Chapter 1
The poor student I'd been sponsoring burst into my birthday party, brazenly flashing her pregnancy report.
"I'm pregnant with Peter's child. You'd better wise up and divorce him—fast!"
Flustered and speechless, I pointed at her belly.
"Are you sure that's Peter's baby?"
Ashley Huffman proudly waved the report in her hand.
"Of course! We conceived it last month on our cruise."
Her words left me—and everyone else at the party—utterly stunned.
Because my husband, Peter Roth, had died three years ago.
I stared blankly at Ashley, asking her one more time to confirm. "Do you really know who Peter is?"
Ashley stroked her slightly swollen belly, her face brimming with arrogance.
"Elaine, spare me the nonsense. Just divorce Peter and step aside as Mrs. Roth.
"Otherwise, a woman who can't give birth slike you is just going to become an even bigger joke."
These days, Ashley dressed in a sexy, form-fitting skirt, with glittering manicured nails and fiery red lipstick.
Her smug demeanor couldn't have been more different from the gaunt, insecure, timid girl she'd been eight years ago.
I wasn't thrilled with her provocative tone, to say the least. But I still clung to a faint hope for her.
"Ashley, enough with the jokes. It's my birthday—have some cake first."
Ashley pushed away the slice I offered and slammed her hand on the table.
"Who wants your lousy cake? Just tell me: are you divorcing him or not?
"If you don't, don't blame me for taking matters into my own hands."
Her long nails came dangerously close to poking me in the eye.
At that, my boyfriend Derrick Aguilar jumped in front of me, barking at her sharply.
"Don't lay a hand on Elaine!"
With everyone around us staring and murmuring, I—the birthday girl—felt my face growing hotter with embarrassment.
"Ashley, if you keep making a scene like this, I'll cut off the financial support for you and your family starting tomorrow."
When I'd first decided to sponsor Ashley, she'd been wearing rags scavenged from the trash heap, her nails filthy with dirt, and cockroaches even crawling out of her hair.
I'd learned that both her parents were paralyzed and bedridden, and she was juggling school with scavenging garbage to support her little sister.
Her story had touched me deeply.
"Ashley, from now on, I'll fund your way through college and help improve things for your family too."
After that, every month without fail, I'd transfer 7000 dollars to her.
And during holidays and festivals, I'd send extra gifts.
But Ashley—who owed me so much—now sneered at me with utter contempt.
"You think I give a damn about your measly handouts?"
She leaned in and slapped my cheek lightly.
"Get this through your head: I'm carrying the Roth family's only heir right here.
"Even if it failed this time. I'm young—I can conceive one a year until I give the Roth family an heir."
She showed off her designer handbag and flashed the diamond watch on her wrist.
"Peter promised that once I have a child, he'll buy me a huge villa and move my whole family in to live the good life.
"As for your cheapskate 7000 dollars a month? Save it for your own funeral plot!"
She let out a derisive snort, then snatched up a bottle of wine and hurled it at my birthday cake.
The four-tier masterpiece my friends had custom-ordered for me was destroyed in seconds.
Ashley's wild outburst sparked an immediate uproar.
"You're just a charity case, a broke student, and now you're poaching her husband? Have you got no shame?"
"Not only turning on the person who helped you, but selling yourself for cash—I can't stand people like you!"
But my friends' barrage of criticism only drew a scornful eye roll from her.
"You all think Elaine is some kind of saint? You've been totally duped."
With her self-righteous air, Ashley looked like she was on the verge of dropping a bombshell revelation.
"Elaine is just using Peter's money to build up this saintly image of herself. She hasn't spent a dime of her own, but she's taken all the credit!
"She's packaging herself as some do-gooder, then using it to morally blackmail Peter so he can't divorce her."
As Ashley spoke, her tone grew more and more fervent.
With her air of outraged indignation, it seemed like she was championing Peter's cause.
"Peter has to bankroll her lavish lifestyle, and on top of that, pay for her phony charity efforts. Yet she won't even give him a child.