Lily's sobbing started up outside my door. I pretended I was deaf.

She only cried harder, loud enough to draw the neighbors out.

And under their questioning, she had the nerve to call me her older sister—the one forcing her to abort her baby.

The neighbors, knowing nothing, started pounding on my door.

I was so furious I could barely see straight. I yanked the door open to throw her out.

She was on her knees.

“Please, I really do love Carter. Don't tear us apart, okay?”

I pulled out my phone to show the neighbors photos of me and Carter together.

But Lily beat me to it—shamelessly showing them photos from his bed.

Compared to the polite, public shots of Carter and me standing at a careful distance, her intimate photos were far more convincing.

What sealed it was the background of one picture: Carter's family portrait.

Anyone could see they'd been living together.

The neighbors turned on me with open disgust:

“Stealing your own sister's man? Have you no shame?”

“Who gives you the right to force someone to kill their baby?”

“We're watching you tonight. Try something—see what happens.”

I couldn't take it anymore. I called Carter.

He showed up fast. The second he saw Lily kneeling in front of me, his face went dark.

He pulled her up, gathered her into his arms, and started checking her over.

When he saw how red and swollen her knees were, he turned on me:

“Veronica! You've gone too far!”

“Why would you do this to Lily?”

The neighbors piled on, embellishing every detail of how I'd supposedly bullied her.

My vision blurred with rage, but I forced it down and asked him, voice cold:

“Tell everyone. Before today, whose boyfriend were you?”

Carter's gaze swept across the neighbors staring him down, but it never landed on my face.

That didn't stop him from answering:

“I'm Lily's boyfriend.”

“You have no right to force her to get rid of our baby.”

Lily's wet eyes lit with triumph—and a taunt meant for me.

“Carter, don't blame her. I know she just loves you too much. And I wasn't sincere enough, kneeling like that……”

Hearing Carter claim her with his own mouth, one of the neighbors stormed back inside and came out with a carton of eggs. They hurled them at me.

Shells cracked against my forehead, my cheeks, my clothes—the raw stench so thick I nearly gagged.

Lily quickly raised her hand to stop the crowd:

“Please, don't make things harder for my sister. She has her reasons.”

Then she tugged Carter's sleeve:

“Let's talk inside. Don't put her in a worse spot out here.”

Without a word, Carter scooped Lily up and carried her into my apartment.

The neighbors lingered for the show, but Carter sent out a few fat red envelopes on his phone and apologized to the crowd:

“Dirty laundry shouldn't be aired in public. Sorry for the trouble.”

The money shut them up, but on their way out, several of them spat at my feet.

I looked up at the hallway security camera and swallowed everything down.

Inside, I didn't spare a glance at the two of them tangled together. I went straight to the bathroom and scrubbed the filth off my face.

Then I took out my phone to call the police.

Before I could say a word, Carter snatched it out of my hand and smashed it on the floor:

“Veronica! After all this, you still don't think you've embarrassed yourself enough?”

“I told you I'd handle everything. Why did you have to go after Lily?”

I fired back:

“I went after her?”

He pulled out his own phone and shoved a screenshot in my face—a message Lily had forwarded to him.

“You threatened to expose her, to ruin her chances of getting her diploma. When did you become this vicious?”

I stared at that anonymous message and almost laughed.

No wonder he'd gotten here so fast. Lily had set the whole thing up.

Laughable. He hadn't bothered to verify a single thing before deciding that anonymous message came from me.

Fine. If I was already convicted, I might as well earn the charge.

I picked up my backup phone, ready to send the evidence straight to the university email for Lily Graves's school.

Carter saw what I was doing and went straight to threats：

“Veronica! You leak anything, and we're done!”

I actually laughed. Right there, I snapped a photo of that pregnancy test report and posted it to my social media, announcing the wedding was off.

Funny thing was, the man who'd just threatened to break up with me didn't like that one bit.

He pulled me aside and lowered his voice：

“The wedding date's already set. You're really going to blow up our entire relationship over something this small?”

“I already told you, Lily and I are a pay-by-the-day arrangement. There's no feelings involved.”

“Even if there's a kid, it won't change how I feel about you. Why do you have to make this into a whole thing?”

