Touch her again, and I'll cut off your sister's medical funding.】

【Get out. I lost a bet tonight, and I promised Lydia a child.】

【Once she's pregnant, I'll come home.】

When I didn't move, Lewis assumed I was angry again.

He stubbed out his cigarette, irritation rolling off him.

【What, you're going to pull the fiancée card on me again?】

【I'll say this one last time. The wedding happens when I say it happens. When I've had my fill and feel like getting married, I'll let you know.】

For the first time, I didn't argue. I was so calm it unsettled even him.

【Lewis, how about I make you a bet today instead.】

【If I win, you come home with me and we get married.】

【If I lose, I'll be exactly what you want. A quiet little kept woman who never makes a fuss. Deal?】

Lewis's lips curled into a mocking half-smile：【Stella, every time you walk in here it's to catch me in the act. You've never once sat at a card table. You can't win.】

He thought I'd come up with some new scheme to force his hand on the wedding.

What he didn't know was that I'd never intended to win this bet……

——

I walked to the card table and began straightening the mess across its surface.

Traces of Lewis and Lydia's entanglement still lingered there.

My eyes burned red in an instant.

Lewis knew me too well.

He knew this was always what I looked like right before I lost control.

He stepped in front of Lydia, shielding her, and frowned：【You're not about to go crazy again, are you?】

I didn't answer. I just shook my head calmly, speaking more to myself than to him.

【As long as you agree to the bet, I'll accept losing.】

Lewis blinked, caught off guard, and the words left his mouth before he could think：【Lydia having my child. You'd accept that too?】

I gave a quiet hum of agreement.

【I'd accept it.】

【But as compensation, you'd have to give me twenty million dollars.】

Something in Lewis's expression shifted, turning cold.

【Stella Matthews. All these years you've eaten my food, spent my money. I've been covering your sister's medical bills this entire time.】

【What do you need that kind of money for?】

I lowered my head, hiding the guilt in my eyes.

I kept my voice light, casual：【I saw a diamond necklace the other day. I want to buy it.】

Lewis was silent for a moment. Then he laughed, sharp and scornful.

【Your family's gone bankrupt and you're still this vain. Only you, Stella.】

【Fine. Twenty million for my freedom and Lydia's child. Not a bad deal.】

The outcome was never in question. I didn't even know the rules. I lost.

The twenty-million-dollar check hit me in the face. Lewis waved me off：【Now can you get out?】

【Oh, right. Once Lydia's pregnant, she can't keep dealing.】

【I'll bring her home to rest during the pregnancy.】

【Make sure you clear out a room and have everything ready for her. Whatever a pregnant woman needs.】

I picked the check up off the floor and answered, my voice perfectly even：【Everything's already prepared. She can move right in.】

【What?】

Lewis didn't catch what I said.

But I didn't repeat myself. I turned and walked out of the casino.

On the roadside, a young woman was burning paper offerings for a child who had died.

I reached into my coat and pulled out a pregnancy test. I smiled at her：【This is my baby. Would it be okay if they kept your child company?】

The woman grabbed my wrist, her voice sharp：【Young lady, a child is a gift from God. Don't say things like that.】

【Go home and take care of yourself. Nothing in this world matters more than bringing that baby into it safe and sound.】

I laughed, the taste of it bitter on my tongue.

【I can't have this baby.】

The woman blinked, caught off guard.

【I'm dying.】

Her eyes went red. After a long moment, she let go of my hand.

She watched the pregnancy test curl into ash and asked in a choked voice：【Does your husband know?】

I looked toward the distance, where Lewis was wrapping his arm around Lydia and sliding into a Cullinan. I smiled. ：【He probably doesn't want to.】

The woman understood immediately.

She let out a sigh：【Another poor soul with a hard life.】

【Sweetheart, come next year I'll burn paper offerings for you.】

Back in Harbor City, I went straight to the hospital.

In the ICU, my sister still hadn't been cleared from critical condition.

Dr. Warren clutched the papers in his hand and asked：【Stella, please reconsider.】

【Your sister's illness requires a massive bone-marrow transplant.】

【If you give her yours, you won't survive.】

【Why don't we try reaching out to Mr. Harding again? The Harding family has connections everywhere. They might be able to locate a matching donor……】

I shook my head gently.

【No more looking.】

【He's been busy lately. He doesn't have time for my problems.】

【Besides, finding a match takes time, and Tessa can't wait.】

The truth was, it wasn't as though I'd never asked Lewis.

He'd decided I was lying, using my sister's illness as an excuse to force him to come home.

I remembered it clearly. That day, he'd been about to take Lydia out on his yacht.

I chased after the boat, sobbing, begging him.

All I got was his disgust. He had his people throw me off the yacht.

I stood in the freezing water, calling his name over and over.

All he gave me in return was a kiss with Lydia, slow and deliberate, like a taunt.

Tears blurred the memory and sharpened the one thing I already knew: no one was going to save my sister but me.

I picked up the pen, ready to sign the bone-marrow donation consent form, when Dr. Warren's phone rang.

