"Eleanor, quit the theatrics. Fay's in labor too, and she's not screaming or making a scene—she's waiting for me at the hospital like a grown woman. She knows how to behave. You never did."
The words barely left his mouth before Elijah's phone rang.
A woman's whiny, bratty voice came through the speaker.
"Elijah, the doctor says I'm ready to push. They're sending me into the delivery room right now."
"You're still with that old hag, aren't you? Well, of course—she's your lawful wife, the one you actually married. The baby in my belly is just a bastard, right?"
"Elijah Gilbert, if you don't get here, I'm not giving birth!"
The man who never lost composure went white in an instant.
Anxiety flooded his eyes, and even his voice dropped into something almost pleading.
"Hey, hey—stop that. You know what I promised you. Only the child in your belly gets to be the Gilbert firstborn."
"Eleanor's water broke. She's rolling on the ground in pain right now. If you don't believe me, let me show you."
He bent down and shoved the camera in my face.
The moment Fay got a clear look at how wretched I was, she finally laughed, satisfied.
The pain had soaked all the way into my bones. I bit down on it and lifted my eyes to him.
"Why? Why her?"
"Elijah, have you forgotten? She's the one who nearly killed you drunk driving. She's the one who pushed your mother off that cliff with her own hands—they never even found the body!"
All I got back was a cold, derisive laugh.
"What happened back then, call it bad luck on my part. As for my mother, there were no cameras at the summit. Even the police said it could've been an accidental fall. How can you blame Fay for that?"
I slumped to the ground, laughing until tears streamed down my face.
Fay Fox—my half-sister, same mother, different fathers. Spoiled rotten since the day she was born, and cruel to me for as long as I could remember.
After the college entrance exams, she partied all night with friends and insisted on driving drunk despite everyone telling her not to.
She hit Elijah, who was just getting off a night shift.
No witnesses. Fay left him lying in a pool of blood and drove away without looking back.
Later, she pinned everything on me.
I was taken in for investigation. Terrified the victim's family would keep digging and uncover the truth, she lured Karen to a cliffside under the pretense of apologizing on my behalf—and when Karen wasn't looking, pushed her over the edge.
I took the blame and served three years for crimes I didn't commit.
After I got out, I found out by chance that Elijah's legs were permanently damaged. The doctors said he'd spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
I found him and told him the whole truth.
He wanted to die. Every last spark in him had gone out. And it was me—me who half-knelt in front of that wheelchair and swore I would help him stand again.
I took care of him for two full years, doing every session of rehab at his side. I weighed barely ninety pounds, but I clenched my teeth and became his human crutch.
The day he finally stood on his own, Elijah dropped to one knee and slid a plain silver ring onto my finger.
His eyes were full of tenderness then.
"Ellie, you gave me a second life. Can I ask you for one thing? Let me spend the rest of mine taking care of you."
I believed him.
Even though he was too poor to give me a proper wedding, I married him without hesitation, without regret.
He said I bullied Fay.
But he knew. He knew she had forced me to drink urine, made me kneel inside a cage and bark like a dog.
Ten years worse than death. The nightmare of my entire life.
After we married, I woke screaming from dreams more times than I could count, crying as I told him I'd seen Fay beating me again.
He would hold me, his own hands trembling, eyes red, promising he would make something of himself and get justice for me and for Karen.
To crush the Fox family, he threw himself into the business world and clawed his way into becoming CEO Gilbert.
And the very first thing he did once he got there was Fay Fox.
