Chapter 1

When I came home for Halloween, my brother brought his fiancée over to meet the family. She insisted I go to the mall with her to buy her a welcome gift.

In the fitting room, she suddenly pointed at the ugly scar across my stomach and cried out in exaggerated shock:

“Oh my God, Nora! That C-section scar is so badly raised!”

“Judging by how old it looks, your kid must be in elementary school by now. How come Ethan never mentioned your husband?”

The sales associate gave me a disgusted look. My mother, who had been about to pay, was so furious she threw the bank card in my face.

“You shameless little tramp! No wonder you keep refusing to let me set you up with someone. You’ve been sleeping around!”

My brother told me to get lost before I offended his girlfriend any further.

I picked up the bank card, slowly buttoned my shirt, and gave a cold laugh.

“Of course it’s a bad scar. Have you forgotten, Lily?”

“We met during a vice investigation. But that wasn’t the name you were using then, was it?”

I’d finally managed to take some time off and wanted nothing more than to catch up on sleep. Instead, my mother dragged me out of bed.

“Your brother’s bringing his girlfriend home for the first time. As his sister, you should do something for her.”

She lectured me while slipping my bank card into her pocket.

When we got to the mall, my brother, Ethan Bennett, immediately shot me a look. That was his signal for me to pay.

I sighed. I’d been sick of these fake family outings for a long time.

I just wanted to get it over with, pay, and go home to sleep.

Lily held an outfit up against me, her voice syrupy sweet. “You have such a great figure, Nora. Let’s try matching outfits!”

I frowned. “I don’t wear things like that. I can’t move properly in them.”

Wearing something that restrictive outside was practically asking to get myself killed.

My mother pinched me hard and lowered her voice. “This is her first visit. Don’t you dare give her attitude! Just try it on!”

Ethan came over, looking irritated. “Lily’s trying to be nice. Could you stop looking so miserable?”

I sighed. I’d barely stepped into the fitting room when Lily slipped in behind me with another outfit.

“Oh my God, Nora! Your stomach…”

Her shriek drew everyone’s attention.

Instinctively, I tried to pull my shirt down, but it was too late.

Lily covered her mouth and shouted in mock surprise:

“Nora, that C-section scar is so badly raised!”

“Judging by how old it looks, your kid must be in elementary school by now. How come Ethan never mentioned your husband? Unless…”

Everything went quiet.

The sales associate stared at me with contempt. Whispers drifted into my ears.

“She looks so respectable. Guess you never can tell.”

“An unwed mother, with no man around? Bet she was someone’s mistress and got dumped.”

I took a deep breath, holding back my anger. “Lily, watch what you say.”

“That’s a knife wound.”

She stepped closer as though I’d told a joke, raising her voice even more.

“Look, having a baby out of wedlock might be embarrassing, but the child is innocent. You can’t just deny they exist.”

“I trained as a nurse. The location, the shape—that’s definitely a C-section.”

“With scarring that bad, you must’ve had it done at some shady little clinic.”

“Were you so desperate to save money that you risked your life? How old is the kid? Boy or girl?”

She fired off questions without giving me a chance to speak.

With every question, the looks around me grew more judgmental.

Then an angry shout rang out.

“What did you just say?”