He held the screen up to me, his face lit with sudden hope：【Stella, wait!】

【Mr. Harding's calling.】

【He must have heard that your sister's condition has gotten worse.】

Before I could stop him, Dr. Warren had already answered.

【Mr. Harding, you're calling about Tessa's condition, aren't you……】

He didn't finish. A grumble cut through from the other end.

【It's the crack of dawn. Are you even awake yet?】

【Why would I be calling about Tessa Matthews?】

【She's been a wreck for years, half-dead as it is. What's there to ask about?】

Dr. Warren shot me a panicked glance and instinctively covered the receiver with his hand.

But I'd already heard every word.

【I just wanted to ask you something. I slept with a woman last night, and she felt a little nauseous this morning. Any chance she's pregnant?】

The Harding family was the hospital's majority shareholder. Dr. Warren had no choice but to answer Lewis's questions.

He turned away and lowered his voice：【Mr. Harding, it's only been one night. Even if she did conceive, the symptoms wouldn't show that fast.】

【Don't let someone pin this on you.】

Dr. Warren didn't know about Lewis and Lydia.

Like most people on the outside, he believed Lewis was desperately in love with me.

When my family went bankrupt and my parents jumped off a building because they couldn't take the pressure, every dollar of debt landed on my shoulders and Tessa's.

Lewis paid off everything. He defied enormous pressure to get engaged to me and became my rock without a second thought.

When Tessa fell ill out of nowhere, he was there day and night, comforting me, telling me not to worry, that he'd handle it.

Back then, he really was good to me.

He told me I was the girl he'd fallen for when he first learned what love was, and that he'd treat me well for the rest of his life.

Then one night at a business dinner he walked into the casino, met Lydia, and changed completely.

He started throwing obscene amounts of money around for Lydia at the tables, and because he was obsessed with her body, he stopped coming home at night.

He even used "not done having fun" as an excuse to keep pushing back our wedding, again and again.

The memory was cut short by Dr. Warren's voice.

He set the phone down with a puzzled look, muttering：【Was Mr. Harding drugged or something?】

【I already told him not to play the fall guy, and now he's asking me to make time tomorrow to give that woman a prenatal checkup.】

I laughed, bitter and hollow.

【Don't waste your worry on him, Dr. Warren. He's been with that woman for a long time.】

【If there really is a baby, it's his.】

Understanding dawned on Dr. Warren's face, and the pity in his eyes deepened.

I hated that look.

I'd seen too much pity over the past two years.

Every time I showed up at the casino to make a scene, that was exactly how those people looked at me.

Time after time I swallowed my pride, accepted their pity, all for the home Lewis Harding had once promised me.

But in the end, pity was all I ever got.

Nothing changed. Nothing at all.

I was tired. So this time, I wanted to leave standing straight.

No one's pity. No one's sympathy.

I signed the bone-marrow donation consent form.

【You said last time that the baby has to be terminated before the donation.】

【Let's do it today.】

On the operating table, I didn't shed a single tear.

I thought it was because when you're about to die, nothing matters anymore.

But when Dr. Warren brought that tiny ball of flesh to me and asked whether I wanted to take it and bury it or have it disposed of, my vision blurred all the same.

I used to believe our child would be the happiest in the world.

I never imagined I wouldn't even be able to give him the chance to see it.

I placed the remains in a small wooden box, planning to bury it at dawn beside the grave I'd already prepared for myself.

By the time I dragged my weakened body home, it was already dark.

I'd wanted nothing more than to sleep, but when I pushed the door open, I met Lewis's eyes.

Instinctively, I hid the wooden box behind my back.

Lewis caught every bit of that.

He closed the distance step by step and snatched the box from my hands.

The moment the lid came off, he froze.

【Stella, what is this?】

I hesitated for a second.

I'd planned to leave quietly, without a word.

But then I thought better of it. This wasn't something I could hide forever.

Besides, this child was half his. He had the right to know.

Before I could get the words out, a shriek cut through the room.

Lydia was clinging to Lewis's shirt, cowering behind him in exaggerated horror.

【Lewis, what the hell is that thing? It's disgusting!】

【I told you I didn't want to come here.】

【Stella already hates me. Now that I'm here, she's just going to find more ways to torment me.】

Lewis covered Lydia's eyes, his face tender with concern.

Then he slammed the box onto the floor. The remains tumbled out and rolled through the dust.

Pain pierced through me, sudden and everywhere at once, as though a thousand needles had been driven into my chest all at the same time.

I shoved Lewis hard and screamed, my voice raw and broken：【Lewis Harding, that is our child! You'll pay for what you just did!】

Lewis went rigid. For a long moment he didn't move, didn't speak.

Lydia, however, let out a cold, contemptuous scoff.

【Stella, you really are running out of tricks, aren't you? Same old routine, over and over.】

【If this were really your child, it would be over four months along by now, right?】

【You expect anyone to believe you could keep something that big to yourself for four whole months?】

【You would've used that baby to pressure Lewis into marrying you ages ago.】

After all the battles we'd fought, Lydia did know me well.

The old me would have done exactly what she said. I would have used the baby to force a wedding.

But what she didn't know was that the reason I'd stayed silent this time was because of something Lewis had said.