Trent was a control freak and insisted I wear a bracelet with a tracker embedded inside, so I hadn't had a single male friend since our marriage.

How was I supposed to have an affair under these conditions?

At first, I thought Lucy would be reminded of how she was kicked out of the Bradford family and would eventually back off.

Instead, she slapped me hard again. "I've had enough of your nonsense! But I'll admit, you should be awarded Best Actress for your acting skills.

"Did you really think I'd come here without first gathering solid evidence of your affair?"

Lucy then grabbed an envelope from her bag, filled with a stack of photographs, and hurled it at me.

The photos showed a naked couple engaged in various intimate acts in the bedroom. But, most shockingly, the woman in the photo looked just like me!

One of Lucy's companions looked at me with disdain and sneered. "You filthy woman... Aren’t you afraid you may contract a disease or something from the men you've been with?"

"No amount of money can erase the fact that you come from a poor family... You reek!"

"You look pure but act like a tart... Shame on you!"

I was seething with anger from their relentless insults, each of them accusing me of adultery when their so-called evidence was obviously just photoshopped images.

At that moment, I decided I wasn't going to waste any more time. I reached for my phone to call Trent, but Lucy snatched it from my hand the moment she saw me.

She then tossed it to one of her friends for safekeeping, leaving me stunned.

"You've just committed several felonies, Lucy. This is your last warning... Leave!" I repeated.

"My God! Lucy, you really ought to show her who's the boss around here!"

Lucy seemed to take that as motivation and ripped the necklace off me. It had been a gift from Trent, who had spent a fortune on it at an auction just to please me.

"Who are you to tell me to leave? Everything you have right now belongs to my family! You'd still be stuck in that poor village of yours if Trent hadn't fallen for you!" Lucy barked.

The other women cheered Lucy on after her dramatic performance.

I gave them all a cold, unwavering stare.

One of the women, patting Lucy on the shoulder, said, "Look, Lucy! She's glaring at you!"

"Just look at how unhappy she looks!"

"I think it's time she learned a lesson she'll never forget..."

Hearing this, Lucy locked eyes with me, her gaze cold and full of malice as she walked over.

I knew there was no way I could win this battle—not when there were so many of them.

Desperate, I rushed for the door, but Lucy grabbed my hair again, yanking me down to my knees.

The whole ordeal happened so quickly that all I could remember was screaming in pain.

Lucy yelled, "Drop the poor little girl act! Stop screaming! It's just a graze!"

"You're going to regret this, Lucy!" I warned.

"Nonsense! I'm going to beat some manners into you so you'll learn not to disgrace the family!" Lucy barked.

That was all Lucy had wanted to do to me ever since I married Trent.

She often told me it was my duty to treat her with respect and even gave me a list of chores, which included washing her underwear, among other things.

However, she failed to realize that Trent was a paranoid supermale and that I had been forced into marrying him.

As soon as he found out, he tore the list into pieces and kicked her out of the house, leaving Lucy with a huge grudge against me ever since.

Finally, she found the perfect opportunity to get her revenge.

Still gripping my hair, Lucy dragged me to the pool and spoke with a cruel tone. "You need to cool off and realize what a disgrace you've been to the family, you wench!"

Without warning, she dunked me into the pool, and I was instantly overwhelmed by the agonizing pain of not being able to breathe.

I tried to break free from her grasp, but I couldn’t.

Finally, Lucy pulled me out just as I was about to reach my limit, giving me the precious time I needed to catch my breath.

I was drenched and a mess.

"You really have what's coming to you after all the discord you've tried to sow between Trent and me," Lucy said.

Once I managed to breathe again, I glared at Lucy with pure hatred in my eyes. "You'd better kill me now, or you're going to regret it for the rest of your life!"

At that moment, I hated Trent down to his core. After all, I was in this mess because he had forced me to marry him.

Lucy slapped me again, but this time, blood trickled from my lips. "Still trying to threaten me, huh? I've had enough of you!"

Lucy shoved my head back into the pool, only this time, she held me under longer before pulling me up again.

Some of the women began to fear for my life when they saw how pale I looked.

"I think that's enough, Lucy. You're going to kill her."

"We'll all end up in prison if you really do kill her."

At those words, Lucy pulled me back up and threw me onto the floor.

