I raised a brow, watching him flail with desperation — amused and disgusted.
“Funny. I distinctly remember you getting a vasectomy years ago.
So where exactly does ‘my infertility’ come from?”
Eric froze — arms wrapped around Stella, his eyes instantly losing their fire.
“Vivian Winters! How dare you expose something so private? Are you crazy?”
A bitter laugh pushed from my throat.
He had been the one to suggest the procedure — claiming it would make me feel secure after what I sacrificed for him.
I looked at him shielding Stella like his treasure.
“You didn’t tell her, did you?
What’s wrong? Afraid she won’t want you anymore?”
Stella rushed up to cling to my arm, crying harder.
“Ms. Winters, I’ve already proven there is nothing improper between us. Why won’t you believe us?”
“Mr. Shaw is extraordinary, even if he can’t have children. If I were his wife, I’d never ridicule him like you do!”
I flicked her off in disgust.
I hadn’t even used strength — but she collapsed dramatically, dragging me down with her.
Pain shot through my knee.
Before I could speak, I noticed Eric instantly shielding Stella’s stomach with both arms.
My expression turned calm — ice-cold.
Eric noticed my gaze and jerked his hands back, pale.
I steadied myself, limping, and he frowned.
He knew why I limped.
I took a knife for him — kidnapped by his enemies, my leg nerves severed, paralyzed for a year.
He got that vasectomy because of the guilt.
Now he dared mock me for the pain that never fully healed.
He tried to help me up — I slapped his hand away.
He scowled and forcefully carried me to the couch.
“When are you going to stop this drama?”
He pulled up my pant leg. Seeing no visible wound, he sneered:
“I knew it. Fully recovered. You’re just pretending—”
“When did you become such a petty, manipulative woman?”
That was when the last piece of my heart died.
“Tell me, Eric.
Is Stella’s baby yours?”
He went corpse-white.
Fair question — considering the year I spent bedridden while he “worked late” nearly every night.
And the pearl necklace around Stella’s throat…
Eric had bid a fortune for that piece. I thought it was meant for me.
Turns out, I was just the fool funding their romance.
Maybe the vasectomy was a lie all along.
Maybe he loved her already then.
“You’re imagining things,” he murmured, shaking. “Fine, I’ll let her go—”
He didn’t finish.
Stella shrieked, clutching her abdomen.
Eric grabbed her and bolted from the room without looking back.
I laughed. Bitter. Hollow.
Then I called my father.
“Dad, Eric Shaw has disgraced us. Cancel the company you planned to give him.”
Before I could finish, something slammed into the back of my skull.
When I woke — wrists tied — I was in an abandoned warehouse.
My head throbbed.
A thug grabbed my hand and plunged a needle into my finger.
I tried screaming — but my mouth was stuffed with cloth.
Just as the next needle was about to sink in—
A voice echoed from the shadows:
“Stop.”
