Two days later, Ian took me to the hospital for my routine prenatal checkup. The moment we got out of the car, he received a call about something that had happened to Cece.

“Mr. Tost, Miss Yates has been ambushed by those men from before. She got into a car accident and is now in critical condition!”

There was an obvious look of concern on Ian’s expression. He glanced at me as I was being examined. After a moment of hesitation, he decided to leave.

“Mira, Cece has been targeted by the same people from before. She got into an accident. I can’t stay with you for today’s checkup. Be good and go through it yourself, all right?”

Before I could answer, he turned and walked out of the room. I could only stare at his back as he closed the door behind him.

Right then, I stopped the doctor from continuing the examination.

My voice was cold. “You may stop the prenatal exam. Please prepare an abortion now.”

The doctor hesitated. “Mrs. Tost, Mr. Tost cares about this baby very much. Are you sure you want to end the pregnancy?”

I stayed silent. To Ian, this baby was nothing more than a chain to keep me bound to him.

I had once longed for us to have a child of our own. However, with the love for him gone, his bloodline no longer mattered to me.

I simply smiled. “It’s okay. I’ll take full responsibility. It won’t come back on you.”

When it was over, I felt the life inside me slip away for good. I quietly walked to my mother’s ward.

Seeing her lying there in a deep sleep, my emotions finally broke loose. I leaned over her bedside like a lost child and cried out every ounce of grievance I had been holding inside.

I was not in the ward long when Ian suddenly barged in with a group of hospital staff.

When he saw my tear-filled eyes, a flicker of unease crossed his face.

“Mira, Cece has been in a car accident. Her kidney ruptured, and the only matching donor is your mom.”

As a team of doctors and nurses wheeled my comatose mother out, I lunged after them, but Ian caught me by the arm.

When I realized what he intended to do, the blood drained from my face. My eyes widened in disbelief. I pounded my fists against his shoulders as I yelled at him without a care for my image, “Ian, are you insane? That’s my mother! She’s the only family I have now! She’s sick and in a coma. Please, take my life if you have to, but don’t touch her! At her age, she can’t survive such a major surgery!”

Ian pinned me to his chest, but I bit down on his shoulder with all my strength before breaking free and bolting after them.

Outside the operating room, Ian’s bodyguards blocked my way. I had no choice but to wait in despair by the door. Two hours later, the doors finally opened.

As soon as the doctor came out, Ian rushed forward. “Was the surgery a success? How’s Cece?”

The doctors nodded. Relief lit Ian’s face. It was as if he had been the one to escape the jaws of death.

While everyone crowded around the now-stable Cece, I pushed past to find my mother, whose body had been covered with a white sheet.

In the morgue, I held my mother’s lifeless body and wept until there were no tears left in me.

When Ian Tost found me, my eyes held nothing but emptiness and numbness. “I want a divorce, Ian.”

He ignored what I said. He lifted me off the floor with a frown and said, “Don’t talk nonsense. Who else could you turn to besides staying with me? This was just an accident. It’s okay. You still have me.”

That false tenderness made my skin crawl. I tore myself from his arms and shoved him toward the door. “I said I want a divorce. I don’t love you anymore!”

It was as if I had struck a raw nerve. He snapped, “Mira, even if you die, you’ll die as my wife. Who said you could just stop loving me?”

He dragged me back to the house and locked me inside the mansion. Right then, I finally made up my mind to give that person an answer.

After being locked in the bedroom for a week, the last person I expected to see was Cece.

Around her neck hung the diamond necklace Ian had bid for me at an auction. She was wearing his favorite black shirt.

When she saw me, she laid out tabloid photos from the past few days and flipped through them one by one, like a victor flaunting her spoils.

“Open your eyes and take a good look. Ian only pursued you back then because he was looking for something new. Did you really think you could walk all over me just because you had the title of Mrs. Tost? In the end, I only have to lift a finger, and he would give me whatever I want, including your family’s lives!”

Her smug tone snapped the last thread of my restraint. I slapped her.

As she fell with the force of the blow, the bedroom door creaked open.

Tears welled in her eyes as she looked pitifully at Ian with the red mark on her cheek stark against her skin. “Ian, I was only trying to tell her not to defy you anymore, to apologize to you, but she…”

My eyes burned bright with fury. As Ian walked toward me, I started to wonder what might come next. When Cece got injured last time, Ian had destroyed my family. What price would I be made to pay after slapping her?

However, the punishment I expected never came. Ian just wrapped his arms around me forcefully with a manic urgency, as if trying to fuse me into his chest.

His lips brushed against my hair again and again. His voice was trembling as he said, “Mira, you’re jealous. That means you still love me, right?”

The disbelief in Cece’s eyes made me smile, even as tears streaked down my face.

Ian thought he had me completely under his control, but not my heart.

When I saw the ecstatic look on his face at the feel of my arms circling him back, an idea for the perfect revenge took root in my mind.

A few days later, I sent a message to that person.

[Stage an accident for me. I want to fake my death and get out of this.]

In the days that followed, I watched indifferently as Ian showered me with his full attention and went out of his way to please me in every possible manner.

It was almost like five years ago, when he had done everything he could just to make me smile.

However, my heart was already consumed by hatred. I could never smile at him again.

Two days later, I was kidnapped. I was dangling from the edge of a cliff.

Ian was attending a family party with Cece when he heard the news. He went livid and mobilized every resource in Harbor City to find me.

The cold wind at the cliffside whipped at my thin dress.

When Ian finally found me, his eyes were bloodshot. His expression was raw with panic.

When the kidnappers demanded someone in exchange, he shoved Cece forward without hesitation.

So I was right. I did matter more to him than Cece did. Yet it remained a fact that he hurt my family for her!

Ian was a twisted lunatic!

He stretched out his hands cautiously. “Mira, let’s go home.”

Seeing him like that, my lips curled into a twisted smile. I took a step back.

The sheer drop yawned behind me as I stared at him with burning hatred in my eyes.

“Ian, you killed my mom and my brother. My home is gone.”

His eyes were full of pleading. “You still have me, don’t you? Isn’t that enough? We have a baby. We have a home!”

I pressed a hand on my flat stomach and stripped the bloody truth bare. “The baby’s gone. And I don’t love you anymore. I could never bring myself to give birth to my enemy’s child. Ian, it’s over between us! Meeting you was the biggest mistake of my life.”

The moment I fell from the cliff, I saw the color drain from Ian’s face.

A tear landed on my cheek as he stumbled to the edge and murmured something I could no longer hear.