“I know that you loved Jody before he got married. Grandpa doesn't ask you to continue to like him, but only asks you to save his life. Of course, in return, I can help your parents pay for the special medicine.”

I agreed.

On the one hand, my family really needed the old man's help. On the other hand, I really liked Jody before he married Regina.

The door was opened from the outside, I wiped away my tears and stood up in embarrassment.

Against the light, Jody could not see my face clearly.

He frowned and asked, “I heard from Marrisa that you were looking for me?”

I raised my eyes to look at Marrisa who was standing at the stairs. When she met my gaze, she quickly turned her head away.

I opened my mouth and muttered in my heart, ‘Yes, how could she take what I said to heart? I am not the lady in her heart. Not only is it not what she thinks, it is also not what Jody thinks.’

Jody leaned over me and took Cameron into the room, looked around and finally sat down on the sofa.

“Have you packed everything? From now on, no matter what you need from me, you are not allowed to go to the third floor again. If you can't find me, call me. Do you understand?”

The slightly oppressive gaze that fell on me made me feel a little breathless.

“I know. I won't do that again next time.”

Jody hummed in satisfaction and lit a cigarette casually.

“Did you see anything when you went up there just now?”

I was stunned and looked up at him, then I realized that he was testing me.

I rolled my dry throat and shook my head.

“I didn't see you in the study, so I came down.”

In the silence, I took a deep breath, held back my tears and suppressed the bitterness in my heart.

“Jody, I want to keep this child.”

Jody paused as he flicked the ash off his cigarette. He slowly blew out a smoke ring and thought about something.

Seeing him hesitate, hope ignited in my heart.

“Don't worry, I can take care of myself and I won't bother you…."

Before he could finish his words, Cameron suddenly cried out, took a few steps away from Jody and waved his arms, “Jody, why are you smoking again? Have you forgotten what the doctor told you in the hospital yesterday?!”

Jody froze, then immediately put out his cigarette and apologized, “I'm sorry, I was wrong. I won't smoke anymore.”

Cameron smiled and reached out to touch his forehead as she said, “Good. After all, I never saw you smoking when my sister was here, why now…?"

Her eyes turned to me with undisguised disgust.

“Cherry, how can you be a good wife? Smoking is bad for the lungs, don't you know? You watched Jody smoke without saying anything. I don't know why Grandpa chose someone like you to be Jody's second wife!”

She sneered as continued, “How can you give birth to a child when you are like this? If you can't even take care of your own husband, how can you take care of a child on your own? 

“When my sister was pregnant, she was worried that Jody couldn't take care of both the company and the family, so she took care of herself for a while without telling Jody. 

“But later... even my sister, who is so careful, couldn't take care of it, let alone you? Do you think you can be more careful than my sister?”

Her words successfully brought out Jody's sadness. He frowned and spoke in a tone that did not allow for argument, “Cherry, you can't keep this child!”

My heart was in a knot and the grievances and collapse surged out uncontrollably, “Why, didn't you say you wanted to have a child with me?”

That was three years after we got married. During those three years, Jody and I had always treated each other with respect and occasionally been very close.

I seemed to have really healed him. He no longer did things that hurt himself and no longer had thoughts of suicide for love.

The smell of cigarettes and alcohol on his body was covered by the pleasant smell of men's perfume and he would also fall asleep peacefully in my arms at night after making love.

Late one night, he suddenly told me, “Cherry, let's have a child.”

I could hear my heart pounding. After that night, Jody and I were completely honest with each other.

There was only each other between us, nothing in between.

But everything changed after Cameron appeared.

She returned from abroad two years ago. As soon as she returned, she found Jody, cried and said she was divorced.

From then on, Jody changed.

He became the person who only had Regina in his heart and eyes again and he even hated me.

“I know you have no good intentions. You don't even look at what kind of person you are, but you still want to replace Regina in my heart. How filthy and despicable!”

He refused to acknowledge me as his wife and threw me a signed divorce agreement. He also did not allow Mr. Hayden to include me in the Hayden Family tree. 

Every year on New Year Eve, he forced someone to force me to kowtow and admit my mistakes in front of Regina.

Cameron said that I deserved it because I had bad intentions in wanting to replace her sister.

She said that her sister was Jody's first wife and I was just his second wife, so I had to go and pay tribute to her sister, calling it the ritual of a concubine.

“What's the difference between remarrying and being a lowly concubine in ancient times? It's a bargain for you to worship my sister. 

“If it was someone else who wanted to replace my sister, Jody would have ruined her reputation long ago. But you are the one who got the advantage and still acted like a good kid, pretending that you really want to marry into the Hayden Family and become a rich wife. 

“Do you dare to say that you have never thought about marrying Jody?”

I dare not say it, because I really wanted to marry Jody before, but I really never thought about replacing Regina's position in Jody's heart. 

