Chapter 2

"You're really something, aren't you? Still obsessed with Chloe Walsh since middle school."

"It's just tough for your stepsister, Harper Gray. You slept with her for years, and now two of her kids are dead. Your family sure has a knack for 'true love'."

Liam looked displeased by Jax Carter’s words, his voice deep as he retorted,

"I've told you countless times, that piece of trash brought by a homewrecker isn't my sister. Don't call us family."

"She *wanted* to sleep with me, that's not 'true love'. She's probably just like her gold-digger mom, hoping to leech off my father and me. But I'm not my dad. They won't fool me."

Jax was silent for a couple of seconds before replying,

"This time, to be honest, we messed up. She carried those babies for nine arduous months, only for us to trick her and sacrifice them. Even *I*, heartless as I am, had nightmares for two nights."

Liam scoffed.

"Nightmares? For what? I *had* to marry Chloe. If Harper's two children weren't dealt with, were we supposed to let them live and be an eyesore for Chloe?"

Liam's voice, still so magnetic, resonated in my ears.

But now, every single word felt like a knife twisting in my heart.

Sacrifice. It wasn't an uncommon term in the construction industry.

Rumors claimed that when a project stalled, some heartless bosses would grab a pair of children.

They'd mix them alive into concrete and pour them into the foundations.

The children's vengeful spirits would become guardian spirits, ensuring the project's smooth completion.

But in our modern, lawful society, this method was only ever whispered about; no one had actually dared to do it.

And yet, today, I had witnessed a living sacrifice.

Liam Hayes had taken the twins I birthed and killed them!

My babies weren't stillborn at all; they were alive!

The scene from my delivery day was still vivid. I'd been in labor for almost twenty agonizing hours.

Eventually, I collapsed from exhaustion, and the midwives had to use forceps to pull the babies out.

The nurses told me it was a severe and complicated labor, and when the babies were born, their little faces were a dusky blue-purple.

That's why, when Liam told me both children hadn't made it, I was heartbroken but didn't doubt him.

But I never imagined those two children were born alive!

It was Liam. He took our babies and sent them to the Hayes construction site for sacrifice!

Why… why would he do this?

A fierce, dull pain erupted in my chest, and the undeniable ache in my lower abdomen grew more pronounced.

I looked down to see my shorts soaked red with blood, slowly trickling down my legs.

I suddenly remembered the first time Liam coaxed me into bed; I’d also bled a lot that day.

But that day, he had called me by my pet name so gently, promising he'd protect me and stay with me forever.

He said when I grew up, we'd tell our families.

He said he'd marry me, and we'd build our own little home together.

But five years passed, I waited from eighteen to twenty-eight, only to find he had personally killed our children!

He even claimed he'd loved Chloe Walsh for over a decade, and I was just a hindrance to their happy marriage.

How laughable.

I placed the purple plushie I was holding on the ground, turned, and walked away.

Three days ago.

Liam said he wanted that purple plushie, so despite my weak body after the miscarriage, I dragged myself through a full forty-two-kilometer marathon.

I was so foolish before. I always felt the Hayes family had sheltered my mother and me, giving us a stable life during our hardest times.

That gratitude and dependence on the Hayes family had taken root deep within me.

But now I had personally heard Liam speak with such contempt and disdain, calling my mother a gold-digging homewrecker.

He spoke of how my mother and I had schemingly tried to trick his family out of their fortune.

I finally realized that all promises and reliance were hollow.

Trying to buy love with endless sacrifice was utterly laughable.

I pulled out my phone and pre-booked my visa application.

Now that I knew I was in the way, why wait for someone to kick me out?

I would leave on my own terms.