Chapter 1

It was a dreary day with constant rain.

Yvette Snyder stood at the entrance of the hospital, her body frail, clutching a pregnancy report in her thin hands. Three words on the report stood out: "No pregnancy detected".

"You've been married for three years. How are you not pregnant?" Her mother, Yara Cadwell, demanded, jabbing a finger in Yvette's face disappointedly. Yara was dressed lavishly and wore high heels.

"Why are you so useless? If you don't get pregnant soon, the Lanes are going to kick you out of the family. What's going to happen to our family then?"

Yvette looked at Yara blankly. She had a lot to say, but the words were stuck in her throat. In the end, all she could manage was, "I'm sorry."

"I don't want you to be sorry. I want you to give birth to Xavier's child. Do you understand me?"

Yvette's throat felt tight; she didn't know how to answer Yara.

In their three years of marriage, her husband, Xavier Lane, had never slept with her.

How could she ever have his child?

Yara stared at Yvette. The latter's weak demeanor was so unlike her own.

Finally, she said coldly before leaving, "If you really can't give him a child, then find him a woman who can. At least he'll appreciate you for that."

Yvette stared after Yara's retreating figure in disbelief.

Had her own mother just told her to find another woman for her husband to sleep with?

Her heart felt as cold as the freezing rain.

As Yvette made her journey home, she couldn't stop thinking about Yara's parting words. Suddenly, a loud ringing in her ear drowned out her thoughts.

She knew that her condition had worsened.

Just then, she received a message on her phone.

It was from Xavier, and the content was the same as always. "I'm not coming home tonight."

In the past three years they had been married, Xavier had never spent the night at home before. He had never so much as touched Yvette either.

Yvette could remember their wedding night three years ago. He had told her, "Since your family is bold enough to trick me into marrying you, you'd better be prepared to spend the rest of your life in loneliness."

Spending the rest of her life in loneliness...

Three years ago, the Snyder and Lane families had decided to form an alliance through marriage.

Both families had agreed to mutually beneficial terms in the agreement. But when the day of the wedding came around, the Snyder family went back on their word and transferred all of their assets away, including the billions of dollars that Xavier had paid to marry Yvette.

Yvette's eyes dulled at the memory. She replied to Xavier's text with her usual response: "Okay."

she was holding got scrunched up in her

tossed the report into the

time, she would feel

back on the couch, blearily

in her ear

Xavier hated her-she was hard of hearing, which, to the rich and powerful, was no better than

allow her to

the morning, the pendulum clock on the

would be home

on the couch. She got up hastily and went to the

was strict about punctuality, not only with himself but

home at six o'clock

tall and handsome man. Clad in a smart tailored suit, his demeanor was quiet and

Yvette, he was cold and

the table and said with a scoff, "You do this every day.

again. She wore the same dark clothes and replied to his messages with the same singular

for the business alliance and the Snyders' deceit, Xavier would never have married

the word "nanny", the rumbling in Yvette's ears returned. She swallowed, feeling a lump in her throat, and

sudden question surprised Xavier. His eyes darkened. "What do

swallowing the bile rising in the back of her throat. "If you love someone else,

could finish, Xavier interrupted her. "You're

...

left, Yvette sat on the balcony alone, staring out into the

of clarity. She took off her hearing aids, letting the

change in your auditory nerves and some of your cranial

world, Yvette went to the living room and turned on the television. She turned up the volume to

with Daphne Reyes,

as she gripped the

Xavier's

since Yvette had seen her, but Daphne was still as pretty as ever. She was confident and relaxed in front of the cameras, unlike the shy and frightened young woman who had begged

to her home country, her answer was

remote control slipped out of Yvette's hands. Her heart also fell

outside seemed to

uneaten breakfast. When she got to the kitchen, she found that Xavier had forgotten to take his

up and saw the unread messages

unhappy over the past few years,

about we meet up

messages until the screen went

called a cab to

she stared out of the window. The rain fell incessantly.

visited him at his office, so whenever she was

her, he just

considered Yvette his wife. She was nothing but a smear on his

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