Chapter 1

At eight months pregnant, my husband, Weston Gibson, tells me the doctors misdiagnosed my pregnancy.

I am not carrying a baby. There is supposedly a tumor growing in my womb.

He tricks me into undergoing surgery, but on my way back to my room, I overhear him talking to his friend, Daniel Brooks.

"You lie to Scarlett and tell her she is infertile. Then you convince her to undergo IVF so you can implant the embryo created from you and Whitley into her. After that, you told her she has a tumor so you can secretly deliver the baby and hand him over to Whitley to raise. That's beyond cruel."

Weston scoffs.

"Whitley is a model. She can't afford to ruin her figure by having a baby. Now that she has my baby, she can finally hold her head high in front of my parents."

My heart shatters when I hear that.

Without hesitation, I call the best lawyer in the city.

"My husband has cheated on me. I want him to walk away with nothing."

Chapter 1

"Scarlett Lambert has clung to you for five long years. Do you really think she'll agree to a divorce?" Daniel Brooks asked, clearly amused.

Weston Gibson sneered. "That's why I had her uterus removed during the surgery. She'll never have children again. What reason would she have to stay married to me now?"

Daniel replied, "You really thought of everything. But aren't you afraid she'll find out and lose it? She carried another woman's baby and had her uterus removed, after all. She could cause a huge scene once she learns the truth."

A cruel smile curled across Weston's face.

"Then, on the day she's discharged, we'll have a few men waiting for her. If I can make it look like she came home pregnant with another man's baby, no one can blame me for leaving her."

"Damn, that's ruthless. Count me in. No reason to let some outsider have all the fun."

Daniel's crude joke was met with their laughter.

Every word pierced my heart.

Weston's private doctor had told me I had a condition that made it difficult for me to conceive. After five rounds of IVF, I finally became pregnant. By then, the repeated IVF treatments had already taken a heavy toll on my body.

Ever since I became pregnant, Weston had forbidden me from going to the hospital, claiming that radiation from medical equipment could harm the baby.

Then, when I was eight months pregnant and thought I was finally nearing the day I'd meet my baby, the doctor suddenly told me I had a tumor.

Weston acted heartbroken and took me to every hospital in Creston for a second opinion. They all gave me the same diagnosis.

I went into surgery believing I had failed Weston and that was simply my fate.

Now I understand the truth.

He only wanted to use my body to have the child. He never cared whether I survived, as long as I couldn't cling to him afterward.

Cold sweat soaked through my sheets.

I forced myself to stay calm and managed to call my older sister, Stephanie Lambert, who worked as a nanny.

I asked her to apply for the nanny position with the Gibson family and take the baby, William, away.

She immediately understood what had happened, but she still needed to hear me confirm my decision.

"This baby isn't biologically yours. Are you certain you want to take him?"

I insisted, "I carried him to term. He's my child."

If Weston wanted nothing but William, then I would give him exactly that.

"Then we'll meet in three days."

Before I could hang up, I heard a bright, girlish laugh outside the door.

I quickly ended the call.

The door swung open.

Whitley Leach walked in wearing a revealing dress beneath an oversized jacket. She was carrying a newborn swaddled in a soft blanket.

"Scarlett, I brought the baby over to say hi. Mr. Gibson said you were holding onto the baby's gold bangle, so he sent me to get it. He was worried I'd be cold after giving birth, so he made me wear his jacket. I hope that's okay with you."

Without waiting for my answer, Whitley dumped everything from my bag onto the bed and quickly found the gold bangle.

She slipped it onto her wrist, looking satisfied.

William was left carelessly beside the bed.

William peeked out from beneath the blanket and smiled at me, reaching for me. The moment I realized this was the child I had carried and suffered for, tears spilled down my cheeks.

I didn't care that Whitley had taken the family heirloom. All I wanted was to hold my baby.

But before I could reach for my child, Weston took William and placed him into Whitley's arms.

"She's always been generous. She won't care about giving it to you."

