Chapter 1

To protect Olivia Little, his manipulative adopted sister, Leroy Vernon let me, seven months pregnant, get shoved down the stairs.

I was lying in a pool of blood, and he coldly said, "Stop pretending. How much do you want to settle this?"

At that moment, I didn't cry or make a scene.

A woman whose heart was dead didn't go hysterical.

I signed the divorce papers, took the money, and laid the baby to rest.

Then I disappeared from his life completely.

By the time he was frantically searching for me, I was already married to someone else.

*****

The cold marble stairs became the cliff edge of my world.

As everything spun around me, the only thing I could focus on was Olivia's eyes, brimming with venom and delight. "Charlotte, you and that bastard in your belly should've left ages ago."

Those were the last words she murmured in my ear, her voice barely a whisper, but her words cut like a blade.

Then, a powerful shove came from behind me.

My heavy body lost all balance, tumbling down the stairs like a discarded sack, crashing hard with every step.

The sharp pain of my bones slamming against the marble steps shot through every inch of me in an instant.

But even that was nothing compared to the tearing pain in my lower abdomen.

Something warm and wet gushed out between my legs, soaking my dress and unfurling into a vivid, horrifying bloom of blood on the floor.

My baby...

My hands instinctively shielded my belly, the place where all my hopes and dreams once lived. Now, all that remained was a hollow emptiness and a wave of terror crashing over me.

My vision started to blur, and I saw the front door of the villa suddenly fling open. A tall, familiar figure rushed inside.

It was Leroy, my husband.

I tried to call out, desperate to tell him it was Olivia who pushed me.

But before I could even call out, I saw him step right over my blood-soaked body and rush straight to Olivia, who was standing on the stairs on the verge of tears, looking utterly fragile.

"Olivia, are you alright? Did you get hurt anywhere?" He steadied her by the shoulders, anxiously checking her over. His voice was full of worry and tenderness. His concern for her seared through me like a branding iron.

"Leroy, I didn't mean to. It was Charlotte. She tried to push me. I just wanted to get out of the way.

"I didn't think she'd lose her balance." Olivia threw herself into his arms, tears streaming down her face, as if she were the real victim here.

Leroy gently patted her back and reassured her, "It's okay, I know. It's not your fault."

Finally, he bothered to glance at me.

Those eyes I'd once been obsessed with now held only icy judgment and obvious impatience.

"Charlotte, what are you trying to pull this time?" His voice cut through me, colder than the wind outside.

I lay helpless in my own blood, staring up at him as he cradled Olivia, the queen of playing the victim. It felt like an invisible hand was squeezing my heart, crushing it one painful inch at a time.

During our three years of marriage, he was always like this.

No matter what Olivia did, it was always me who got blamed in the end.

I was the petty one, the jealous one, the one who could never embrace his "gentle and sweet" little sister.

I barely managed to choke out a few words, "She... pushed me..."

Leroy's frown got even deeper. He glanced at the blood under me, but instead of freaking out, he looked at me with pure contempt and disgust.

Then he said the words that shattered me completely. "Stop pretending."

He looked down at me with utter disdain, as if I were nothing more than a pitiful clown willing to do anything for a scrap of attention. "Are you done with your drama?

"Name your price. How much will it take for you to stop making trouble for Olivia and make this go away?"

Make this go away?

My baby was dying inside me, and all he cared about was making this go away.

In that instant, everything around me went dead silent.

I couldn't hear Olivia's triumphant sobs, the howling wind outside, nor could I feel the pain tearing through me.

All I could see was Leroy's handsome but cold face, his lips moving, each word cutting deeper. Every word was a shard of ice, piercing through the last shred of love I had left, grinding it to nothing.

So, loving someone who never loved you back really did destroy you.

I felt desperate.

I slowly closed my eyes, and right before the darkness took me, I felt my lips twitch, almost like I wanted to laugh at myself.

What a ridiculous, miserable joke these three years of marriage turned out to be.

And what a joke, all that one-sided love I poured out for someone who never gave a damn.

Charlotte, you really were a fool.