Chapter 3

I smiled softly. "Of course. My number one job is to take care of you. If you're doing well, I know my whole life will be peaceful and happy."

Vincent, clearly moved, wrapped me in his arms and kissed my forehead. "Helena, you'll always be my wife. No one could ever mean as much to me as you do."

I laughed, feeling completely content in his embrace. "Vincent, that's all I ever needed to hear."

Vincent hugged me even tighter.

After a brief moment of tenderness, Vincent, reassured by how understanding I always am, finally brought it up. "Helena, Jessica's pregnant. The nanny we hired just can't seem to take care of her properly. I was thinking..."

He trailed off, his eyes locked on mine.

I caught on immediately, responding with my usual warmth and thoughtfulness. "If Jessica doesn't mind, you can bring her back to live with us."

Vincent said, "Helena, I knew you'd be the most understanding."

He kissed my forehead again. "Helena, this is your child too, a part of the Burton family. Our family."

His deliberate emphasis was almost comical.

I let tears well up in my eyes, pretending to be deeply moved. "Vincent, thank you for giving me a child."

Seriously, with acting skills like ours, we could both win an Oscar for this performance.

*****

To make sure Jessica could rest and take care of herself during her pregnancy, I went all out and stocked up on everything she might need.

Vincent said Jessica's skin was super sensitive, so she would only sleep with silk sheets and wear silk pajamas.

She was obsessed with jasmine, so her body wash had to smell like jasmine.

She was ridiculously picky. The water for cooking and making coffee had to be imported, or she wouldn't touch a single bite.

If people didn't know she was literally Vincent's secretary turned side chick, they'd probably think she was some pampered heiress.

Jessica was so high-maintenance that even the real heiresses couldn't compete with her.

"She acts like an heiress, but she sure wasn't born one," Natasha Charles said.

She was one of the socialites in our circle, snatched the stack of A4 papers from my hands. It was written with all the nitty-gritty details for Jessica. She tossed them onto the table with a dismissive snort.

Then Natasha shot me a look. "You're way too soft. If it were me, I'd make sure she lost that baby."

Natasha was the ultimate high-society queen, a true heiress, born with a silver spoon and never lacking for anything.

Her whole life was smooth sailing. All the real trouble only started once she got married.

She had been married for ten years, and in her own words, she had been through every kind of drama.

Natasha had seen it all. She busted so many mistresses, you could line them up from her front door all the way to Espela.

She had screamed and fought. There was nothing she hadn't tried.

Eventually, Natasha and her husband just started living separate lives. With all the money and interests tangled up in their marriage, divorce was out of the question.

As long as nobody ended up with a kid outside the marriage, they could just turn a blind eye to whatever the other was up to.

If I could just get by like they do, coexisting without any real drama, I wouldn't complain.

After seeing so much in this circle, I stopped believing in the whole "forever love" thing ages ago.

The only thing that was real was the family assets I could actually control.

But in reality, I was nothing like them. They have children, a family name, connections, and a whole foundation to fall back on.

And as for me, I had nothing. Not a single thing to my name.

There was no way Vincent and I could ever just live in peace. Between us, it was always a battle. Someone would, and someone would lose.

I turned to Natasha. "Did you find the person I asked you to look for?"

Natasha raised an eyebrow. "Of course. I always deliver. Take a look."

She pushed a photo toward me. The girl in the picture was dressed in a pure white dress, looking all sweet and innocent. When she smiled, she kind of reminded me of how I used to look, back in the day.

No doubt about it. She was exactly Vincent's type.

Natasha said, "Her name's Evelyn Parrish. Life hasn't been easy for her. She lost both parents, lives with her grandparents, and has a little brother to take care of. She needs money, but she's got her own principles.

"When I told her about your situation, she got all indignant and said she'd help you out. But she thought your offer was way too generous, so she only asked for half."

Hearing that, I couldn't help but think of Edgar.

He once said, "Not much. Just feed me three meals a day."

I smiled. Natasha glanced at me and asked, "Feeling better?"

I nodded. "Young people really are genuine."

Natasha scoffed. "Depends on the person. The one clinging to your husband? She's anything but innocent."

Natasha nudged me to turn around, and sure enough, there was Vincent with his arm around Jessica, heading our way.

Jessica called out sweetly from a distance, "Helena!"

As I smiled, Natasha grabbed her Hermès bag and said, "I'm leaving before I see something I can't stand and end up dumping my coffee all over that woman's face.

"Looks like I'll be relying on you to take care of me from now on, Helena."