Weston stood there in a thin shirt, his clothes rumpled and his appearance disheveled. There was no mistaking where he'd just been or who he'd been with.

He glanced at me warily before bending down to tuck my blanket around me.

"Sweetheart, the doctor needs to change your dressing. You just had surgery, so you're still weak. You need to get plenty of rest, okay?"

The doctor pulled the curtain shut and began tending to my surgical wound.

All I could see were their silhouettes through the curtain.

Then I heard them kissing.

I stared at their shadows, my entire body trembling with pain.

In the middle of it all, the baby slipped from Whitley's arms and fell to the floor.

His cries pierced the room.

My mind went blank.

I desperately tried to get out of the bed, but the doctor forced me back down.

At that moment, something inside me broke.

Chapter 2

I turned my back on them, silently crying as tears stained the sheets beneath me.

I didn't say another word to Weston until they left.

After spending several days recovering in the hospital, I was stunned when Weston—usually buried in work—showed up in the middle of a weekday, pushing a wheelchair.

"Sweetheart, I've taken care of your discharge paperwork. You've been lying around long enough. Let's go out for a little while."

Remembering what he planned to do to me on the day I was discharged, a chill ran down my spine.

"I don't feel well enough yet. I don't want to leave."

A flicker of displeasure crossed his eyes, but he patiently helped me into the wheelchair.

"That's exactly why I'm pushing you around. You don't need to do a thing. Just sit there and behave."

Ignoring my protests, he wheeled me out of the room.

I struggled to get out of the wheelchair when I suddenly heard a baby crying and Whitley shouting curses from the room next door.

Something inside me snapped.

Without thinking, I rushed toward the room.

Then a sharp pain struck the back of my head, and everything went black.

Through the haze, all I could hear were muffled voices and faint, intimate sounds coming from nearby.

When I woke up again, every inch of me felt sore and battered.

The incision across my abdomen was bleeding, and the pain was so intense that I could barely stand.

The room was a mess, with wet stains scattered across the floor. My phone lay nearby, and it was obvious someone had handled it.

I picked it up with shaking hands and opened the recording app.

There was a two-hour recording.

When Weston came to get me, I had secretly started recording and hidden the app in the background.

The moment I pressed play, I nearly dropped my phone.

After Weston knocked me unconscious, he and Whitley had carried on as though I wasn't even there.

William's cries grew more desperate in the background.

Whitley cursed at him before lashing out.

"Weston, I'm so upset. She already stole you from me, and now even her baby is driving me crazy. Why does everything about her have to be so annoying?"

Weston got up and did something that made William's cries grow fainter until only faint sounds remained.

"Don't worry, Whitley. I covered the baby's mouth. You know I was only pretending with Scarlett. I needed her to carry our child, and now that she's done that, there's nothing left keeping me from you. From now on, I'm yours—and yours alone."

Whitley chuckled softly.

She scoffed before kicking something. A pained groan escaped me on the recording.

"Weston, I'm still scared. What if she comes after us once she finds out everything? I don't want to lose you."

Then I heard Whitley explain her plan to humiliate me, strip away my dignity, and create compromising photos they could use against me.

"We should record something that can be used against her. This is what she deserves for stealing my man."

Weston agreed and helped her carry out her plan.

"I already posted it to her social media. Once everyone sees this, no one will believe anything she says."

They continued mocking and humiliating me while taking the photos they wanted, with the recording capturing every word.

When they were finished, they turned their attention back to each other, leaving me to listen to their intimate conversation.

My chest tightened with a crushing ache.

I couldn't bear to hear another second. I shut off the recording.

Then a message from Stephanie appeared.

She had successfully gotten the nanny position at Gibson Manor and had moved in that day. She had already seen William.

Several photos followed.

William looked terribly unwell, yet he still wore a naive little smile.

Thinking about the recording and everything William had endured, I broke down sobbing.

We might not share the same blood, but after everything I had gone through to bring him into the world, I couldn't abandon him.

I would never let that baby grow up beside monsters like them.

Then dozens of vicious messages flooded my phone.

I opened my social media feed and nearly lost my mind.

