I suddenly remembered our wedding day. Lillian stormed into the ceremony and ruined everything in front of the whole city. Everyone laughed at me.
Later she even hired men to try to force themselves on me. I cried until my throat bled that night. I fought like crazy just to protect myself. That nightmare followed me for years.
And the man who swore to protect me… was now standing there telling her he owed her. He owed the woman who destroyed me.
My chest started shaking.
And before I could even breathe properly, Lillian suddenly wrapped her arms around him again.
“If Melissa ever finds out... that what she thought was childbirth was actually just a hallucination from the company’s new sleep aid…”
My whole body froze.
“…she’d definitely be furious.”
My ears rang.
Hallucination? Sleep aid? What…?
Lillian’s voice trembled slightly as she clung to him.
“Especially since the child is actually mine.”
My knees almost gave out.
“I’m really scared, Chris,” she whispered. “I just want you to protect our child.” She buried her face in his chest. “As for me… it’s okay if I suffer a little.”
Christopher held Lillian’s face in both hands like she was something precious.
His voice was low and serious. “Listen to me. Marie is Melissa’s child for now. I’ll never let her know the truth.”
My heart stopped for a second.
He pulled a document from his briefcase and handed it to her. “Back then Melissa misunderstood you and thought you hired someone to hurt her. Because of that my family locked you up at home for a long time. Your health got ruined because of it.”
Lillian lowered her eyes like a wounded little bird.
Christopher sighed and gently brushed her hair back. “You told me before that staying closer to me would make you feel better. So I arranged a job for you at a friend’s company. You can start tomorrow.”
She looked up in surprise. “Your friend’s company? Isn’t that the building right next to yours?”
“Yeah,” he said.
“It’s that close… can I really go there?”
Christopher smiled at her in that calm confident way of his. “As long as it doesn’t affect Melissa, I’ll do whatever I can to make you happy.”
Happy.
The word felt like a knife twisting slowly in my chest.
Then they walked into the elevator together and the doors closed.
I covered my mouth because a sob almost slipped out.
Christopher once told me something very different.
He held my hands back then and said, “Melissa, the only woman I’ve ever loved is you. I don’t care about your family background. In this life there can only be one woman beside me.”
I believed him.
Every stupid word.
But now that same man was protecting the woman who ruined me and saying he owed her.
He once said everything in the Bellingham family belonged to our child and no one else had the right to touch it.
And yet he used his company’s newest technology to make me believe I was pregnant.
He let me think I carried a baby for months. Let me believe I went through childbirth.
All so I could raise Lillian’s child right in front of me without suspecting a thing.
For her sake.
For her happiness.
So what about me?
Was his love even real?
I didn’t even remember how I left the hospital.
Everything felt numb. I ran three red lights on the way home and barely noticed.
When I got back, I only did two things.
First I found the prenuptial agreement Christopher and I signed before marriage. One clause was written clearly. If Christopher had any extramarital affair, the marriage would end immediately.
I stared at that line for a long time before calling an immigration agency.
One month later I would leave the country and disappear from Christopher’s life forever.
The second thing I did was find the medical report he once hid in a drawer. Christopher’s azoospermia diagnosis.
He couldn’t have children.
I packed the report carefully into a gift box.
When I first discovered that report, I couldn’t sleep for days. I kept thinking about how to tell him. How do you tell a proud bastard like Christopher Bellingham that he can’t have a child?
But before I could say anything, I suddenly found out I was pregnant.
At least that’s what I believed back then.
I thought it was a miracle. A blessing from heaven. I treated that child with so much care and love.
And now I knew the truth.
It was all a lie.
Which made me strangely curious.
When Christopher opened that box and saw the report, what kind of expression would he have? When he realized the heir he had been dreaming about might not even be his child.
By the time I finished preparing everything, it was already dark.
I stood outside the nursery and heard a baby crying inside. Even through the door I could still faintly hear Christopher and Lillian talking.
My hand tightened on the door frame.
In the past I would’ve rushed in right away to pick the baby up and comfort him. But now I couldn’t move… That wasn’t my child.
That was Christopher and Lillian’s child.
The door opened and the nanny walked out holding the crying baby.
“Miss Melissa, you’re finally back,” she said with a bit of complaint in her voice. “The young lady has been crying for so long.”
I just stood there quietly and looked at the baby’s small face.
The baby girl’s face was small and soft in the nanny’s arms.
Her eyebrows and eyes looked exactly like Lillian’s.
How the hell did I never notice that before?
My chest felt tight just looking at her.
“Miss Melissa, the young lady has been crying for so long,” the nanny kept saying. “We tried everything. Why didn’t you answer the phone earlier?”
Before I could even speak, Christopher’s cold voice came from behind me.
“I hired you to take care of the child,” he said flatly. “Not to question where my wife goes. Don’t overstep your damn job.”
The nanny immediately shut her mouth.
“Yes, sir.”
“Give me the baby.”
She quickly handed the little girl to him.
Christopher held the baby girl easily like he’d done it a thousand times. He gently patted her back and murmured something softly.
The crying stopped almost immediately. He looked up at me then, a faint frown forming.
“Why’d you suddenly go out today?”
My heart twisted but I forced my face calm. “I just went out to buy some things.”
Christopher walked closer and reached out to touch my cheek. His fingers were warm. They used to make me feel safe.
Now it only felt like a joke.
“You look pale,” he said quietly. “Are you sick? Didn’t you take care of yourself while I was away?”
I turned my head slightly and avoided his hand.
“I’m fine. Just tired.”
His eyes darkened for a second but the gentle look returned quickly.
“Are you mad at me?” he asked. “I know I’ve been busy lately. Business trips, meetings, all that bullshit. I haven’t spent much time with you.” He adjusted the baby in his arms and sighed. “Alright. Tomorrow I won’t go to work. I’ll stay home and take you and the baby outside. Sounds good?”
Outside.
My lips moved a little but no sound came out.
Christopher just smiled and ruffled my hair like I was still the same obedient wife. Then he walked to the kitchen and came back with a glass of warm milk.
“Drink this and go rest,” he said.
I stared at the glass. Suddenly something clicked in my mind. Back when he first said he wanted a child, the milk I drank every night suddenly changed.
He told me it was a special nutrition formula.
“This is a dairy supplement the company developed for you,” he said back then with a smile.
My fingers tightened around the cup.
So that was it? Was that the thing that made me hallucinate about my pregnancy? I lifted the glass and pretended to take a sip.
When Christopher turned his head for a second, I quietly poured the milk into the vase beside the table.
“I’m sleepy... I’m going to bed.”
I placed the cup down and walked into the bedroom without looking back. Christopher stood in the living room watching me leave. I could feel his eyes on my back but I didn’t turn around.
Later that night I lay in bed with my eyes closed. Christopher was beside me, breathing steady like he was asleep.
Minutes passed.
Then the mattress dipped slightly.
He got up.
I heard him walking quietly toward the door and leaving the room. The moment his footsteps faded, my eyes opened.
I slipped out of bed and followed him quietly.
He walked straight out of the villa then he stopped in front of the villa next door.
My heart dropped.
Why there?
The door opened.
