Chapter 2

I stared at him. This man suddenly felt like a complete stranger, and it terrified me.

"So you've all already decided I'm guilty?" I looked around at everyone crowded into that hospital room.

Their silence told me everything I needed to know.

Charlotte started sobbing again. "My baby. My poor baby. The doctor told me my uterus is damaged and I'll never be able to have kids again. Mrs. Grant, you've had a child, so you understand what this feels like."

"I've never been pregnant," I said flatly.

She stared at me in confusion. "But Mr. Grant said you two have a child."

"That's what he told you. I never said that." I turned to face Edward. "I never told you I was pregnant, did I?"

Edward's expression darkened. "You know damn well whether you did! Olivia, this isn't the time."

I let out a short laugh. "Then when is the time? When we talk about how I supposedly caused your mistress to lose her baby? Edward, are you really sure that with the way this girl acts, she didn't lose it all on her own?"

Charlotte's voice went shrill. "Mrs. Grant! What the hell are you saying?"

I walked over to the hospital bed and leaned down to look at her. "You know exactly what I'm saying.

"Smoking while pregnant, getting wasted, staying out all night partying at clubs, hooking up with God knows how many guys. Honestly, it's a miracle the baby lasted as long as it did."

The room went dead silent.

Charlotte's face drained of all color. "You're lying!"

"Am I? Pull up your credit card statements from the last three months and we'll find out. Stop playing innocent. You two met at some club anyway, didn't you?"

I straightened up and locked eyes with Edward. "VIP booth charges, top-shelf liquor, cigarettes, and receipts from those by-the-hour motels. Want me to dig all of it up for you?"

Edward looked like I'd just gut-punched him.

Kevin and the others stood there awkwardly looking at each other, and some woman I didn't even know opened her mouth to say something, but I shut her down with one glare.

Edward's voice came out rough. "Olivia, that's enough."

"Enough? You sure didn't think it was enough when you were throwing accusations at me. Don't act like I've been completely clueless about all the shit you've been doing," I said coldly.

"I just didn't care enough to deal with it. But if you think you can pin this on me? That's where I draw the line."

Charlotte suddenly burst into tears. "Edward, who do you believe? Her or me? That baby was yours, I swear! Yeah, okay, I like to party, but I'm not stupid. You think I'd do something that reckless while I was pregnant?"

Edward looked at her, then at me. His expression was all twisted up.

I knew exactly what he was thinking.

Even if Charlotte slept around, even if the kid might not have been his, she'd still lost the baby. And now she supposedly couldn't have kids anymore.

In his messed-up mind, that made her the victim.

And me? I was the "aggressive" wife pushing her around.

Sure enough, he let out this heavy sigh. "Olivia, look, maybe Charlotte made mistakes. But the baby's gone. That's just a fact. And now she can't have kids anymore. That's devastating for any woman."

I waited for him to get to the point.

"I think—" He struggled to get the words out. "We need to compensate her somehow."

"Compensate her how?" I picked at the tiny crystals on my manicure. "You gonna give her money? Buy her a house? Or are you planning to divorce me and marry her instead? Fine by me. I'll take half of everything."

Edward shook his head quickly. "No, that's not what I mean. I want us to give her our child."

I stared at him. "What did you just say?"

He looked like he was forcing himself to commit to something huge. "I want you to give Charlotte that baby you've been hiding at your mom's place."

What the hell?

When Edward saw the blank confusion on my face, he sighed again, "Olivia, come on. Don't play dumb. I know you secretly had our baby, and you're keeping it at your mom's house.

"Look, I get it. You went through all that trouble to have the kid because you wanted to win me back. And guess what? It worked. I'm promising you right now, I'll come home more. I'll be around. Just give that baby to Charlotte."

My head was spinning. My first thought was that Edward had completely lost his mind.

My second thought was, since when did I secretly have a baby? And supposedly to win him back? I graduated from a top university, for god's sake. Why the hell would I do something that idiotic?

Wait, hold on. Did they seriously think the baby my parents found at the market last month was mine? Like, I secretly gave birth and hid it at my mom's place?

About a month ago, my mom, Janet, called me saying she'd found a baby boy in a bundle next to the dumpsters behind the farmer's market. The kid was wailing so hard his little face had turned purple.

A bunch of people were standing around pointing and whispering stuff like "must be something wrong with him if they dumped him" and "who can afford to raise a kid these days," but nobody was doing anything about it.

Janet's always had a soft heart, so she picked him up and brought him home. Tucked inside the blanket was a crumpled note with messy handwriting that said, [XYY syndrome. Can't afford to keep him. Sorry.]

"What's XYY syndrome?" Janet had asked me over the phone.

I vaguely remembered something from high school biology about it being an extra Y chromosome. Boys with it tend to be more aggressive and quick to anger, with some serious behavioral issues.

But honestly, I didn't know much beyond that, so I just told Janet to take care of him for now, and we'd figure out if we could contact child services or maybe track down his birth parents.

I was drowning in meetings with lawyers at the time, trying to untangle the mess Edward had created by transferring a bunch of his shell company debts into my name. I was utterly overwhelmed and barely had time to think about anything else.

Janet didn't bring it up much after that, just mentioned in passing that the baby was eating and sleeping fine, but had a hell of a temper and cried nonstop. Some neighbor lady had even helped her find an affordable nanny.