Chapter 1

When I was seven months pregnant, my husband and my sister faked their deaths together.

They leaped from a high mountain, leaving no trace behind.

Just as I stood there in shock, lines of text suddenly floated before my eyes.

"Poor Maria! Reid and Georgia only faked their deaths, but she has to raise the baby and take care of both sets of parents alone. She'll work herself to death before she's even thirty-five."

"The child she gives birth to is a bastard too. He acknowledges Georgia as his mother, and doesn't even visit Maria's grave on Memorial Day. Her grave is completely overgrown!"

"And she doesn't know—the child she finally conceived after eight IVF attempts is actually Reid and Georgia's!"

"Reid was so rich, but Maria didn't inherit a single penny. His parents took everything!"

"They even pretended to be paralyzed to make Maria serve them. They never treated Maria like a human being!"

Seeing this, my tears stopped flowing as if a floodgate had been closed.

The floating text kept appearing before my eyes.

"Next comes the tragic part where Maria works alone to support the child while serving two disabled elderly people."

"God, I can't bear to watch. After Maria dies, Reid and Georgia will come back."

"Reid's parents won't be paralyzed anymore, and Maria's parents won't resent her anymore. The whole family will start a beautiful life raising the child and making money."

My mother suddenly shoved me hard. "This is all your fault! If you'd divorced Reid earlier and let Georgia have him, they wouldn't have died!"

My father slapped me directly. "All you do is bring disaster to your family!"

I stood there stunned, wondering if I was hallucinating from excessive grief.

Then more text appeared.

"It's bad enough that her in-laws blame her, but even her own parents don't understand."

"Georgia and Reid were the ones having an affair and afraid of social judgment, so they staged this whole thing. Now Maria gets blamed for everything."

I was shocked for three seconds, but it only took me three minutes to accept this reality.

Then I numbly handled Reid and Georgia's funeral arrangements and canceled both their registrations.

The moment I finished these tasks, my mother-in-law Ramos called.

"Maria, get over here right now! Victor and I are in serious trouble!"

I quickly hid the cancellation certificates and rushed to my in-laws' house.

When I entered, I found both of them lying in bed.

Ramos immediately burst into tears when she saw me.

She handed me two diagnosis reports with trembling hands. The word "paralyzed" was particularly glaring.

"Maria, Victor and I can't accept the fact that Reid is gone. Our excessive grief has caused us to lose mobility."

"From now on, we can only rely on you to take care of us!"

At that moment, text started floating crazily before my eyes again.

"These two old people are perfectly healthy, but they're pretending to be paralyzed to make Maria serve them."

"Maria has to feed them, bathe them, and handle their waste every day, and they curse at her constantly."

"Maria faints from exhaustion several times, nearly losing the baby."

"It would be better if that bastard child was never born. Otherwise, Maria will have to work three jobs to support him and serve the two old people, and she'll die suddenly while delivering food!"

My father-in-law Victor shouted impatiently, "Did you hear what your mother said? Reid died because of you, and now we're like this—you have to take responsibility!"

The text kept floating.

"Maria, don't feel guilty! It's not your fault! Get an abortion and run!"

"Reid still has a company and two villas under his name. After he faked his death, his parents secretly inherited everything and didn't give Maria a single penny!"