I just hope that Jody can open his heart to me a little, even a little bit, I would be ecstatic.

But even though I knelt in front of Regina's tomb and knocked my forehead, I did not even get a glance from Jody.

He would only say, “Cherry, you have impure thoughts. You should kowtow to Regina and confess your sins. That's what you should do.”

My thoughts were pulled back by Jody's cold voice.

“No.” He looked at me, his face full of disgust, every word pronounced clearly, “I never thought about having a child with you. Cherry, someone like you is not worthy of giving birth to my child!”

My head was buzzing and my ears were ringing.

Jody personally denied the three years he spent with me.

After saying this, Jody left. Before leaving, he forcibly took off the ring on my hand and scolded, “You should wear this ring only when you have cleansed your heart.”

My fingers were empty and my heart, which had been struggling to hold on, was also empty.

I could not get into Jody's heart and finally I could not hold on any longer and continued to be attached to him.

Cameron curled her lips and pushed me away with her shoulder, feeling confident as she confronted, “You want to give birth to Jody's child? I don't know where you got the guts to even think about it!

“I tell you, if it weren't for Mr. Hayden's interference, you wouldn't be sitting in today's position now!”

She came closer to me and smiled evilly as she added, “After all, I still have a face that looks 80% like Regina and what about you? Cherry, what do you have? 

“You can't be so self-indulgent as to think that Jody has really forgotten Regina and fallen in love with you, right?”

My vision blurred and spun, making Cameron’s smiling face flicker in and out like a broken reel of film.

“You saw everything upstairs just now, right? Has Jody ever been so gentle to you? Has he..." She yanked off her collar, leaving dense red marks all over her fair neck before she continued, “Has there ever been any trace of love in you?”

The taste of rust spread in my mouth. No, never. Jody never left any marks to me, nor did he ever say any words of affection, liking or love to me.

“I'm telling you a secret. Just now, Jody and I made love in the room where Regina used to live. After Jody calmed down, he hugged me and said, ‘Cameron, I love you.’

“Cherry, guess how long you can stay in this position of Mrs. Hayden?”

She looked outside, turned back to look at me with a smile and took out three white pills from her pocket.

“Cherry, how about we do an experiment? I don't want this bastard in my belly that doesn't belong to Jody, can you help me?”

She raised her hand to swallow the medicine and reached towards my stomach with her other hand.

Instinctively, I shielded my stomach with one hand and reached out with the other to block her.

But just then, she switched tactics, grabbing my hands and forcing them against her own face as if I were the attacker. 

I tried to pull away, to push her back, but she clung to me like a madwoman, relentless.

And through it all, she kept shoving at my belly, again and again.

As we were pulling each other back and forth, she suddenly pushed me away and fell backwards, with the back of her head hitting the door frame.

Jody, who had returned, strode in with fire in his eyes. He snapped, “Cherry, how dare you!”

The tingling pain in the palms of my hands and the discomfort in my lower abdomen made my already dizzy head even more dizzy. Instinctively, I called for help from Jody.

“Jody, I feel dizzy and uncomfortable. Please take me to the hospital."

Before I could finish his words, I was interrupted by Cameron's painful groan, “Jody, I know Cameron’s in terrible pain—her stomach, her head—it’s all too much. But what about me?

“All I did was tell Cherry she should listen to you more and she turned on me. Jody… am I going to die?”

I was startled and retorted, “That's not the case. It's her…."

“You 're still pretending!” Jody interrupted me angrily and looked at me as if he wanted to tear me to pieces on the spot. “Cherry, I misjudged you. You disappoint me so much.”

Jody picked up Cameron and walked out, comforting her as he walked.

“Don't be afraid, Cameron, I'm here and I won't let anything happen to you.”

Although I was already disheartened, Jody's attitude of believing Cameron without hesitation and choosing to abandon me still hurt my heart.

I struggled to sit up and my eyelids felt as if they weighed a thousand pounds.

I did not know what the hospital said, I was locked in the room.

Two hours later, Jody's men forcibly took me to the hospital, rolled up my sleeves and pressed me in front of the doctor.

Jody was sitting nearby, his aura gloomy as he said, “Do it.”

The nurse gasped and asked me tremblingly, “Ms. Baldwin, Miss Cameron is bleeding heavily due to miscarriage and the hospital's blood bank is in urgent need, so…."

I understood, because Cameron and I both have type B blood, so Jody brought me there.

I looked at Jody with a cold face as I said, “I'm still pregnant and can't have a large amount of blood transfusion.”

Unexpectedly, Jody just gave me a cold look and his words made me feel like I was falling into an icy cave.

“You’re going to abort the baby in two days anyway, so what's the big deal? If you can't save Cameron, I'll let you experience the pain of having an abortion.”