Chapter 5

A man's strength was ultimately much greater than a woman's, and Sophia passed out on the spot.

When she woke up again, it was already late at night. She was lying on the bed in her own room, her waist hurt, her stomach hurt, and her face hurt too.

But her heart hurt the most—so much that Sophia leaned over the edge of the bed and threw up bile.

From yesterday until now, she hadn't eaten anything, only had a bit of alcohol. Her stomach was empty, so there was nothing to throw up.

Just then, the bedroom door was pushed open, and a sliver of light shone in.

Sophia sat up straight, unwilling to let whoever it was see her in such a miserable state.

Whether it was her parents or Margaret, not one of them treated her like family, and none of them would feel sorry for her. So why should she show her weakness and give them something to laugh at?

"Ms. Sophia Windsor, are you okay?" Hearing this voice, Sophia realized she had been overthinking again.

The person who came to check on her wasn't her parents or Margaret, but Uma, one of the household servants.

She was holding a glass of honey water, which she carefully placed on the nightstand.

"This is honey water. You should feel a bit better after drinking it."

Hearing Uma's concerned words, Sophia's nose tingled.

She never expected that in this house, it would be Uma—someone with no blood relation to her—who would give her a bit of warmth.

She took the glass of honey water, and after hesitating, couldn't help but ask, "Where are they?"

Uma looked at her with sympathy. "Mr. Windsor and Mrs. Windsor took Ms. Margaret Windsor out to dinner and shopping for clothes."

The hand holding the glass suddenly trembled, and honey water spilled onto the blanket.

Sophia smiled bitterly.

She was so stubborn, always humiliating herself over and over again.

Uma looked at her with pity, and to keep her from dwelling on this, changed the subject. "Ms. Sophia Windsor, when I helped you back to your room earlier, I noticed your pants were dirty. Is it your period? Do you need to go to the bathroom to take care of it?"

Her period?

Sophia's heart jumped.

With Uma's reminder, she vaguely realized that her period seemed to be more than half a month late.

Could it be...

Impossible!

Robert always made sure she took the contraceptive pill.

No, not always.

The accident from early last month flashed through Sophia's mind.

At the Russell family's party, that playboy from the Russell family had said a few flirtatious things to Sophia, which had angered Robert.

He had drunk quite a bit and had tormented Sophia all night long.

That night, he was drunk out of his mind, and she was exhausted too. Both of them had completely forgotten about the pill.

Counting the days, it seemed to match up.

Sophia shook her head lightly.

This kind of speculation was pointless. She needed to go to the hospital for a checkup.

The next morning, she asked her manager for a day off and headed straight to the hospital in the city center.

There were quite a few people at the gynecology department. The test results would take an hour, so Sophia found a chair and sat down to wait.

Her face showed no expression, but her heart was a mess.

If she wasn't pregnant, there was nothing to worry about—she could just continue with her original plan.

But what if she were pregnant?

Sophia closed her eyes gently, unable to come up with any answer, no matter how hard she tried.

Her phone suddenly rang, drawing looks from several people and startling Sophia out of her thoughts.

She steadied herself and saw it was a call from Robert's assistant, Ian Miller.

"Ms. Windsor, there's an urgent matter at the company that requires your attention. Please make sure you're here within half an hour."

He didn't give Sophia a chance to refuse and hung up right after speaking.

There were still over forty minutes until the results came out, so Sophia had no choice but to leave the hospital and rush back to the company.

As soon as she walked through the company entrance, she sensed something was off.

Several young receptionists were huddled together, whispering. When they saw her, they immediately scattered and pretended to be busy with their work—clearly, she had been the subject of their gossip.

Sophia's heart jumped to her throat, but she remained calm on the surface as she entered the elevator.

When she pushed open the door to the secretarial office, she finally understood why.

More than a dozen young, beautiful assistants stood in a row, trembling before an elegantly dressed woman.

Victoria Brown, the eldest daughter of the Brown family, was Robert's arranged marriage partner.

She was casually admiring her freshly manicured nails, not even sparing Sophia a glance, as if she were nothing but insignificant air.

One assistant suddenly spoke up. "Ms. Brown, she's Sophia! We're all just employees doing our jobs properly. She's the one who has something going on with Mr. Howard, always seducing him!"

Sophia opened her mouth but couldn't say anything in her defense.

Whether she was willing or not, what happened between her and Robert was real.

Victoria glanced at Sophia a few times, her gaze like someone appraising a piece of merchandise.

"She is rather pretty. Looks like my fiancé has good taste."

Sophia lowered her eyes, feeling somewhat humiliated.

The others in the office didn't even dare to breathe, afraid that one wrong move or look would offend the future boss's wife.

Victoria stood up and said slowly, "I don't care what ideas you had before. Now that my engagement to Robert is settled, you'd all better put away any inappropriate thoughts and do your jobs as assistants properly! If I find out that anyone is still trying to cross the line..."

At this point, she looked meaningfully at Sophia before continuing, "Then don't blame me for being ruthless."

The dozen or so assistants said "understood" one after another.

Victoria walked up to Sophia and deliberately called her by name. "Sophia, do you understand what I mean?"

Despite feeling very awkward inside, Sophia appeared calm on the surface. "I understand."

However, the next moment, Victoria slapped Sophia hard across the face.

Suppressed gasps of surprise filled the room.

Sophia's head was knocked to the side, and blood trickled down from the corner of her mouth.

She looked at Victoria in disbelief. "Ms. Brown, what's the meaning of this?"

Victoria laughed coldly twice and, without explaining, raised her hand to slap Sophia again.

Sophia instinctively tried to dodge.

Seeing through her intention, Victoria looked at the assistant who had spoken earlier and arrogantly lifted her chin. "Hold her for me."

The assistant froze for a moment, then excitedly stepped forward.

She had a grudge against Sophia and naturally wouldn't pass up this good opportunity for revenge.

Sophia had been very weak lately and was easily restrained.

Victoria grabbed Sophia's chin, her long nails digging into her flesh.

"Who do you think you are? I slap you twice, and you don't just take it—you dare to dodge?"

Sophia bit her lip hard.

She didn't want this either, but no one had ever respected her wishes.

This time, Victoria swung her arm in a full arc, looking like she wanted to knock Sophia unconscious.

Just as her hand was about to land, a well-defined hand grabbed her wrist.