Chapter 3

"Mia, don't be so dramatic. Same childbirth, but Sophia isn't making a fuss. She's just waiting quietly for me at the hospital. In this regard, she's much more sensible than you."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ethan's phone rang abruptly.

Through the speaker came a woman's coquettish voice.

"Ethan, the doctor says I'm fully dilated and needs me in the delivery room now."

"Are you still with that old hag? Oh right, she's the one you officially married, Mrs. Morrison. The one in my belly is just a bastard."

"Ethan, if you don't come right now, I'm not giving birth."

The usually calm and composed Mr. Morrison's expression changed instantly.

His eyes filled with anxious panic, even his tone becoming humble.

"What are you talking about? I told you, only the one in your belly will be the Morrison family's firstborn."

"Mia's water broke and she's rolling around on the ground in pain right now. If you don't believe me, I'll take a video to show you."

He bent down, shoving the camera in my face.

Only after seeing my wretched state did Sophia laugh with satisfaction.

I forced down the bone-deep pain and looked up at him.

"Why? Why does it have to be her?"

"Ethan, have you forgotten? She was the one who drunk-drove and nearly killed you. She was also the one who pushed your mother off a cliff, leaving her body unfound."

What answered me was a cold, mocking laugh.

"What happened back then was just my bad luck. As for my mother, there were no surveillance cameras on the mountain. Even the police said it could have been an accidental fall. How can we blame Sophia?"

I collapsed on the ground, laughing until tears came.

Sophia, my half-sister from my mother's second marriage.

Spoiled and willful since childhood, she bullied me relentlessly.

After the SATs ended, she partied all night with friends, and despite everyone's warnings, insisted on drunk driving.

She accidentally hit Ethan, who had just finished his night shift.

With no one around, Sophia left Ethan bleeding on the ground and drove away.

Later, she pinned all the blame on me.

I was taken in for questioning. She was afraid the victim would press charges and the truth would come out.

Under the pretense of apologizing on my behalf, she lured Ethan's mother to the mountaintop and pushed her off the cliff when she wasn't paying attention.

I served three years for a crime I didn't commit.

After my release, I accidentally learned that Ethan's legs were disabled, and doctors said he'd spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

I found him and confessed everything.

When Ethan was in complete despair, wanting to end it all—

It was me who knelt before his wheelchair and swore I'd help him stand again.

I took care of him for two full years, accompanying him through rehabilitation.

The day he successfully stood up, Ethan knelt on one knee and slipped a simple silver ring on my finger.

His eyes then were full of deep affection.

"Mia, you gave me a second life. Could I ask you to give me a chance to take care of you for the rest of yours?"

I believed him.

Even though he was so poor he couldn't even afford a proper wedding, I still married him without hesitation.

He said I bullied Sophia.

But he clearly knew that she had forced me to drink urine and kneel in a cage barking like a dog.

Those ten years of living hell were my lifelong nightmare.

After marriage, I woke countless times from nightmares, crying as I told him about dreaming of being beaten by Sophia.

His hands trembled as he held me, his eyes red as he promised he would rise up and seek justice for me and his mother.

To crush the family business, he threw himself completely into the corporate world.

But I never expected that the first thing he'd do after achieving success was to get entangled with Sophia.