Chapter 1
I'd just finished recovering from giving birth when my husband, Charles, made a sudden post online. The photo showed his hand resting gently on Winona's stomach, with the caption: [This is where our legacy continues.]
I immediately called a press conference and revealed that Charles and I had been secretly married for years.
Winona couldn't take the endless gossip and rumors anymore. She fell into depression and eventually took her own life by jumping off a building.
Charles came back to our family like nothing ever happened, and never spoke of Winona again.
I thought that would be the end of it.
But then, at our son's first birthday party, Charles blocked every exit and ignited a gas canister right there.
He shouted, "You can all go die with Winona.
"If you had just accepted her and our child, she'd still be here. Every last one of you deserves to die!"
When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day Charles announced that Winona was pregnant.
This time, I liked his post.
The moment I hit like, the post disappeared, and my phone buzzed from a call from Charles.
Charles snapped, "Evelyn, are you out of your mind? You think you can threaten me just by liking my post?
"Let me tell you something: I'm making sure Winona has this baby, and nothing's going to stop it!"
After his outburst, Charles hung up on me.
This was how it always went between us. He never gave a damn about what I thought. He just talked to me and never listened.
Back when we first got married, at least our arguments were calm.
But after Winona showed up, Charles just grew to hate me more and more, and he stopped giving me any chance to speak at all.
But right now, I had bigger things to worry about than him.
I immediately arranged for my parents to take Andy abroad. Once I finished up things here, I'd join them.
The tragedy from Andy's birthday party in my previous life flashed before my eyes.
Charles lit the gas canister, and the whole restaurant was swallowed by flames. Screams echoed everywhere. Everyone was caught in the inferno.
All because of Winona and the baby she lost, he completely lost his mind.
This time, I wasn't going to let history repeat itself.
While I was still sorting through Andy's clothes, I suddenly found a mysterious bottle of capsules.
The moment I saw what was written on the label, chills ran down my spine.
Just then, Charles stormed in, slamming the door behind him.
Without saying a word to me, he turned and headed straight for the bedroom.
I grabbed Charles, holding up the bottle and shouting, "Give me an explanation."
It was sleeping pills mixed in with Andy's vitamins, and only half a bottle was left.
"None of your damn business," Charles snapped.
"When did you start slipping Andy these pills?" I demanded, my voice shaking with rage.
Charles said, "Ever since he was born. He was such a loud little brat, always ruining my dates with Winona.
"You never figured it out, did you? Every time I lied and said I was putting Andy to sleep, I was really sneaking off to see Winona."
Charles snorted with disdain, yanked his hand free, and stormed upstairs.
I was frozen in shock.
Charles and I were in a marriage of convenience.
His heart belonged to Winona, his one true love. He only married me because he had no choice: his family needed an heir, and he had to obey.
He said we had to stay under wraps. I agreed to all of it.
As we spent our days together, the walls between Charles and me slowly started to come down.
But when Winona returned to the country, she shattered everything all over again.
To make Charles finally let go, his family made it crystal clear: if he wanted the family fortune, he had to have a kid.
And that was how Andy ended up being born.
But I totally underestimated the bitterness festering inside Charles.
Even after seeing Andy grow up right in front of him, he never had a shred of love for his own son.
I watched Charles walk away, swallowing my rage.
"Let's get divorced," I said, my voice steady but cold.
Charles just stopped for a second, then kept heading upstairs like he hadn't heard a thing.
"We'll deal with it when the company isn't falling apart," he tossed over his shoulder, not even bothering to look back.
Standing alone in the living room, I gave my mom a call and told her to take Andy for a medical exam as soon as possible.
Then I sent a text to Jackson Lane, who'd been wanting to work with me for a while: [Mr. Lane, I'm in. But I'll be investing on my own.]
Jackson called me right away, unable to hide how thrilled he was.
He exclaimed, "Awesome! Ms. Sinclair, you're a genius when it comes to investing. I'm backing you. It doesn't matter which company you're with."
I spent the whole night anxiously waiting for Andy's test results, scared they'd find something wrong with him.
When morning came, I went to work just like any other day, trying to act like everything was normal.
But when I stepped outside, I saw Winona behind the wheel of my Maybach, with Charles lounging in the passenger seat.
In one swift move, I rushed up to the car and yanked the door open.
I snapped, "Out. This is my car!"
Winona looked all innocent, hiding behind Charles like she was the one being bullied.
Charles said, "Is there anything you own that I didn't give you?
"It's just a car for now. If you keep causing drama, don't even think about those projects you've got."
Charles slammed the car door shut, almost catching my hand in the process.
Standing there, dust swirling around me, I clenched my fists in frustration.
Since he put it that way, let's see how they closed this deal today without me.