But in the end, the girl was still young.
She couldn’t hold herself back and came to find me.
“Have you been looking for him lately? I’ll just tell you—he’s with me.”
Dressed in couture, she smirked triumphantly.
“You think that by ending my pregnancy, it’s all over?”
Leaning close, her smile was brimming with arrogance:
“As long as his love belongs to me, you can take away as many children as you want, he’ll only love me more.
“Lately, he’s been even more devoted. I should thank you for your help, sister.”
Her high-slit top revealed her flawless neck and the swell of her chest.
Countless hickeys declared again and again—
how completely Ethan had once adored this girl.
She pressed a hand to her flat belly, pride radiating from her expression.
“Too bad. I’m pregnant again.”
I calmly sipped my coffee. She plopped herself down on my custom-made sofa, propping her chin in her hands.
“I heard you’ve been married three years without a child.
“And when you finally had one…”
Her laughter rang sharp.
“Ha! You couldn’t even keep it!
“Sometimes, you really can’t blame men.”
The clink of porcelain against the table was followed by her scream.
The bodyguards watched in silence as Natalie clutched her stomach, blood seeping between her legs.
“Sophia Summers! You’ll die a miserable death!”
Her wails echoed as the bodyguards dragged her out.
“Sophia! Aren’t you afraid Ethan will take revenge on you?”
My fingers tapped lightly against the marble table.
“You need to understand, Mrs. Shaw is not a position won simply by having a man’s love.”
That night, Ethan returned.
With dozens of men, filling an entire floor.
He had never shown such force except against tough rivals.
This was his first time drawing battle lines against me.
We sat at opposite ends of the negotiation table, each backed by dozens of people.
“Twice now,” he said, his fingers tapping lightly against the marble surface.
“Sophia, you should apologize to her.”
“A fool who delivers herself to my door deserves to pay for her recklessness.”
Half of Ethan’s face was hidden in the dark, his expression unreadable.
“Does Mr. Shaw really think his wife so submissive, that she’ll sit quietly while a mistress walks in?”
The flare of a lighter cut the darkness, igniting the cigarette between my lips.
“Mr. Shaw, you should know—through all these bloody years in the New York elite circle, I’ve been bleeding beside you.
“To pit a canary against me—are you mad, or is she?”
Once more, I placed the divorce papers in front of him, exhaling smoke.
“This is your last chance.”
Moonlight cast across the marble table, hiding both our faces.
We stared at each other in the dark.
“Since childhood, you killed the beast who was my father, stormed through gates for me.
“I lost a child for you, bled myself dry for you.
“Mr. Shaw, let’s split clean—no debts between us.
“That would be the best outcome.”
“The best outcome…”
Ethan’s soft laughter echoed in the dark.
He picked up the divorce papers.
With the same lighter, he set them aflame.
The papers crumbled into ash.
“From now on, she won’t appear before you again.”
The ashes drifted with the wind.
He rose, leading his men in a grand departure from the estate.
