###Chapter 1
"Ms. Lancaster, due to the severe physical trauma you suffered, the chances of you becoming pregnant in the future are extremely small."
That medical verdict once made me feel that life was worse than death. Yet in the twenty-fifth year of my marriage, I unexpectedly became pregnant at an advanced age.
My husband, Cedric Larkin, wept with joy upon hearing the news. He even set aside a business deal worth hundreds of millions, insisting on accompanying me to a mountainside villa for a quiet recovery.
But on our second day there, my phone suddenly vibrated repeatedly. One notification was a synced update from his sports watch.
[The heart rate you are monitoring has reached 189 beats per minute!]
A second alert immediately followed it.
[Warning! Loss of vital signs detected!]
My vision went black and I felt as if my heart were being violently torn apart.
No, absolutely not! God couldn't take him from me at the happiest moment of my life!
I frantically searched his usual morning running route until I reached the spot where the vital signs had vanished. There, I found the shattered fitness watch.
Still, my husband was nowhere to be seen.
As I trembled picking up the watch, muffled yet familiar panting and whispers emerged from the nearby bushes. My feet were instantly frozen to the spot.
"Didn't that incident ruin her uterus years ago? How can she still be pregnant?"
It was Sandra Lancaster's voice, my adopted sister.
"Who knows? Back then, I clearly instructed them to give her the harshest lesson, to make sure the woman who forced you away would never be able to become a mother. She's already fifty, but she still got pregnant!"
The other was Cedric, the husband I had loved for twenty-five years.
In that moment, my blood felt as if it were flowing backward and the bloody stench of a nightmare from years ago came rushing back.
I collapsed to my knees, unable to stop myself from gagging as my tears fell into the dirt.
How ridiculous.
So the love I had believed in for half my life was nothing more than a meticulously planned scam. In addition, the man I loved most had not only betrayed me long ago, but was also the mastermind who personally pushed me into hell.
I heard Cedric say sweetly, "Now that you're back, I'll make sure she leaves quietly."
There's no need for that, Cedric. This time, I'll grant both of your wishes myself.
***
Hiding behind a large tree, I pulled out my phone with shaking hands and dialed a certain man's number.
It rang only twice before a low, slightly mocking voice came through the receiver. "Who is this? Oh, my dear sister-in-law, what brings you to call me?"
It was Frank Larkin, Cedric's half-brother.
Frank should have been the rightful heir to the Larkin family, but many years ago, Cedric's mother—who was a mistress—used dirty tricks to drive him and his mother out of the house. Not long after, his mother died of depression.
Aside from me, Frank hated Cedric most in this world.
Barely able to breathe, my tears mingled with sobs as the words burst out. "I want to destroy that man, Cedric Larkin! Frank, you're my only hope."
The mockery on the other end vanished instantly. After a moment of silence, the man's voice deepened. "Calm down. Tell me what happened."
Suppressing my trembling, I recounted everything I'd just overheard in broken sentences.
"That sounds just like him," Frank murmured after a brief pause.
Then he suddenly let out a low laugh, tinged with coldness and amusement. "Joining forces for revenge? Interesting. But I think nothing's more satisfying than taking the woman he loves."
He paused, emphasizing every word. "I can help you, but the condition is that you must marry me."
My eyes widened in shock. But as the memories of those heart-wrenching schemes flashed through my mind, the agony scorched away my remaining hesitation.
So, I heard my own hoarse voice. "Okay. Give me ten days to handle the divorce."
"Then, I will come to pick you up in ten days," he replied.
The call ended, but the sickly, intimate sounds from the bushes continued.
Sandra asked flirtatiously, "Then how do you plan to deal with her?"
Cedric's tone was so calm it froze my blood. "In five days, I will be hosting a party for the twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. That night, we'll bring back all those people from back then. History will repeat itself. Everyone will know she's a slut and no one will know whose 'wild man' fathered the child in her belly."
My teeth clenched so hard they pierced my lip, stifling my scream.
Just when I thought it couldn't get any more cruel, Cedric's ragged breathing paused. He seemed to remember something, telling the woman in his arms with a tone of delight. "Oh, right. The latest assessment report from the hospital is out. Macie's physical condition is currently the most ideal surrogate carrier we can find."
Sandra cried tears of joy. "Really? So, we can finally have our own child?"
After that, they began calmly discussing how to get rid of the life growing inside me, implant their embryo into my womb and then tell me it was the fruit of my love with Cedric.
Their tone was as casual as deciding the flavor of a cup of coffee.
My heart felt like it was being clenched by an icy hand. I clutched my belly tightly with both hands, backing away step by step.
Even if he had never loved me, we had shared twenty-five years of days and nights together. How could he treat our unborn child and me this way?
"Once the child is born, I will divorce her," Cedric said indifferently.
Sandra seemed to hesitate, cautiously whispering in his ear, "But can you bear to? After all, it's the flesh and blood you two finally managed to conceive. Given my sister's age, she might never be able to conceive again."
Cedric let out a scoff. "It's nothing more than a fertilized egg she obtained by sheer luck."
