Chapter 1

After ten years of marriage, I finally got pregnant with the heir to the Sawyer family.

On the day of my prenatal checkup, I caught my husband accompanying his first love through childbirth.

An hour later, Ethan Sawyer ordered someone to abort my baby and gently coaxed me, "Be good, Aria. Madeline's health is fragile. Can you let this one go, just this once?"

When I didn't respond, my mother, Clara, slapped me across the face.

"Haven't you caused enough trouble?

If it weren't for you back then, Madeline and Ethan would never have broken up.

Think of this baby as your way of atoning to her."

Afraid I'd disturb Madeline during her postpartum recovery, Ethan had my mother take me away.

I was sent to the old house in the southern district.

The place was chosen specifically because snakes, insects, and rodents frequently appeared there---and I was terrified of these cold-blooded creatures.

After Ethan left, my mother sneered coldly.

"Your father killed Gabriel.

You stole Madeline's man.

Both of you deserve to die."

Watching my lips turn purple, my mother remained unmoved.

I struggled to call Ethan for help, but he said, "Aria, you don't need to do this.

You'll always be my wife, but Madeline---I'll always owe her."

Ethan didn't believe me.

My mother ignored me.

At that moment, I finally understood the destructive power of first love.

Not just on Ethan, but on my mother too.

I thought, this is fine.

Ten years---any debt of gratitude should be repaid by now.