Chapter 2

"Mrs. Vanderbilt, you'll need at least six weeks of recovery post-surgery. You've lost too much blood—any impact could trigger hemorrhaging." The doctor handed me the discharge papers.

At the hospital entrance, Alexander barely lifted his chin. "Get in."

We drove in silence for ten minutes until his phone rang.

"Alex, I'm so scared..." Chloe's fragile voice came through the speaker. "The doctor says I might have signs of threatened miscarriage. Can you come stay with me?"

I watched Alexander's hands tighten on the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white.

"Of course, darling. I'll be right there."

Then he pulled over and turned to face me.

"Get out."

"What?"

"Chloe needs me. You can get home yourself."

"Alex, I just got discharged—"

"Don't use surgery as an excuse!" he snapped. "Clara is carrying the Vanderbilt heir. Nothing can go wrong!"

Every word was like an ice pick, stabbing into my already shattered heart. I looked at him and suddenly found his face terrifyingly unfamiliar.

I pushed open the car door. The car sped away behind me.

He just abandoned me like that.

I stumbled across the street, pain blurring my vision.

Until the harsh blare of a horn tore through the air.

I looked up to see a truck speeding toward me.

Blinding white light consumed my vision.

Impact. Agony. Then endless darkness.

When I woke up, Alexander sat beside the hospital bed, but there was no concern in his eyes—only annoyance.

The doctor stood bedside: "I'm very sorry, Mrs. Vanderbilt. The accident caused severe tearing of your wounds. We had to perform emergency surgery... your uterus couldn't be saved."

I blinked, thinking I'd misheard.

"What?"

"You will never be able to conceive again."

"The doctor said your uterus has been completely removed." Alexander's tone was flat. "Are you satisfied now?"

"Satisfied?" I struggled to sit up. "You think I wanted this?"

"Cut the act, Evelyn." He stood up. "You deliberately walked into traffic for sympathy. Now you got what you wanted."

"I didn't. That car came straight at me..."

"Enough!" Alexander roared. "I don't have time for your theatrics."

He stormed out angrily.

I stared at the empty doorway, my hand instinctively moving to my hollow abdomen. Tears fell silently. This was the man I'd loved for three years.

The next day, Alexander came to handle my discharge procedures. He was clearly impatient, constantly checking his phone.

"These documents need your signature." I handed him the prepared papers.

He took the pen, absentmindedly signing each page while staring at his phone screen. "Chloe's waiting for me. We have a prenatal checkup. You can get home yourself later."

Alexander signed the last page and left without looking back, completely unaware he'd just signed divorce papers and asset transfer documents.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. In a few more days, this would all be over.

I dragged my aching body back to the mansion. This used to be our home; now it felt like nothing more than a prison.

I pushed open the master bedroom door to find all my personal belongings gone.

Replaced by Chloe's things.

"Oh, you're back?" Clara's voice came from behind me. "I heard about your uterus problem... how pitiful."

My hands clenched into fists. "Where are my things?"

She laughed lightly. "Oh, those old things were such an eyesore, so I helped clean them out."

"By the way, there's also the nursery. Alexander said from now on, that room will be our baby's playroom. Those shabby things needed to be burned anyway."

Hearing this, I rushed out of the bedroom, running toward the nursery at the end of the hall.

The nursery was empty. Everything I'd prepared for my unborn child was gone.

A small fire burned in the center of the room.

The flames were devouring a stuffed animal I'd sewn stitch by stitch during my pregnancy—a little bear with a small "E" embroidered on its chest, representing Ethan, the name I'd chosen for our child.

I knelt before the fire, trembling as I pulled out the charred remains of the little bear.

This was my first gift to my child, carrying all my maternal love and hopes—now reduced to ashes.

"Alexander said keeping those things would only make you suffer more." Chloe stood in the doorway, her voice sickeningly sweet. "I was helping you."

"You know what?" She leaned down to whisper in my ear. "That truck driver... I arranged it. I gave him five thousand dollars. He didn't manage to kill you outright, but at least he made sure you can never have children again."

"Now I'm the only one who can give Alexander children. You're worthless."

My pupils contracted sharply.

"Why would you do this..." My voice trembled. "You already had Alexander, everything you wanted..."

"I just took back what rightfully belonged to me." Her smile vanished, her eyes cold as knives.

Fury exploded. I lost control and lunged at her, grabbing her shoulders.

"You monster—!"

She didn't struggle. Instead, she deliberately fell backward, letting out an exaggerated scream: "Ah—! My stomach! Alexander—save our baby—!"

When Alexander burst into the room, the scene he saw was: Chloe on the ground crying, while I stood over her, my hands still in a pushing position.

"Have you lost your mind?!" He shoved me aside and knelt beside Chloe. "Baby, are you okay?"

Chloe sobbed: "I was just trying to comfort her, but she attacked me..."

"I didn't push her! She..." I pointed at her, my voice hoarse. "She confessed... the car accident was her doing... killing my child wasn't enough, she had to take everything..."

Alexander slowly stood up. His eyes held a coldness and disgust I'd never seen before.

"You'd make up such lies to frame her? It's obvious that car accident was staged by you for sympathy."

I felt my heart being viciously torn apart. "Alexander... you really see me this way? You think I'd risk my own life? That I'd deliberately get hit by a car?"

"Haven't you already done it once?" he said mercilessly. "For attention, to make me come back to you—what wouldn't you do?"

"I lost my child, Alexander!" I cried. "And now—"

"Enough." He cut me off. "I'm taking Chloe to the hospital for a checkup. When I get back, we need to seriously discuss whether you're staying or going."

His tone carried warning and threat.

I saw triumph and victory gleaming in Chloe's eyes.

The door slammed shut, and the house fell into deathly silence.

I collapsed onto the cold floor, staring at the pile of ashes.

Tears blurred my vision, but I bit my lip to keep them from falling.

My hands trembled as I pulled out those documents from my pocket—the asset transfer agreement Alexander had just signed.