Chapter 1

When I was two months pregnant, I stumbled upon a secret Liam had buried deep in his journal.

“Rain, I can’t love you anymore, but you’ll always be in my heart, my brother’s heart.”

“Rain, I met a girl who looks a little like you, and I decided to pursue her…”

An entire journal filled with hidden, passionate love – it stabbed my heart.

I vaguely recalled that rainy night when Liam held his umbrella over my head.

“Hey, mind if we share?”

It turned out that what I thought was love at first sight was nothing more than a cruel joke.

But Liam, those who deceive a sincere heart will get their karma.

I terminated the pregnancy, set our wedding home ablaze, and vanished from his world.

Three years later, he traveled across the ocean and showed up at my doorstep.

His eyes burned red when he saw the man beside me.

“Who is he? Did you fall for someone else?”

“Harper, I’m scared.”

Rain cried, her voice trembling as she looked at me.

Scared of what? Was a simple procedure more terrifying than sleeping with your own brother?

I tapped Rain’s pale, delicate leg with the surgical forceps.

“Relax. Spread your legs wider.”

The moment the cold metal touched Rain, she shrieked.

“Ah…!”

“Rain! Rain!”

The operating room door rattled violently as Liam’s anxious voice boomed from outside.

I frowned, the forceps still in my hand. I walked over and stood by the door.

“Stop yelling. If anyone hears, I won’t be able to help you two.”

The Lennox family was one of the most prominent names in Veridia City.

In public, Liam and I were still the picture of a loving couple.

Rain, though adopted into the Lennox family, was still publicly known as Liam’s sister.

A sister pregnant with her brother’s child – that kind of scandal could never be exposed.

I never wanted to cover up their dirty secret, but they threatened me with the Lennox Group’s collaboration project with the hospital.

I had no choice but to agree.

“Harper, be gentle. Rain is so sensitive to pain.”

Liam’s desperate pleas came through the door.

Right. Rain was sensitive to pain.

But me, his official wife? I wasn’t.

I was made of steel and iron.

No matter how he sliced and diced my heart, I wouldn’t feel a thing.

Leaning against the door, my hand, clutching the forceps, instinctively grazed my still-flat belly.

Two months pregnant.

I’d been about to share this monumental news with Liam when my sister-in-law announced hers first.

My nose stung.

I bit hard on my lip to stop the uncooperative tears from falling.

Without a word, I returned to the operating table.

The procedure took only about fifteen minutes and involved painless general anesthesia. It wasn’t supposed to hurt.

But Rain cried the entire time, loud and theatrical.

Liam was heartbroken.

The moment the surgery ended, he burst in and swept her into his arms.

I tossed the forceps into the sterile tray, not looking at them.

“You two should head home. I have a night shift.”

“Alright. I’ll take Rain home now.”

Liam walked off with Rain in his arms, but paused at the door, looking back at me.

“Harper, come home early after your shift. I’ll be waiting.”

Waiting for what?

I took a deep breath. Before I could speak, I heard Rain’s fragile voice.

“Brother, I’m in so much pain.”

“Just hold on a little longer. We’ll be home soon.”

Liam turned and hurried away.

He didn’t seem to care much for my answer, either.

I stared at the empty doorway, then pulled two small pills from my lab coat pocket.

Today was the third day. After these last two pills, the two-month-old life inside me would be no more.

Swallowing the pills, I went to the restroom, waiting for them to take effect.

The agonizing, twisting pain arrived precisely on schedule.

I shoved a towel into my mouth, biting down hard as large beads of cold sweat rolled down my forehead.

My body trembled uncontrollably.

I bit into my lip, and my clothes were quickly soaked through with sweat.

The pain blurred my consciousness.

I saw myself again, the woman who had planned to share her joy with her husband.

That day, I’d left work early, booked a restaurant, and ordered all of Liam’s favorite dishes.

I’d even secretly tucked the ultrasound scan into the hand of a cute, custom-made plushie.

I planned to give the plushie to Liam as a small gift, imagining his overjoyed reaction when he found the scan.

But who knew, the moment I handed him the plushie, he got a call from home.

Rain was pregnant.

It was in that moment that I first learned their secret.

He left in a panic, and the plushie was casually tossed into a nearby trash can in his haste.

My teeth tasted blood.

A fierce, heavy ache seized my lower abdomen, and the tiny life within me finally departed.

I didn’t want to go home.

I lay on the examination bed in my office for half the night, only returning in the morning.

The moment I walked in, I heard my mother-in-law, Eleanor, scolding the housekeeper in the kitchen for forgetting to add the special herbs to the chicken broth.

Chicken broth for qi, red dates for blood. Eleanor certainly doted on Rain.

I ignored them and went straight upstairs.

Just as I reached the bedroom door, Eleanor came up.

“Coming home without a sound? Do you even see me as your mother?”

Did she even see me as her daughter-in-law?

I found it laughable.

My lower abdomen throbbed intensely.

I couldn’t stand straight and instinctively leaned against the doorframe.

“I just got off my shift, I’m tired. If there’s nothing, Mom, I’m going to catch up on sleep.”

“How tired can a night shift make you? Here, Mrs. Jenkins is busy, so you wash these. By hand.”

Eleanor commanded.

I turned around and saw she was holding a laundry basket.

It was filled with Rain’s clothes, with a blood-stained pair of underwear on top.

“Mom, I’m really tired.”

I said, gritting my teeth through the abdominal pain.

At that, Eleanor’s face immediately hardened.

“These few clothes will kill you? Rain is a young lady; her intimate clothes must be hand-washed. And this is all your fault. Your surgical skills are so poor, you made Rain bleed! If you don’t wash them, who will?”

Was there such a thing as a procedure that didn’t involve bleeding?

I couldn’t listen anymore. I walked into the room and closed the door.

Soon, a thunderous pounding rattled the door.

“What kind of attitude is that? You’re family, is it really so hard to wash a few clothes for your sister-in-law?”

“You’re angry, aren’t you? What right do you have to be angry? You’ve been married into our family for four years now, and still no baby! Do you even have the right to be angry?”

“Open this door! You’re out of control…”

The excruciating pain in my abdomen made my legs weak.

I couldn’t stand, slowly sliding down the door to the floor.

Through the closed door, Eleanor’s curses were still piercing.

With cold, trembling hands, I pulled out my phone and sent a message:

“Proceed with your plan. I’m in!”

Liam, don’t worry.

Soon, I’ll be out of your life for good!