Chapter 2

"Chloe, did you get this month's company dividend?"

Standing outside the CEO's office, about to knock, I froze at the voices from within.

Dividend?

Chloe was merely Julian's *nominal* sister, with no company shares. Why would she get a dividend?

Then, Chloe's delicate voice chimed in:

"Julian, you gave me 30% of the company shares for my surgery. What did Sister-in-law get?"

"If she got more than me, I won't accept it!"

"Aubrey? She merely had a fetus aborted. For you, that's nothing."

Julian scoffed, his voice icy, as if it wasn't even his child.

*Merely had a fetus aborted?*

The two in the CEO's office had begun to pour out their hearts to each other, but I couldn't hear anything anymore. The world just spun around me.

My mind replayed Julian holding my waist, his expression incredibly forlorn as he said, "Aubrey, I want a child."

We'd been married for ten years, and for those words, I…

I endured countless hormone shots, trying for seven years to finally conceive that child.

The day we found out, he held me and cried tears of joy.

But less than two months later, Chloe fell ill. She was diagnosed with leukemia and needed a bone marrow donor.

After countless tests, only I was a match. For Chloe to have a successful surgery,

Julian knelt before me. "Aubrey, I'm sorry to you and our child, but Chloe will die without your bone marrow!"

This man who claimed to love me deeply, this man who smiled and said he could finally be a father.

In the end, for his *nominal* sister, he demanded his wife personally sacrifice their hard-won child.

His tears back then, compared to now, were nothing but a joke.

I looked at the ceiling, a desperate smile on my face, tears silently falling.

Gently stroking my flat stomach, I murmured, "My baby, ultimately, it's mommy who failed you. I chose the wrong daddy for you."

When I came to my senses, sickening gasps and moans came from the CEO's office.

I morbidly listened to the entire exchange at the door, as if to sever the last shred of hope in my heart.

Julian held Chloe, caressing her slightly swollen belly. "Chloe, we'll have to be more careful from now on. The baby is getting bigger."

Chloe seemed shy, playfully complaining, "Why would you say something like that? What if someone hears us?"

"I finally have a child again, of course I have to be careful." Julian's voice held boundless anticipation, just like he used to speak to me.

"Julian, you sound like it's your first time being a dad. Didn't you have a child with Sister-in-law before?" Chloe's voice carried a hint of confusion.

Julian spoke as if it concerned someone utterly insignificant, his tone indifferent: "Her child wasn't mine and yours. Besides, it was never born. Its greatest purpose was being aborted for you."

I couldn't bear to listen anymore. I left the company in a daze.

The heavens seemed to weep with me, unleashing a torrential downpour.

I only heard the screech of tires, and a dark shadow enveloped me.

*Bang!*

I instantly plunged into darkness.