Just a few hours earlier, someone had posted humiliating photos of me online, along with a cruel caption falsely claiming that I had slept with countless men and could no longer have children. The post even invited men to contact me and "keep me company" at night.

"Who knew you were like that, Scarlett?"

"That's wild. If you really can't have kids, why don't you come out tomorrow night?"

"She actually posted this herself? Does Weston know? If he doesn't, maybe I should make a move."

The comments were filled with disgusting remarks from Daniel and Weston's other friends.

In just two hours, the post had received more likes than I usually get, and almost everyone in my social circle had seen it.

The overwhelming humiliation wiped every other thought from my mind.

Cold sweat dripped onto the screen as I stared at it.

My eyes burned with tears, and my hands shook so badly that I hit the wrong button several times before finally deleting the post.

Chapter 3

"Sweetheart, why are you shaking?"

Weston opened the door. By then, I had already managed to sit back on the bed.

He draped his jacket over my shoulders.

"It's chilly. Where's your blanket? You'll catch a cold if you stay like this."

Then he announced, "Whitley used to be my intern, and I practically guided her. Mom really likes her and wants to take her in as her goddaughter tomorrow night officially. She's inviting some family members and friends. I want you to help with the preparations."

The moment he mentioned Whitley, I started trembling again and threw off his jacket.

"My stomach hurts. I'm not going."

Weston's face darkened, and his fingers tightened around my shoulder.

"It's been days. Your incision should be healed by now. Whitley just gave birth, too. Do you really think she had it any easier than you? Don't be so ungrateful."

Somehow, I was the one being unreasonable.

Blood had already seeped through my wound and stained his jacket, yet Weston didn't even seem to notice. He simply kept defending his precious former intern, as though my pain meant nothing.

In the end, Weston still invited his family members and friends to our house for the party.

The moment I appeared before everyone, countless hostile eyes turned toward me.

People stared and whispered, their faces filled with disgust.

"Scarlett, I heard everyone's been talking about those indecent photos you supposedly posted online to attract men. I guess women in their 30s really do think differently. I just had a baby, and all I care about is my child. I have no interest in men at all."

Whitley approached with William in her arms, pretending to sound innocent while barely hiding her smugness.

"Don't bother with her, Whitley. This daughter-in-law of mine has no shame. She probably ruined her health by fooling around with men. She could never compare to you."

My mother-in-law, Deborah Hayes, glared at me with open disgust.

Weston listened as everyone criticised and accused me, but he said nothing.

Instead, he turned his attention to William, who was crying from hunger in Whitley's arms.

William's face was turning red from crying, and panic surged through me.

My body reacted instinctively, and I realized I was producing milk.

Deborah stared at me as though I were disgusting.

Before I could say anything, Daniel stepped forward and made an inappropriate grab at me.

"Scarlett, your clothes got wet. Let me help."

I recoiled in horror, but he grabbed onto my clothes and wouldn't let go.

Desperate, I tried to hide behind Weston.

Instead, he pulled me back out.

"Why are you hiding? With a neckline that low, you were obviously asking for attention. Besides, my friend was only trying to help. No one's even interested in you, so stop being so sensitive."

My nails dug into my palms.

"Weston, you're defending him instead of me?" I demanded.

Reluctantly, he finally stepped between us.

Then William suddenly burst into desperate cries.

"Scarlett, you scared my baby!"

Whitley frantically rocked him, but he only cried harder.

Unable to calm him, she became frustrated and covered his mouth.

His cries quickly faded into weak muffles.

Deborah was busy chatting with the relatives, while Weston had gone back to talking with Daniel.

No one seemed to notice that William was in danger.

A chill ran through me. I didn't know where I found the strength, but I lunged forward and pulled William from Whitley's arms.

His tiny face was turning bluish, and he was desperately hungry. The moment I held him, he instinctively turned toward me.

Tears streamed down my face.

I didn't care who was watching. I just wanted to feed my baby.

I had barely turned away and started to uncover myself when Weston snatched the baby from my arms and shoved him back into Whitley's.