With disdain, she said, "That's enough for now. I'll let Trent deal with you when he gets back!"

At that moment, I also decided that when the time came, I wasn’t going to ask Trent to forgive Lucy.

Then, one of the women suddenly pointed at my belly and asked, "Lucy, look… Is she… pregnant?"

They could now see the bulge in my belly after my dress became soaked, and Lucy immediately stomped on me in fury. "You've even gotten yourself pregnant with another man?!"

Fear gripped me as I instinctively protected my belly and said, "Trent is the father!"

"Lies! Trent had a vasectomy a long time ago so he wouldn't pass on his Superman syndrome!" Lucy shouted. "You're trying to have him pass on the Bradford Group to your child, aren't you? Too bad! He already told me he was going to let my son take over!"

It was true that Trent didn't want to have kids because I disliked his Superman syndrome, and he didn't want our children to inherit it.

But that all changed after he failed to win my love. He had the reverse surgery and then I became pregnant, baby-trapping me in a marriage I never wanted.

The other women were furious when they heard this.

"What a scheming vixen!"

"Thank goodness we found out before your family's wealth fell into her hands, Lucy."

"You can't let her get away with this!"

Lucy looked at me with a cruel glint in her eyes. "I'm going to kick that bastard out of your belly… Let's see how you're going to steal our family's money this time!"

I was stricken with fear as I explained, "This baby isn't an illegal child, I swear. Trent got a reverse vasectomy. You can call him if you don't believe me!"

Lucy snorted. "I know what you're scheming, you devil. I know Trent's so head over heels for you that he wouldn't be able to harm you, even if he found out about your affair.

"In fact, he might even be tricked into raising that child for your sake!

"But that's not going to happen on my watch!"

With that, Lucy landed a powerful kick to my belly, and a searing pain shot through my body…

I began to beg for the sake of my baby and said, "Please, Lucy... spare the baby. Trent really is the father."

It was the first time I had ever begged Lucy, even though it was only for the baby's sake.

"Save the act! How dare you get pregnant with another man after everything Trent's done for you?!" Lucy shrieked.

I shook my head. "Those photos are photoshopped. I haven't cheated on him!"

"I don't believe you! Tess was the one who sent me those photos, so they can't be fake!" Lucy revealed.

Tess O'Neil was Lucy's best friend and Trent's childhood friend. She was the only other woman Trent had ever treated kindly before meeting me, but that changed after Tess splashed wine on me once.

"Tess must've photoshopped them to get back at me for—"

But Lucy kicked me again before I could finish.

"You wretch! How dare you accuse my best friend after you cheated on Trent?! Trent's been so enchanted by you ever since you showed up that he'd even disown me!" Lucy thundered.

My body curled up, my arms tightly wrapped around my belly as I endured her insults.

"Pull her hands away! I'll take care of the child in her belly!"

Instantly, four women pulled my arms and legs apart as I pleaded for my child's life, tears streaming down my face. "No... please..."

Lucy grinned evilly and landed a kick squarely against my belly, making me squeal in pain.

Even so, the kicking didn't stop until I grew numb from the agony.

Soon, I felt something warm flowing out of me, and the women began to scream, "S-She's bleeding!"

Blood soaked my white dress, and I felt my baby slipping away. Finally, they released me, allowing me to clutch my belly as tears rolled down my cheeks.

To this day, I mourn the loss of my baby and blame myself for not being able to protect it.

My eyes turned bloodshot, filled with hatred as the images of Lucy and her friends' faces burned into my memory.

"I swear, Lucy... you're going to pay for this with your life!" I snarled.

Lucy held up her phone, showing she had dialed Trent's number. "You ought to save whatever energy you have left to explain your affair to Trent instead!"

However, the call went straight to his voicemail, as Lucy's number had been blacklisted after she was chased out of the family.

"This is all your fault! You tricked Trent into disowning me!" Lucy said, her voice cracking with embarrassment.

Just then, a black sedan pulled up and parked outside the villa.

Trent stepped out of the rear passenger side and immediately saw me lying in a pool of blood, my cheeks swollen.

He pushed Lucy aside and ran toward me, nearly stumbling in his desperation.

With trembling hands, he gathered me in his arms and asked, his voice shaking, "R-Roxy... what happened?"