On our third wedding anniversary, the cake with my husband’s and my name on it was poisoned.

My mother took the first bite for me. Moments later, she collapsed to the floor in agony, blood streaming from her mouth and nose. She never made it to the hospital alive.

The shock sent me into premature labor. Outside the operating room, I clutched my husband Hank’s hand.

“Please… find her. Avenge my mother!”

As a forensic doctor, Hank Chambers’ eyes turned red when he examined the body.

“Alex, don’t worry. I’ll uncover the truth and make sure the murderer pays with the law.”

But when the police arrested Lily Warren as the suspect, he stood silently in front of her, shielding her.

“The victim didn’t die from poison. I’ll vouch for Lily with everything I have!”

When I confronted him, his eyes were filled with torment.

“I’ll make her apologize to you. But Lily is still young… prison would destroy her.”

In six long years, Hank sided with Lily 2,093 times—and with me, not once.

Even my mother’s life, even my child, could be sacrificed for her sake.

If that’s the case, then I will disappear completely from Hank’s world…

And I’ll make sure he—and his hospital—pay the ultimate price

——

"Ms. Quinn, are you certain you want to divest from Mr. Chambers's hospital and transfer all your assets abroad?"

The secretary looked at me cautiously. "Once you pull out your investment, the hospital will collapse soon after. When your husband questions it..."

I stayed silent for a moment. "It’s fine. He won’t be my husband much longer."

On the table lay a letter voluntarily waiving the investigation.

My eyes drifted to the handwritten signature below, and a dull ache pierced my chest.

Three days earlier, the police stormed into the villa, intent on arresting Lily Warren.

"Ms. Quinn, a highly toxic substance was detected in the blueberry cake at the crime scene. Ms. Warren, please come with us for questioning."

Lily had sent that cake to us on their third wedding anniversary.

Hank Chambers’s usually cold expression had softened slightly, praising her for growing up and becoming considerate.

"I’m allergic to blueberries. Since Lily prepared this with care, I’ll leave it for you and Mother."

"I don’t know who sent the cake."

His voice overlapped in my memory and reality.

I snapped back to the present. His face was stern as he shielded Lily behind him.

That blueberry cake had been deliberately prepared by Lily!

Lily sobbed faintly. "Hank, I’m so frightened... They’ll take me away. Please, please."

A flicker of heartache passed through Hank’s eyes. Turning to the officer, he insisted, "This is a misunderstanding. I was the forensic doctor who conducted the autopsy. I confirmed the deceased didn’t die from poisoning."

My heart sank at his words. Just as I tried to speak, a strong hand dragged me aside.

With a cold expression, Hank pulled me into a nearby room.

"Alex Quinn, my sister, is young and ignorant. I’ll make her apologize, but prison will destroy her life!"

"If you’ll just write a letter dropping the investigation..."

A chill surged through me as I stared at the man before me.

"You’re delusional!"

"Hank, it was my mother who died. How could you say something like that?"

His brows knitted tightly as he lifted his phone, showing me a surveillance recording.

"Alex, the child is in my hospital. One word from me, and the machines will shut down."

"Will you risk your child’s life for the sake of a dead woman?"

My blood froze, and I looked at Hank in disbelief.

He had insisted I undergo prenatal care at his hospital, saying other places wouldn’t treat me as carefully.

After the car accident, I delivered prematurely and chose his hospital without hesitation.

Now, it had become his weapon of coercion against me!

My heart grew colder, leaving nothing but hollow despair.

"Fine, I’ll sign."

Signing the letter of understanding now doesn't mean I've given in.

Hank forced me to sign and give up our marriage for Lily. Then I will just collect evidence of Lily's crime and make it public before I leave completely, so that she can spend the rest of her life in prison.

As for Hank, he only has the last time left to enjoy his current position and glory. Soon, I will cut off the source of his troubles when he is least paying attention, and let him fall into the abyss!

…

The moment I left the villa, I told my secretary to arrange the withdrawal of my investment and drafted the divorce agreement.

The divorce papers arrived swiftly, though I hadn’t signed yet.

After returning home,I removed the tiny hidden cameras in the living room and kitchen. They were once for our family's safety, but now they've become the perfect evidence. They completely captured Lily drugging the cake and Hank threatening me to sign a letter of apology.

I copied the video, sent it to my lawyer, and called my lawyer: "In addition to divorce, I also want to sue them, but before revealing everything, I need to make sure that my children and I are safe from them!"

"Okay, I understand."

After hanging up the phone, I smiled faintly. By the time my child and I were safely away, that would be the day they fell into the abyss!

That evening, Hank came home. His eyes fell on the table, surprise flickering in them, before he leaned over to embrace me.

"Alex, have you thought it through? I know you love me so deeply—you’d never put me in a difficult spot."

I turned my face to avoid his kiss, bitterness stinging my eyes.

Yes, the love I had for him had cut into me like a knife.

I pushed down his outstretched hand.

"I have one condition: let’s divorce."

Hank froze for a moment, a flicker of pain crossing his eyes.

"Alex, I can’t accept this condition. We’ve been together for so many years, like family. How can we just separate?"

I curved my lips into a cold smile. So he still remembered.

We had grown up together as childhood sweethearts, and after graduation, marriage had seemed like the natural next step.

We spent nearly every moment together.

All that happiness ended abruptly three years ago, when Lily appeared as my adopted sister.

Gripping my hand tightly, Hank said with distress, "I’ll give you any compensation you want—except divorce."

"Alright."

