Chapter 3

Late at night, Adrian returned.

I swallowed what I was holding, quickly jumped into bed, and pretended to have been asleep for hours.

He seemed to linger by the bed for a moment. I could feel his breath, then came the harsh sound of something being swept to the floor.

"Clara!" Adrian yanked me up, his enormous force making my arm ache.

"Tell me! Whose child is it?"

I froze. "What are you talking about?"

He ground his teeth, enunciating each word, "I had a DNA test done. The results don't match. I knew it—I had a vasectomy. How could you possibly be carrying my child!"

"Whose bastard is this child? Tell me!"

His performance was chillingly convincing.

If I hadn't heard their entire plan with my own ears, I might have believed he was just a husband driven mad by his wife's betrayal.

I opened my mouth to explain, tears instantly flooding my eyes—

Half acting, half genuine humiliation and fear.

But Adrian gave me no chance.

"Not talking? Good! Very good!" He abruptly released me, turning to shout at the half-open bedroom door, "Get in here!"

The door was pushed open.

A tall man with a face marked by prison violence, cigarette dangling from his mouth, leaned casually against the doorframe.

This was Adrian's recently released brother, Jared.

He grinned, revealing yellowed teeth, his lecherous gaze sweeping over me.

"Well, sister-in-law, denying it already?" Jared's voice was raspy like sandpaper. "That night at my brother's anniversary party, after you'd had too much to drink, you were quite... enthusiastic. Especially with that little mouth of yours..."

"Shut up! You animal!" Adrian wheeled around and punched the wardrobe, creating a loud thud.

Veins bulged at his temples.

I couldn't tell if this rage was directed at Jared's vulgarity or at the plan itself spiraling out of control.

Just then, my mother-in-law Margaret appeared like a ghost behind Jared.

The way she looked at me—like looking at garbage that had lost its usefulness.

"Clara," her voice was like poisoned ice, "I should have seen it long ago. All these years, you refused to give Adrian children. It wasn't about being childfree at all—you'd already gotten involved with this lowlife! Isn't that right?"

"I didn't!" I finally found my voice, screaming through tears. "I've barely seen him! How could I possibly..."

"Barely seen me?" Jared interrupted with a sneer.

He was clearly an old hand at this, lies flowing smoothly, outrageously so.

"Haven't we been in contact through that encrypted app all along? When I got out this time, didn't we go at it all night in my shitty apartment?"

Encrypted app? Shitty apartment? They'd fabricated even these details!

My heart sank to the bottom. They were out to destroy me completely.

"Evidence!" I stared hard at Jared. "Show me evidence! Show me our chat records! Show me anything that proves your bullshit!"

My rebuttal made them hesitate for a moment.

But Margaret clearly wasn't going to give me any chance at redemption.

She suddenly lunged forward, those abnormally strong hands shoving hard at my shoulders!

"You shameless thing! Still demanding evidence! Our Adrian marrying you was the worst luck imaginable!"

I stumbled backward from her shove, my lower back slamming hard into the cold corner of the nightstand.

A sharp, piercing pain instantly shot through my entire body.

My vision went black, my ears filled only with the blurred, cacophonous cursing of the three of them.

Darkness swallowed me like a tide.

Before losing consciousness, I stared fixedly at that blinking red dot on the ceiling.