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On the day of our tenth wedding anniversary, my husband's sponsored student knelt in front of me with a newborn baby in her arms, sobbing until her whole face was wet, begging me to adopt the child.
I pitied the baby, and I thought of how my husband would have no one to carry on after him, so I agreed to adopt Rose Fox's child.
I poured everything I had into that boy, raised him like my own son, and pushed him up until he sat in the CEO's chair.
But on the second day after he took over my company, he locked me in the basement and tortured me every way he could.
I watched them take over my stocks, my funds, my villas and luxury cars. I watched Rose Fox play the doting couple with Phil Floyd in front of me every single day. I watched them come and go from the finest galas.
And I was chained to a pillar in that basement, fed scraps a dog wouldn't touch, left there for them to mock and humiliate.
In the end, in pure despair, I threw myself headfirst into the pillar. Blood poured out, and Rose Fox just looked at me, sneering.
"Sister, no matter how capable you were, in the end you only sewed the wedding gown for me."
"Be smarter in your next life. Don't play my stepping stone like a fool again. Watching how stupid you are, even I can't quite bear it."
And my husband, more lofty than ever, looked down at me, cold.
"Christina Gilbert, if it weren't for your filthy money, would I have made Leslie call you 'Mom' for twenty years? Would I have kept Rose and her son apart for twenty years? Some debts have to be paid with a life."
When I opened my eyes again, Phil Floyd was fawning over me, massaging my calf.
"Christina, look, we've been married almost ten years now. If we still have no child, everything we've built our whole lives will have no one to inherit it. Why don't we adopt one?"
I pressed down the throbbing pain of the impact, and slowly the corner of my mouth curved into a faint smile.
"All right. The Floyd Group does need an heir."
This life, I would never again go running all over for famous doctors. I would never again secretly cook him medicinal broths to fix his body.
Let me see just how this congenitally sterile man plans to produce an illegitimate son.
1
Phil Floyd froze for a moment. He hadn't expected me to agree so readily this time.
"Christina, you're saying yes? You're really willing to adopt someone else's child?"
I looked at him with a sneer. "Phil, I said I need an heir. That doesn't mean I'm willing to adopt some wild child. I won't hand the Gilbert Group into the hands of someone with base blood."
Phil's face turned ugly. He shot up to his feet and stared at me hard, and after a long moment his tone softened as he began his coaxing.
"Christina, I'm doing this for our future too. When we're old, we'll need someone to lean on, someone to care for us at our bedside. Do you really want the empire we spent our whole lives building to be carved up and eyed by outsiders?"
"Think about it. With a child, our life would be livelier too. You can't just keep thinking about making money—"
I fought down the fury in my eyes, fixed a cold gaze on him, and let out a short, scornful laugh.
"Is that so? If outsiders carve it up, at least I'd die knowing why. What I'm afraid of is adopting a wolf cub and dying without ever knowing how it happened."
Phil Floyd, you still want to scheme against me the way you did last life, make me build the empire for you. Give it up.
This life, your bastard is fit only to hide in the dark, and worthless scum like you belong in hell.
Phil Floyd stood rooted to the spot, studying me in shock.
"Christina, you... what are you saying? We'd raise him as our own son. How could a child turn out that heartless?"
"If the parents who adopt the child are heartless, shameless, and low, what good blood could that child possibly have?"
"The Gilbert Group is my life's work. I poured every asset of the Gilbert family into it. There's no way I'll rashly hand it to an adopted child."
I held back the fury churning inside me and watched Phil Floyd with cold eyes.
Impatience and irritation flickered across his face.
"Christina, you can't be this selfish. You know how many times Mom and my uncle have pushed me about this."
"And those old holdouts at the company, every one of them eyeing the CEO's chair. With no heir, do you know how much pressure I'm under?"
"If a single child is all it takes for you to buckle under their pressure, then step down as CEO."
Phil flew into a rage, shamed and furious. "I tolerate you because I love you. Can't you consider me for once—"
I couldn't be bothered to waste another word on an animal. I stood and walked toward the bedroom, and as the door clicked shut behind me I sank down onto the floor, clutching my chest, breathing hard.
I was back. I had truly been reborn.
No revolting spoiled leftovers, no heavy chains, no rows of festering scars up my arms. My skin was clean and smooth again.
My hair wasn't white, my body not withered to a husk.
After a long while, I steadied myself, slowly pulled myself up against the door, took out my phone, and made a call.
"Detective Lambert. I need you to lock onto someone. I want to know everything about her."
"Ms. Gilbert, don't worry. We'll keep her under close surveillance. Not the smallest detail will slip through."
