"Val, I have to say this one more time—something about Hazel Qiao doesn't sit right with me. She's not as simple as she seems." Ethan's voice dropped low. "You nearly died getting Renee to marry you. You know her. If she ever finds out the truth, she'll never forgive you. Not in this lifetime."
Val laughed, the sound dripping with certainty.
"Relax. She'll never know."
His tone softened, almost tender. "Hazel is pure. Devoted to me completely. She doesn't want status or recognition—just a child to keep her company for the rest of her life. How could I possibly deny her something so small?"
He couldn't bear to deny Hazel a child.
But he had no problem giving me and my baby every ounce of pain and betrayal.
All those days and nights I thought I was being saved—
I thought it was light breaking into my darkness.
It wasn't.
It was an arrow through my heart.
The warmth was a lie. His love was a lie.
Only the deception and the damage were real.
I stared at my wrist—at the scars layered over scars, old wounds crossed by new ones.
Tears blurred everything.
My body had given out.
I'd become a paranoid wreck, a mental patient haunted by delusions.
Even the child in my belly had been branded a bastard of unknown origin.
And all of it—all of it—because of one photo of Hazel that trended for ten minutes.
For this woman who swore up and down she was innocent, just a poor scholarship student he'd sponsored out of charity—
Val had destroyed me without a second thought.
He watched me drown in nightmares of violation.
He watched me choke on guilt and revulsion for carrying an innocent life.
And he thought it was just a little punishment.
My whole body trembled.
A wave of nausea I'd never felt before crawled up from the soles of my feet.
I couldn't hold it back. I stumbled into the bathroom and retched until my muscles seized.
Val burst in just as I collapsed beside the toilet, tears streaming down my face.
He scooped me up immediately, eyes brimming with concern.
"Sweetheart, did you have another nightmare?"
He crouched in front of me, gripping my hands, his eyes reddening at the edges.
The worry in his gaze was so convincing it cut like glass.
"I found a new hypnotherapist. Just hold on a little longer—you'll forget all the pain soon."
His hands were warm against mine.
But I felt nothing except bone-deep cold.
I moved my cracked lips. "Val... can we stop the hypnosis?"
His brow furrowed. His hand slid to my stomach, his voice low and heavy. "Be good. You need to forget that pain. It's the only way we can start over with no shadows between us." He paused. "I'll raise this child as my own."
What a flawless performance.
I wanted to laugh but couldn't.
No wonder he'd gotten the vasectomy without hesitation.
He already had children—one at home, one outside it.
But because of this act, this counterfeit devotion—
I had drowned in guilt, over and over.
Hating myself for being dirty.
Hating myself for betraying his "true heart."
Hating this demon child for ruining everything.
But reality slapped me awake.
Every patch of skin I'd scrubbed raw until it bled.
Every sleepless night tangled in nightmares.
Every jagged scar carved into my arms.
All of it was punishment—crafted for me.
For Hazel's sake.
The Val who loved me was already dead.
When I didn't respond, he pulled me into his arms. "Sweetheart, tomorrow is Mom's birthday banquet. Let's go together."
I didn't want to go.
But Val insisted it would help me clear my head, and he all but dragged me into the car.
What I didn't expect was to see Hazel Qiao at my mother-in-law's party.
She wore the latest haute couture from Chanel—a fitted dress that cinched deliberately at the waist, showing off the gentle swell of her belly.
Lisa Gilbert's eyes locked onto that bump and didn't leave.
The joy on her face was impossible to hide.
