Daniel’s voice shattered my heart.

“Of course not. My marriage with her has long been meaningless. I was afraid that once she divorced me, she’d expose the secret behind that half order. Then my reputation, and Chloe’s reputation, would be utterly ruined!”

“How would I continue running my company? How would I face people? And how would Chloe survive it? Besides, don’t you prefer Chloe anyway?”

“Chloe’s life is pitiful. After being abused by her ex-husband overseas, she barely scrapes by here. What’s wrong with buying her a bag to brighten her day? Your mother is impossible to live with.”

Emma sighed.

“Yes, I do prefer Chloe. She always buys me burgers, but Mommy never lets me eat them. She forces me to eat disgusting green peppers!”

My heart grew colder and colder. Hearing this, all my worry for my daughter felt wasted.

At only eight years old, my little girl had already betrayed me—for Chloe, her father’s mistress. Together, they had deceived me and left me crippled.

I closed my eyes and cried silently, tears streaming down my cheeks. But I dared not make a sound, afraid that if father and daughter discovered I knew the truth, they might do something even worse.

Later that day, traffic officers and police came to take my statement. They even pulled surveillance footage from the crash site.

Their conclusion: brake failure, an accident.

The other driver accepted full responsibility and offered full compensation.

At that moment, I saw Daniel breathe a visible sigh of relief, as if he had engineered the entire crash himself. To escape suspicion quickly, he was willing to accept the blame.

When the topic of the kidnappers came up, Daniel displayed unprecedented fury:

“Officers, you must catch those criminals! They kidnapped my daughter. If my wife hadn’t been distracted by their call, the accident wouldn’t have happened. The real culprits are those men!”

“Yes, officer,” Emma cried, “if I hadn’t been kidnapped, Mommy wouldn’t have crashed and broken her legs. It’s all my fault. Please, catch those bad guys!”

The policeman patted her head kindly.

“Don’t worry, little one. Justice always prevails. We’ll catch them.”

“Sweetheart, are you alright? Are you feeling better?”

Daniel and Emma came over, speaking softly as if nothing had happened.

“Mommy, it’s all my fault. If not for me, you wouldn’t have suffered this.”

I ignored Emma and glared at Daniel.

“Why are you still here? Why aren’t you at the court? Our divorce agreement is still valid!”

“I’m giving you one last chance—tomorrow morning, we go to the court. Otherwise, I’ll expose your half-order secret, and let’s see how you face your family then.”

I spoke with burning rage, fueled not only by anger but by the devastating truth I had overheard last night.

Daniel looked at me in disbelief.

“Even like this, you still insist on divorcing me?”

“What about it? I’m crippled now? So what?” I shot back, my eyes blazing. “Even if I have to hobble there on crutches, I’ll divorce you!”

“I don’t ever want to see your face again!”

“Mom, how can you talk to Dad like that?” Emma snapped, defending him.

“Sophia, you’re impossible! You’ve just had an accident, and I’m here caring for you—yet you repay me with divorce demands?” Daniel fumed, about to leave.

I reminded him coldly,

“Don’t forget tomorrow, the court. Or would you prefer your mother to hear all about the half order?”

“Hmph!” Daniel shot me a venomous glare, then left with Emma.

Past midnight, I lay awake, waiting for tomorrow to come. I had endured life with this hypocritical man long enough. I wanted freedom. The secret of that half order no longer mattered to me.

Just as I was drifting into sleep, I heard the sound of my hospital room door being forced open.

Confused, I thought—did I call the nurses?

But then, a group of menacing figures burst in, and my blood froze.

“Who are you? This is a hospital. Leave immediately, or I’ll call security!”

I barked, trying to sound firm.

They only sneered.

“Sweetheart, already pretending you don’t know my voice?”

That voice—it was the same one from the kidnapping call.

My body went cold.

“You… who are you? I don’t know you! Get out!”

The leader, a scruffy vagrant-looking man, smirked.

“Don’t play dumb. You know exactly who we are. And screaming won’t help. We already drugged the nurses. Tonight, no one will save you.”

“Last time, you survived the crash. This time, we’ll make sure you don’t.”

My face drained of color.

“Daniel—Mr. Carter—he sent you, didn’t he? Whatever he paid you, I’ll double it. Don’t hurt me!”

