I couldn't let my child carry his blood. Couldn't let my baby call the woman who drove my mother insane and poisoned her "Daddy's" anything.
I lay on the operating table, and the moment the cold instruments entered my body, my nose stung with tears I hadn't expected.
“I'm sorry,” I whispered in my heart. “I'm so sorry, baby.”
It wasn't that I didn't want you. It was that I could never let Ferdinand Sanchez be your father. He didn't deserve it.
The next day, I showed up at Deborah Harding's birthday gala right on time.
The event was extravagant. She'd booked the most luxurious hotel in the city, and the guest list read like a who's who of high society.
Ferdinand stood in the crowd, holding court with easy charm. When he saw me walk in, he froze for a split second.
Maybe he noticed that my belly, still slightly rounded yesterday, was now flat.
Or maybe he was surprised I'd actually come to keep my promise.
Deborah pressed herself against Ferdinand's side, marking her territory for all to see.
None of it mattered anymore. After today, I'd have nothing to do with either of them ever again.
I walked straight to the front of the ballroom. The moment I picked up the microphone, the entire room went silent.
“Good evening, everyone. My name is Renee Vance. I'm Ferdinand Sanchez's wife. Or rather, I was.”
“I'd like to borrow a moment of Ms. Harding's birthday celebration to set the record straight about something.”
“The person who spread the rumors at my wedding and drove my mother to a mental breakdown wasn't a stranger. It was tonight's guest of honor——Deborah Harding.”
The smile on Ferdinand's face turned to stone.
Deborah shrieked：“You're lying! You're making this up!”
I didn't flinch. My gaze cut like a blade, fixed on Ferdinand as the color drained from his face.
“And my husband, Ferdinand Sanchez, knew the entire time. He helped her cover it up.”
“They pretended to get my mother medical treatment while feeding her poison for months, making her condition worse, pushing her into complete psychosis!”
Ferdinand stormed the stage, livid, and ripped the microphone from my hand.
Facing a sea of stunned guests exchanging uneasy glances, his expression was dark.
“My apologies, everyone. She's……been under a lot of stress lately. Mentally, she's become unstable, just like her mother.”
“Everything she just said is the rambling of a disturbed woman. Don't believe a word of it.”
Down below, Deborah reacted fast. Eyes brimming with tears, she pointed at me and addressed the crowd：
“Renee, how could you slander me like this? I never hurt your mother. I never spread any rumors.”
I stared them both down, my voice steady：
“I'm not crazy. Every single word I said is the truth.”
“Where's the proof?”
Ferdinand let out a cold laugh, his eyes full of contempt.
“Renee Vance, claims require evidence. You can't produce a shred of proof, yet here you are making a scene like some unhinged woman. Who's going to believe you?”
“She's right, where's the evidence? No proof means it's slander.”
“She really has lost it……”
The guests began piling on, their stares dripping with disdain.
Ferdinand scoffed and raised his hand, about to signal security to drag me off the stage.
That was when the ballroom doors swung open.
“Who needs proof? I've got it right here.”
