Chapter 2

A week later, Natalie was in the visitation room at the jail.

The iron bars separated two worlds.

Natalie was dressed in an orange jumpsuit, cold metal cuffs locked around her wrists.

In seven days, she had grown gaunt, dark circles shadowing her eyes.

"I didn't push her," Natalie said.

It was the first thing she said to Richard, and the seventy-eighth time she had said it to him.

Richard sat across from her, dressed in a tailored suit, his expression cold and distant.

He slid a document across the table. "Sign it, and I'll help you get your sentence reduced."

Natalie lowered her gaze, the words on the cover stabbing at her heart: [Divorce Agreement.]

"Why?" Natalie rasped. "Richard, after three years as your wife, do you really not trust me at all?"

"Trust?" Richard sneered. "Vivian's still in the ICU. The doctors say she might never wake up. And you? You had a motive because you were jealous of her."

"I wasn't jealous!" Natalie shot back.

"Oh yeah? Then explain this." Richard flung a handful of photos onto the table; They were shots of Natalie's sketchbook. "Vivian's designs, why do the first drafts show up in your notebook, huh?"

Natalie's whole body went cold. "Those were my ideas! She stole my sketches..."

"Where's your proof?" Richard cut her off. "Natalie, all the evidence points to you. Only your fingerprints and Vivian's were found on the terrace.

"Witnesses saw you two fighting, and you had the designs in your hand. You were scared she'd expose you for copying her work, so you did something desperate, didn't you?"

"That's not what happened..." Tears finally spilled down Natalie's cheeks. "You'd rather believe an outsider than me?"

Richard stared at her tears, completely unmoved, his gaze as cold as ice. "Sign it. The Ford family will take care of Vivian's medical bills. As for you..."

He paused. "Intentional assault causing serious injury, minimum ten years. I've already got the best lawyer on it. If you're lucky, maybe you'll only serve seven."

"Seven years..." Natalie murmured. "Richard, you'll regret this."

It was the first time she had ever spoken to him with such cold indifference.

Richard frowned, a flicker of irritation crossing his mind, but he quickly suppressed it. "Sign it."

Natalie picked up the pen, her hand shaking noticeably.

She paused for a long time over her name.

Finally, she wrote it out stroke by stroke.

Natalie's handwriting was neat, as if she were signing her own death warrant.

"The trial's next Monday," Richard said, gathering up the divorce papers. "I'll be there to testify."

Natalie's head snapped up. "Testify about what?"

"To prove you planned it all along," Richard stood up, looking down at her with icy disdain. "That night, you told me, if only Vivian would disappear. The judge is going to love hearing that."

It was like a bolt of lightning had crashed through Natalie's mind.

It was three months ago when Vivian first moved into Ford Manor to recover. In the middle of the night, she knocked on the door of Richard's study, wearing a silk nightgown.

Natalie finally snapped, "Shouldn't she move out? Having her live with us like this, what will people say?"

Richard had shot back coldly, "Vivian's parents are overseas. I can't let her live alone. Are you really that intolerant of her?"

Natalie said, her voice tinged with bitterness, "If only Vivian would disappear, maybe our marriage could be saved."

One careless remark, and now it was being twisted into damning evidence against her.

"Richard." Natalie let out a bitter laugh, tears streaming down her cheeks. "You're truly heartless."

He gave no reply, simply turned and walked away.

The echo of his leather shoes on the floor, step by step, shattered the last of her hopes.

*****

Three months later, at the women's prison, "0347, you've got a visitor!" the guard called out.

Natalie numbly followed the guard to the visitation room.

These past three months had been pure hell. Thanks to Richard's so-called protection, she had become the scapegoat everyone loved to hate.

The other inmates in her cellblock found new ways to torment her, dumping cold water on her in winter, stealing her blankets in summer, even mixing sand into her food.

Natalie endured every bit of it because she was pregnant.

She found out during the intake medical exam, seven weeks along.

Natalie hadn't told anyone. It was the only thing keeping her going in all this darkness.

Today, her mom was the one who came to see her.

Through the glass, Natalie saw her mother's hair streaked with gray, and her heart clenched hard.

"Nat, you've gotten so thin..." her mom sobbed, tears running down her cheeks. "Mom's working on it, I found new evidence, about Vivian, that girl..."

"Mom," Natalie urgently cut her off. She lowered her voice. "I'm pregnant."

Natalie's mother's eyes went wide.

"It's Richard's baby. Mom, please, help me tell him. Beg him for me, ask him to let me out, at least let the baby be born outside these walls," Natalie added.

Her mother nodded firmly. "Okay, okay, I'll go talk to him right away."

As Natalie watched her mother stumble out of the room, she gently touched her stomach.

Three months in, she still didn't show, but she could feel the presence of that little life growing inside her.

This was the only thing left connecting her to Richard.

*****

Three days later, "0347, you've got a visitor!" the guard called out.

Natalie rushed to the visitation room, her heart thudding in her chest.

Was it him?

Did he know about the baby? Would he...

On the other side of the glass sat Michael Carter, Richard's assistant.

Natalie's heart sank.

"Mrs. Ford," Michael said, his tone cold and businesslike. "Mr. Ford asked me to pass along a message. Don't bother scheming. Pretending to be pregnant is pathetic."

Natalie's blood ran cold. "W-What?"

Michael added, "Mr. Ford said if you keep bothering Ms. Lane's family, he'll press more charges."

He pushed a photo over, a shot of Vivian's mother standing outside Ford Manor, tears streaming down her face. "And your mom went to Ford Holdings yesterday.

"Mr. Ford was furious. He said, since you're trying so hard to use the baby to get pity, you might as well get rid of the baby."

"Get rid of it... what does that even mean?" Natalie's voice was shaking.

Michael avoided her gaze. "Mr. Ford has arranged for the prison hospital doctor to give you a full check-up tomorrow. If you really are pregnant, they'll make you terminate the pregnancy."

"No!" Natalie suddenly stood up, but the guard forced her back into her seat. "I want to see him. Let me see him. It's his child!"

"Mr. Ford won't see you." Michael stood up. "Mrs. Ford, it's time to let this go. Ms. Lane woke up yesterday and accused you. Even if you have this baby, the Ford family will never recognize it."

"She woke up? She's really awake?" Natalie grabbed onto that hope like a lifeline. "Then she can testify. I didn't push her!"

Michael paused for a few seconds, his voice barely above a whisper. "Ms. Lane said it was you... You pushed her."

At that moment, Natalie's whole world came crashing down.

The next day, in the prison infirmary, the instruments were cold, the air thick with the sharp smell of disinfectant.

"The baby's already fourteen weeks along. It's very healthy," the doctor said, glancing at the ultrasound screen, her voice heavy with reluctance. "Do you really want to...?"

"I don't have a choice," Natalie lay on the operating table, her eyes empty and lifeless. "Doctor, can I hear the heartbeat?"

The doctor hesitated, then turned on the sound.

The baby's heartbeat was strong and powerful, like a little drummer beating inside her.

Tears slipped from the corners of Natalie's eyes, sliding into her hairline. "I'm sorry, baby," she whispered. "Mommy can't protect you."

As the anesthesia flowed into Natalie's veins, everything started to blur.

The last image burned into her mind was Richard's icy, indifferent face.

I was so sorry, baby.

Richard, I hated you.