Without thinking, I slid the divorce agreement in front of him amid the stack of documents. "Then sign this."

A trace of surprise flickered in Hank’s eyes. "If it makes you happy, I’ll buy you anything."

He was about to open it when his phone suddenly rang.

The message was from "Vivian Westbrook."

One glance, and Hank instantly stood and headed for the door.

"There’s an issue at the hospital. I’ll be back soon."

For the first time, I stopped him bluntly. "Wait."

Hank frowned. "Alex, I told you something’s urgent at the hospital. Don’t you trust me?"

"Sign it before you go."

I pointed to the document again. "Or do you no longer want this letter dropping the investigation?"

A flash of anger crossed his face. He snatched the agreement from the table.

Without even looking at it, he flipped to the final page and signed his name.

"Are you satisfied now?"

"Alex, I love you, but I won’t accept you threatening me with Lily. Don’t do it again."

Soon after he left, a stranger added me on social media.

I checked her Moments and found it was Lily’s alternate account.

The latest post showed them at a temple, with Hank kneeling before the Virgin Mary, his face filled with devotion.

"Please bless me and my beloved, so we can have a child of our own."

The post was made at the very moment my child drew his last breath.

Scrolling further, every update was about Hank.

The day I signed the reconciliation letter, they were at the beach together, watching the sunset, celebrating a new beginning.

The day my mother died, they attended an event wearing matching rings, kissing passionately.

For countless days and nights before that, Hank had always been by Lily’s side.

Someone commented, "Your husband treats you so well. I’m so jealous."

Another wrote, "He’s not your husband yet, but I believe true lovers will end up together."

What cousin? She was clearly Hank’s mistress!

And I was the fool, deceived for years.

I immediately rushed to the temple to confront them face-to-face.

But the moment I stepped out of the car, I heard words that tore through me.

"I didn’t mean to kill that old woman. Who knew she’d insist on getting in my way—now she’s just my scapegoat."

Lily’s tone was casual, as if two lives meant nothing.

"I only want the baby in her belly dead. I want Hank to care about my child alone!"

It felt like a thread snapped in my mind, and I instinctively rushed forward.

"Lily, what did you just say?!"

Lily rested her hand on her abdomen, smugness written all over her face. "Ah, sister, you heard me. Then I won’t hide it anymore. I’m carrying Hank’s child now. If you know what’s good for you, leave him immediately!"

My daughter, born prematurely, lay on a ventilator, her tiny body covered in tubes to keep her alive.

She was so fragile, her cries so faint they sounded as if they could vanish at any moment.

And Lily was pregnant with Hank’s child!

Noticing my silence, Lily’s brow furrowed. "Sister, it’s because you always covet what isn’t yours that your child was born prematurely. Perhaps she wasn’t meant to exist in this world…"

Before she could finish, I glared at her and slapped her hard. "Shut up!"

The next instant, Lily toppled down the stairs like a kite with a severed string.

Hank had suddenly appeared behind us. He darted forward, catching Lily in his arms.

She collapsed against him, her flushed face tilted up, nearly in tears. "Hank, it hurts!"

Those four words made Hank’s usually composed expression darken.

"Alex, what are you doing? Is this how you treat my only sister?"

My eyes burned with tears as I stared at the man I had loved for over twenty years.

"She said she’s carrying your child and wants you to divorce me. She even cursed my daughter. Shouldn’t I have slapped her?"

Hank instinctively loosened his grip on Lily and took a step toward me. "Didn’t I say I don’t agree…"

"Ah!"

Lily’s shrill cry cut him off. She collapsed to the floor, her face pale, clutching her belly. "Hank, my stomach hurts so much. I think the baby’s gone."

I coldly looked at the man before me, waiting for his choice.

The next second, he rushed to Lily without a backward glance and scooped her into his arms.

"Alex, this child has nothing to do with me, and don’t mention divorce again." His voice turned icy. "But you struck Lily. That won’t be overlooked. Kneel here and repent until the baby is safe."

Several bodyguards instantly surrounded me, forcing me to the ground.

The cold tiles pierced my knees, stabbing deeper into my heart that still loved Hank.

My child needed an incubator to live, and my mother was gone forever—yet Lily remained untouched.

I watched his retreating figure, my heart filling with bitter disappointment.

Rain poured down, and only late at night did Hank finally send word to the guards to release me.

I drove straight to the hospital, still soaked to the bone.

Lily’s words had left me uneasy, and I planned to transfer my child to the hospital under the Quinn family’s name.

But the moment I entered, I was met with the sight of my child’s lifeless body.

Frantic, I demanded, "How could my baby die? Who did this?!"

The nurse, startled by my return, dropped the documents in her hands.

A voluntary relinquishment agreement slid to the floor—signed by Lily.

"She’s not the mother. How could she sign it for me?!"

The nurse looked stricken. "She said Director He approved it. Director’s project sustains the hospital—we couldn’t refuse his order…"

I clutched my child’s body, tears streaming, my heart consumed by regret.

It was my investment in Hank that killed my baby!

My phone buzzed. A message from Lily: This is what happens if you refuse to leave. Next time, I can’t promise who it will be.

I gripped the phone so tightly the edges cut into my palm, blood dripping down.

When my baby became a small urn, I felt the last thread tying me to Hank break.

The nurse escorted me out, murmuring with sympathy, "Ms. Quinn, you’ll have another child. Please accept my condolences."

I brushed the box in my hands.

"No."

"There won’t be another. I don’t want this man anymore."