The woman stood across from me, tears welling in her beautiful eyes. She wanted to speak but in the end said nothing.
At the coffee shop, she told me how I had gone missing.
She had just given birth and was physically frail, but she remembered clearly that she had delivered a daughter. Everyone around her insisted she had imagined it, claiming she was obsessed with wanting a girl.
In secret, she once took the baby for a DNA test.
The result proved the child was hers, but her family dismissed her as delusional, saying she was suffering from postpartum depression. For years she had been kept under a nurse’s watch, forced to take medication.
The woman looked at me cautiously.
“I’m sorry. It was my fault for not protecting you back then.”
“Emily, can you forgive me?”
“I never blamed you.”
At my words, her expression lit up. She immediately began planning places we could go together.
“Emily, from now on, no matter where we go, I’ll always be by your side. We’ll never be separated again.”
“Emily, everything that rightfully belongs to you, I’ll help you reclaim one by one. You are the true blood of the Foster family. The Foster Corporation can only be inherited by you.”
…
After parting with her, I called an Uber back to the Foster Estate. From a distance, I could see a crowd gathered at the front gates, reporters swarming.
But I only smiled faintly, not nervous at all, as though I had expected this.
The moment I appeared, someone in the crowd shouted loudly:
“Look, over there! That woman is back!”
Chaos erupted instantly.
Reporters raised their microphones, closing in step by step with sharp questions.
“Ms. Dawson, your husband was just diagnosed with a terminal illness, and you immediately went to the hospital to terminate your pregnancy. Isn’t that far too cold-hearted?”
“As a woman, how could you be so cruel?”
At those words, Ryan froze in the middle of fending off reporters.
He turned toward me, staring at my belly in disbelief.
Then he demanded, “Emily! Did you really get rid of our baby?”
Lily looked at me with disapproval.
“Sis, how could you go to the hospital and end the pregnancy without your husband’s consent?”
“Sis, say something! The baby isn’t gone, right?”
I shot her a cold glance, pulled a pillow from under my clothes, and threw it in her face. Crossing my arms, I said indifferently:
“My child is mine to keep or not. Why shouldn’t I do as I please?”
“Lily, why are you so anxious? The baby in my womb wasn’t even yours to begin with.”
Her face faltered for a moment, then she quickly tried to defend herself.
“Sis, what are you talking about? I don’t understand. All I know is you betrayed Ryan. He’s been so good to you, even letting Mom live at the Foster Estate in comfort. How could you do this?”
I sneered.
“Isn’t this exactly what you wanted? Now you and Ryan can be together.”
Lily hadn’t expected me to know the truth—much less to say it so openly in front of everyone. Her face turned pale, then flushed.
“You—!”
The onlookers could no longer hold back their disgust.
“This woman really has no shame. At a time like this, she’s accusing her own sister and husband?”
“Exactly. And the law’s on her side too. Husbands can’t stop their wives from ending a pregnancy, nor demand compensation. Ryan’s shocked reaction clearly shows he didn’t know. She’s vile.”
