Chapter 4

Lucas stood by the door, watching me pack my things.

When it came to Richard, I could be cold as ice.

But facing my own flesh and blood, the son I carried for nine months, I couldn't bring myself to shut him out.

There wasn't much to pack, but I kept picking things up and putting them down, fussing over it for more than an hour.

I crouched down in front of him and gently stroked his soft little face.

For the first time, he didn't brush my hand away.

I lowered my voice and asked, "Do you want to leave with mom?"

Lucas's eyes sparkled, but instead of answering, he looked up at me and asked, "Are you leaving? If you go, will you never come back?"

My throat tightened. "That's right, honey. Mom won't be coming back anymore.

"Will you come with me, sweetheart?"

I wrapped him up in a hug.

Lucas's gentle little voice sounded right by my ear. "Yay. If you leave, then I'll finally have a pretty mom."

I shuddered, slowly let go of him, and stood up.

Even if I was leaving, Lucas was innocent. My plan was always to make sure Melissa's kid never got a piece of what belonged to Lucas.

But now, why should I keep worrying about his future?

I stepped past him and walked away without looking back.

As soon as I landed in the Maldives, my phone started blowing up with messages.

Melissa: [Auntie, even if I handed Richard over to you now, he wouldn't even want to return to you.

[I'll make sure both Richard and Lucas are well taken care of.

[Oh, and I'm having a boy. Richard promised me that everything will belong to our son in the future.]

The next message was a video.

It showed Richard going with her to a prenatal checkup.

"Honey, come put your ear on my belly! The baby can hear you now!" Melissa said, all sweet and clingy.

I shut off my phone, stone-faced.

Richard, what's between us won't end with a divorce.

At the annual party, I've got a big surprise lined up for him.

For a whole week, we didn't talk at all.

Meanwhile, his feed was spammed with over twenty photos of him and Melissa.

At the annual party, Richard made a big deal of introducing Melissa to everyone.

His hand rested on her waist, making it crystal clear what he wanted everyone to see.

A few execs started buttering him up. "Looks like you finally figured things out, Mr. Lane." One smiled.

Another echod, "Seriously, why hang on to that cranky old wife of yours?"

"Yeah, Mr. Lane, so when do we finally get to drink at your wedding?" Someone else asked.

Every single one of them had been promoted by me, one by one.

Richard grinned and glanced at Melissa's belly. "When the time comes, I'll treat everyone to some red eggs."

The two of them looked just like a newlywed couple, soaking up everyone's congratulations.

When someone mentioned me, Richard curled his lips into a smug grin. "She'll be here any minute."

It was time for the annual cash bonus handout.

Richard finally realized I was missing and kept calling me over and over. "Where's Evelyn?"

The assistant stammered, "We haven't been able to reach Evelyn for a week now. And this afternoon, the company account is totally wiped out, not a single dollar left.

"We've tried calling you so many times, but you never picked up."

The assistant's voice got smaller and smaller as he spoke.

Richard's face darkened inch by inch, a storm brewing in his eyes.

Suddenly, the images on the big screen started switching rapidly.

Everyone let out a gasp, and the entire hall fell into stunned silence.

Richard whipped his head around, his expression turning downright terrifying. His phone slipped from his hand and hit the floor with a thud.