“Worst case, I'll have her move out right now. You move into my place, and I'll find her somewhere else to carry the baby. But I am not accepting a breakup!”

So. Cheating on me for three years behind my back was "something small."

Branding me as the other woman in front of my own neighbors was "how he felt about me."

Giving me the wedding but giving the marriage certificate to another woman and having a child with her was his idea of sincerity.

I would rather die alone than spend another second with this piece of trash.

I grabbed the broom from the corner and pointed it at the door：

“I'm counting to three. If you two aren't gone, don't blame me for burning it all down!”

“Veronica! What is wrong with you? This is nothing, and you're screaming breakup, canceling the wedding? Is that really necessary?”

He held my stare for three full seconds, realized I meant it, and shoved Lily straight into my study to shield her.

Then he went to my bedroom and started packing my bags：

“You have a problem, take it up with me. Don't scare Lily. She's just a naive little girl.”

“If you still want to marry me, come back to my place right now. This apartment's perfect for her while she's carrying the baby.”

“You're already twenty-nine. Even being a virgin, you'd be hard-pressed to find another man who treats you as well as I do.”

“Lily's pregnant, so she can't exactly keep working with me anymore. You and me living together just makes perfect sense. Stars aligned.”

Stars aligned. What a beautiful way to put it.

It was the first time I truly appreciated the sheer range of the human species.

My phone buzzed.

A message from the private investigator I'd hired.

One glance, and every scattered fragment clicked into place.

No wonder Lily looked so familiar.

A plan formed in my mind instantly.

I couldn't help it. The corner of my mouth curved up on its own.

If Carter had been looking at me, he'd have known that smile meant somebody was about to have a very bad day.

But he was too busy pulling out a blood test report：

“My results came back. I'm completely clean! That should put your mind at ease, right?”

“I know you didn't blow this up because of what we had together, and I know you feel wronged. So when I said I'd marry you, I meant it. I'm not going back on my word!”

I tested the waters：

“So what's your plan?”

The moment he sensed me softening, delight spread across his face.

“Lily and I have been through a lot. I can't make her get rid of it. But I don't want you to be upset either, so……”

“For everyone's sake, our wedding goes ahead as planned, but we hold off on getting legally married.”

“Once the baby's born and registered, I'll divorce her and get the marriage certificate with you. How's that sound?”

I stood there stunned, unable to believe those words had actually come out of a human mouth.

But I swallowed the profanity clawing up my throat, stayed silent for a long time, and finally said：

“Okay.”

The second he saw me yield, tears actually spilled down his face：

“Ronnie, I knew it. You've always been the reasonable one. I knew you'd understand my situation.”

His hands were shaking as he reached for me, trying to pull me into his arms.

But Lily suddenly clutched her stomach and said she felt sick.

Carter shot me an apologetic glance, then rushed her out.

Over the next few days, he didn't have time to contact me at all.

The pre-wedding footage we were supposed to film together got canceled on his orders.

I was happy to be left alone. It gave me all the time I needed to dig up everything there was to know about Lily Graves. All I had to do was wait for the wedding day.

Just as I'd predicted, Lily would never let our ceremony go ahead now that she had a pregnancy to leverage.

She shoved a freshly minted marriage certificate right in my face：

“Veronica, I'm Carter's legal wife. What right do you have to stand here and marry him?”

I smiled and turned to Carter：

“Is that how you feel too?”

He kept shooting Lily looks, trying to signal her to stop, but she'd already handed the prenatal report to Jill Rowe.

Jill switched sides on the spot, pulling Lily close and calling her daughter-in-law.

She shoved me aside and announced they'd be holding the wedding for these two instead.

Through all of it, Carter never once looked at me.

My phone just kept buzzing.

【Ronnie, I'm begging you, don't make a scene here!】

【I owe you a wedding and I'll make it up to you double, I swear!】

【Oh, and starting tonight, move into my place!】

I didn't reply. I just smiled and connected my phone to the projector.

The next second, images scrolled across the screen that shocked every person in the room.

Jill slapped Lily across the face：

“You filthy slut! You think you're fit to marry my son?”