Chapter 3

The next morning, Marcia woke up frozen, lying on the cold floor with her arms wrapped around her belly. Pain shot through her body like daggers.

She struggled to get up, desperate to return to the office and tell her father everything. But when she tried to open the bedroom door, she found it locked from the outside. Panic surged within her as she shouted, "Let me out, Alan! Let me out!"

No one answered...

The silence of the room was suffocating.

She banged on the door, her voice growing more frantic with each cry. "Alan! You bastard! Why are you locking me in here?"

"Let me out!"

After two days without food or water, Marcia's voice was hoarse from shouting. She lay lifeless on the bed, despair flooding her heart.

Suddenly, the door creaked open, and Alan's mother, Dinah, a short, stout woman, rushed in.

She quickly approached the bed, grasping Marcia's frail body. "Sign this!" she demanded.

Marcia's throat burned painfully. "Help me..." I'm pregnant...But before she could finish, Dinah yanked her hair and dragged her off the bed, scoffing, "Sign the divorce papers them now!"

"Where's Alan? I want him to talk to me. He cheated on me..."

Smack!

Dinah slapped Marcia hard across the face, laughing coldly. "Don't slander my son! Kate is pregnant now! She's nothing like you!"

So Dinah had known about Alan and Kate all along! Marcia opened her mouth to speak, but Dinah gripped her hand tightly, dipping her fingers in ink to stamp the divorce papers. "You better sign this."

Seeing Marcia's fingerprint finally land on the document, Dinah smirked and shoved the pen back into Marcia's hand. "Sign it!"

Marcia looked at the reason for divorce—it stated mutual consent.

She immediately protested, "Let go of me! I won't sign! Alan betrayed me!"

Marcia felt an adrenaline rush she didn't know she had. She pushed Dinah away and sprinted barefoot for the door.

She had to find Alan. She couldn't just sit back like a discarded wife, doing nothing!

She couldn't let those two get away with this!

Rushing to the lobby of ROB Group, Marcia saw an ambulance speeding away.

"Look, isn't that Marcia?"

"Oh my God, what happened to her?"

Panicking, Marcia turned to the employees gathered in the hall and grabbed the nearest one. "What happened? Where's Alan?"

"He...he quit this morning. The chairman collapsed in his office and was just taken away in an ambulance. You should check on him."

Marcia's mind went blank. The person taken by the ambulance was her father!

A sharp pain twisted in her stomach, making it hard to breathe.

Rushing to the hospital, she arrived just as the ER door swung open. A doctor called impatiently, "Family of William Roberts, where are you?"

Marcia pressed her hand to her belly and rushed forward. "I'm his daughter! Doctor, how is my dad? Is he okay?"

The doctor paused, noticing her bruised face and swollen eyes. "Your father has had a stroke."

A stroke? Panic gripped Marcia as she grabbed the doctor's arm. "How could he have a stroke? My father has always been healthy!"

The doctor sighed softly. "He's older, and the stress must have raised his blood pressure. If he had been brought in ten minutes earlier, it might have been different. I'm sorry; we did our best. You need to take care of him and make sure he doesn't get stressed again."

With that, the doctor left, leaving Marcia standing at the OR door, stunned. Stress? What kind of stress?

"Cia, how's William?"

A familiar, elderly voice interrupted her thoughts. It was Uncle Benson, a company shareholder who rarely appeared.

"Uncle, what's going on? Why did my father collapse?"

Marcia rushed over to him.

Benson looked alarmed at her appearance. "What happened to you? Who hit you?"

Tears welled up in her eyes as she shook her head, "What's going on?"

"It's Alan. He borrowed a huge sum of money from the bank in the company's name. Your father argued with him about it this morning!"

"What?" Marcia's face went pale. "How much did he borrow? Where's the money?"

Benson shook his head. "The money has vanished. The bank called to demand repayment, and that's when your father found out! The funds require your father's seal, so how did Alan have it? Cia, isn't that seal usually kept by you?"

Marcia felt a wave of foolishness wash over her.

Clutching her head, she cried out, "It's my fault! I gave him the seal! I did it! So... I ruined the company! I ruined my father!"

That day, when Dinah had fought with her, her words were laced with dissatisfaction. Alan had argued with Dinah right in front of her, locking himself in his room and refusing to come out. In a bid to appease him, she had given him the seal, wanting to show her trust...

Alan had initially refused to take it, but now she realized it was all part of their scheme!

Marcia trembled, a bittersweet smile creeping onto her face, her expression ashen as tears streamed down her cheeks.

It was all her fault...

Seeing her in despair, Benson shook his head, unsure how to comfort her.

He pulled out his phone and made a call to report the situation, then turned to Marcia. "Cia, I need to return to the office. It's chaos over there. You need to stay here and take care of your father. I've contacted Calvin; he's on his way back from abroad. We'll sort this out later. Stop crying, Cia. You have more important things to do!"