“Two hundred thousand… four hundred thousand… half a million… no, a million!”

The leader’s expression flickered, but he sneered.

“Too bad. I live by one rule: whoever hires me first, I stay loyal to. Even if you offered ten times more, I wouldn’t betray the deal.”

“Sorry, sweetheart. Best I can do is leave you a whole corpse.”

Panic surged through me. I tried to run, but the door was already barricaded.

They rushed me, fists and boots raining down. The world spun, pain blazing through my body.

“Please, don’t hurt me! I’m begging you!”

But they ignored me. Before blacking out, I felt my legs twisted unnaturally, agony ripping me apart. I thought I was dying.

So convenient—for Daniel and Chloe. The secret of the half order would die with me.

I was going to die. And I was furious.

Yet when I opened my eyes again, I was still in the hospital. Pain tore through me, my legs bent grotesquely, useless.

Then, from the bathroom, I heard whispered voices.

Daniel.

On the phone.

“Dad, Mom keeps insisting on a divorce, and I can’t stand it. But crippling her—having those thugs break her legs—wasn’t that too cruel? How will she live now?”

And Daniel’s cold laugh answered:

“This way, she’ll never be able to divorce me. Without her legs, let’s see how she manages it! If she insists on leaving, she’ll expose the secret about me buying Chloe a real designer handbag. When that happens, the stock price of the Carter Group will plummet, and my reputation as Mr. Carter will be destroyed. What about your grandmother then? What about our lives?”

“Your mother is too selfish. She’s willing to ruin everything just to satisfy herself. But even if she’s crippled, I can still take care of her for the rest of her life. She’ll never have to worry about food or clothing.”

“It was just one handbag—barely worth tens of thousands. And yet she has to compare herself with Chloe. Chloe doesn’t live nearly as well as your mother does. She wants to shame me, so I had no choice but to be ruthless.”

“And now that she’s crippled, she can’t go home. She’ll be stuck in the hospital. That means Chloe can pick you up from school, cook for you, and take you out for burgers. Isn’t Chloe the one you’d rather have as your mother?”

On the other end of the line, Emma clapped her hands in excitement:

“Yes, yes! I love Chloe being my mom! Every time she picks me up from school, she dresses like a fairy. Unlike Mommy—always showing up in an apron, looking like some country woman. She embarrasses me.”

“And Mommy’s so controlling. She forces me to eat green peppers, won’t let me have burgers or hot dog sausages. Chloe has the heart of an angel compared to her.”

My heart sank to the bottom.

So the child I carried for ten long months had turned into an ungrateful little traitor—choosing a mistress as her mother.

I cooked for her, forced her to eat green peppers for her health, and banned burgers because of the trans fats that would stunt her growth. But in her eyes, that became me being controlling.

I picked her up from school after cooking dinner, not even changing my clothes because I was afraid something might happen to her. And in her eyes, that became me humiliating her in an apron.

So it was Daniel who had hired those thugs. He wanted me dead, or at least crippled, so I could never bring up divorce again.

I no longer wanted such a husband or such a child.

When Daniel finished his call and left, I dialed Rachel Adams.

“Rachel, I regret everything. Is there still a position for me in the research lab?”

“I gave up my career for marriage, and now I deeply regret it. You were right all along—men like him aren’t worth sacrificing your future for.”

Back then, blinded by love, I threw myself into Daniel Carter’s arms. I never thought I was just feeding a dog.

Rachel was shocked at first but then sounded both relieved and heartbroken.

“See? I told you from the beginning. Daniel is the kind of man who’s all surface—thin lips and a handsome face, but cold inside.”

“Since your legs are broken, I’ll send my brother to pick you up. Sophia, I look forward to seeing you again.”

“See you soon.”

After hanging up, I was overwhelmed with emotion. Michael Adams, Rachel’s brother, was also my senior in school. He had once pursued me, but I rejected him because I was shallow and chose Daniel for his looks. Now, with him coming to get me, would he laugh at the pitiful wreck I had become?

The next day, police officers and hospital security came by as routine. Even Dr. Johnson, the vice director, showed up. After all, the wife of Mr. Carter of the Carter Group had been attacked inside a hospital ward.