Daniel was extremely efficient. That morning, he soothed me gently by the bed, saying he could not defy the board of directors. By noon, our apartment was a flurry of activity — The butler bought children’s toys, the cleaner prepared the guest room, and the chef asked about the children’s dietary preferences.

I watched them coldly and returned to my room to pick up the luggage I had already packed. When I got to the lift lobby, a cup came flying at me.

The burning hot latte scalded my skin through my silk blouse.

“Mean lady!” A little boy stood on the stairs, holding another cup.

The girl next to him aimed a phone camera at me. “Mom was right. We should teach wretches like her a lesson so she gets away from Dad!”

Another cup shattered at my feet, sending shards flying everywhere.

I tried to dodge, but a woman stood behind me.

Victoria looked down on me, wearing a full suit of high-end brand. “Aren’t you Daniel’s girlfriend? Why do you look so pathetic?”

She emphasized the word “girlfriend”, her crimson lips curving sarcastically.

“You…” Before I could say anything, the boy suddenly rushed downstairs and shoved me. I stumbled and fell, my knee crashing into the hard marble floor.

“You have no right to look at my mother!” The girl ran at me and left large scratches on my arms with her nails. “You belong on your knees!”

Victoria straightened out the hem of her dress with a smile. “My babies are a little rowdy, but…” She bent down, lifting my chin with the gold button of her bag. “Do you believe me if I say Daniel won’t blame them when he comes home?”

The boy then grabbed the vase nearby and splashed the water inside on my face. “Mom says Dad loves us the most! He’ll support us even if we chase you out!”

I could not see anything with the dirty water all over my face. All I could hear was Victoria telling the butler, “Check her luggage. I want to see what she’s trying to steal away.”

“I’m not stealing—” Before I could finish my sentence, something struck me hard in the stomach.

The girl had pulled a baseball bat out of nowhere and swung it at my belly. “This is what you get for seducing Dad and destroying our family! Mom says Dad will be ours once you disappear!”

I curled up in pain while Victoria said calmly, “I could’ve let you go in peace, but… You should never have gotten pregnant at a time like this.”

The girl smirked viciously, bringing the bat down on me over and over again. My vision went dark, but before I lost consciousness, I heard a voice bark—

“Stop!” It was Daniel at the door. I faintly saw him rush over and steal the bat from the girl’s hands.

The two children exchanged a look and then jumped into his arms, wailing.

“Dad! She called us illegitimate bastards and threatened to call the cops! We got scared, that’s why we…”

“She even beat Sophia!” The boy pulled up the girl’s sleeve, revealing some red marks. “See!”

Daniel’s expression froze, his gaze alternating between the children and me.

My abdomen twisted painfully, and warm blood seeped out, dying the white marble floor.

“Hurry… Call 911!” I gripped the pants of his expensive suit, staining it with blood. “This is… your baby!”

Daniel stiffened, but he hesitated when Victoria chuckled.

“You’re a pretty good actress.” Victoria wiped her hands with a handkerchief. “Haven’t you been feeding her contraceptives, Daniel? How could she be pregnant?”

Contraceptives? I looked at Daniel in shock, shaking. “What contraceptives?”

Daniel avoided my gaze and fidgeted with his tie. “What matters is, you can’t possibly be pregnant.”

I stared at him and suddenly understood. The “vitamins” he gave me every day, supposedly imported from Switzerland, were contraceptives.

No wonder the doctors kept saying my hormone levels were too low to conceive. I even took supplements and did yoga every day to reduce my stress, all in the hopes of having a baby.

Three months ago, I stopped taking the vitamins because I was worried about their contents. Ironically, my caution foiled his careful plan.

The pain in my belly intensified. Blood rushed out from between my legs. I looked at the red blossoming on my white dress and finally understood what was happening.

I grabbed his hand desperately. “I’m begging you… Call the ambulance…”

Daniel hesitated, but Victoria quickly interrupted him. “I studied medicine at Johns Hopkins University, but I’d never seen bleeding like that from a miscarriage. She should have done more research before pretending.”

“Yeah, Dad!” The girl hugged Daniel’s leg. “She was yelling at us all angrily just a moment ago. She must be acting!”

The boy looked at him innocently, too. “She even threatened to call the cops.”

“No, I never…” The pain made it hard for me to speak.

Daniel’s expression grew colder. He looked at the children’s innocent expressions and shook his head disappointedly. “Children won’t lie.”

“I’m really… pregnant…” I tried to explain, but he had already straightened up.

“Enough,” he said coldly. “If you get up now, I’ll pretend nothing happened.”

Victoria held his arm. “Don’t be mad. She just got carried away.”

“Let’s go.” Daniel gave me one last look, with an expression I did not recognize. “If you still want to stay here, clean up the mess yourself.”

My bleeding got worse, creating a crimson puddle on the floor. My gaze began to blur as I watched him lead the two kids into the elevator.

I would not stop bleeding. I could feel my life slipping away, but I could not die here. I could not let them get what they wanted.

My phone screen lit up in my hazy vision. It was a message from Robert, saying, [The car is waiting in the basement car park. Hang in there.]

Robert was my father’s old comrade, who had been protecting me in secret. I used the last of my strength to dial the emergency call button.

If I survived, I swore to make them pay!

If I died… No, I would never die! Not before I avenged my baby!

As my vision went black, I heard footsteps rushing toward me.

…

That night, Daniel finally got the kids to settle down in bed. Massaging his temples, he asked the butler off-handedly, “Where’s Emma?”

The butler lowered his head, his voice trembling. “Mr. Hudson, she… has passed away…”

Daniel froze instantly. “What did you say?”

“The doctor said she… haemorrhaged… By the time she reached the hospital, she was already…”The butler choked. “The body has already been cremated…”