"We all understand that you're upset because you just lost your baby. But you can't just take Whitley's child and try to feed him in front of everyone."

He glared at me as though I were the one who had done something wrong.

"Have you no shame? You need to think about your behavior."

With that, he escorted Whitley and the baby out.

The party descended into chaos.

The attendees surrounded me with insults and contempt, but I couldn't hear any of it.

All I could hear was William's desperate crying as he was carried away.

Without thinking, I ran after them.

Chapter 4

I watched helplessly as Weston protected Whitley and helped her into the car. William's cries grew weaker and weaker.

I ran after them, but suddenly, a powerful force shoved me into a nearby room.

The moment I saw Daniel, I felt a sharp kick to my abdomen.

My surgical wound had reopened, and blood was already seeping through my clothes.

I curled up on the floor, struggling to catch my breath as pain coursed through me.

Several large men surrounded me, their faces twisted into cruel smiles.

"What are you doing?"

Before I could finish, someone grabbed me and struck me across the face, leaving it instantly numb.

Daniel tore at my clothes and began touching me inappropriately.

"Weston and Whitley really went all out. They took those humiliating photos of you and sent them to us, then brought you here. With all these things stacked against you, what can you do? Even if you find out the truth, you'll still be at our mercy."

"Get away from me!" I demanded.

"Someone help me!"

I screamed with everything I had, desperately hoping someone would hear me.

Then a baby's piercing cries came from outside.

"Stop crying! If you don't, I'll throw you in there too."

Whitley sounded completely overwhelmed. After she gave William something, his cries gradually weakened.

"See? Even though you're young, Whitley, you know how to handle a baby. A couple of sleeping pills, and he stops crying." Weston praised her, draping an arm around her shoulders while deliberately avoiding my gaze.

"Don't go too far," he warned them. "Make sure everything is recorded. Don't forget why we're here."

Daniel laughed and gave me an excited pinch.

"Relax. We know what we're doing."

He dragged me toward the bed.

By then, William's cries had stopped completely.

Tears streamed down my face as I stared at Weston.

"Your karma will catch up with you someday."

"Scarlett, this is the basement. No one can hear you down here. You should worry about yourself instead." Whitley laughed as she leaned against Weston.

The next moment, the men closed in around me.

I was powerless to stop them as darkness slowly engulfed me.

When I woke, I was barely conscious, covered in injuries and blood.

"Is anyone there?" I could barely speak as I called for help.

Instead, I heard William crying outside, followed by laughter.

"Still looking for someone? Looks like you weren't satisfied."

Then Weston's cold voice followed. "Let's go. She's fine anyway. We still have Whitley's party to finish."

"This whole mess is her fault," Deborah sneered. "She ruined the entire celebration. Let her stay here and reflect on what she's done."

Their voices faded as the door locked behind them.

Soon, their footsteps disappeared.

I was left alone in the darkness.

Desperation finally reminded me that the basement connected to the back entrance of the house.

Using what little strength I had left, I dragged myself toward the exit, leaving a trail of blood behind me.

When I finally saw some passerby, I couldn't hold on any longer. I collapsed.

When I finally regained consciousness, I was lying in a hospital bed.

A nurse came over, her expression full of sympathy.

"You were seriously injured. We've repaired the surgical wound, but because your uterus was recently removed, you're at risk of complications from the blood loss. You'll need a long period of rest and recovery."

Stephanie sat beside my bed, tears streaming down her face.

I squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Help me with one last thing. Let's give the Gibson family a gift they'll never forget."

Meanwhile, the family's celebration continued throughout the night.

By the time Weston finally made his way to the basement, fumbling with his keys, he was heavily drunk.

But the moment he opened the door and saw blood covering the room, the sight sobered him instantly.

"Scarlett! Where are you?"

He rushed inside. The basement was empty. Only the horrifying traces of what had happened remained.

Then the nanny appeared in the doorway.

"Mr. Gibson, someone delivered a package for you. They said you have to open it and sign for it personally."