Chapter 4

When I opened my eyes, I was in the hospital.

My whole body felt like it had been run over by a truck. I forced myself to sit up:

"The baby... how is it?"

The nurse looked at me with pity:

"If your neighbor hadn't seen the door open, you'd be dead.

Even if you didn't want the baby, you should've come to a proper hospital for the procedure. How could you deliberately ram your belly to cause a miscarriage?"

My mind went blank.

Marcus had personally killed our child.

My phone suddenly vibrated frantically:

"Evelyn Hart, you're actually a homewrecker destroying someone else's relationship? You're fired!"

"Stealing a college student's boyfriend—a shameless slut like you should just die!" "If you're that desperate, go sell yourself. Don't go around seducing people!"

The messages flooded in—from work, from strangers.

Celeste had posted online, accusing me of being the other woman!

My body was already weak from the miscarriage. Suddenly, a sharp pain swept through my entire body.

I clutched my chest, unable to hold back a cry of pain.

Just then, Marcus called.

My voice trembled: "Marcus, we've been together since seven years ago!"

My family was poor. During college, I constantly worked part-time jobs.

On the day he confessed, Marcus held a bouquet of flowers with complete sincerity: "Evelyn, I may be poor, but I'll do everything I can to give you a better life. I'll never let you suffer."

After we got together, even when we could only afford instant noodles, Marcus would give me the only boiled egg.

And now, he paused: "Celeste is young and insecure. She just posted to vent. Don't make such a big deal out of it. You're not home. Where are you?"

All the grievances I'd been holding in came pouring out. I choked up: "I'm at the hospital. Our..."

"Evelyn, you're too old to be pulling the 'running away from home' routine like a teenage girl. It's not cute anymore."

Before I could finish, Marcus cut me off impatiently.

His voice was casual:

"You've always been healthy—you could work three jobs in one day. How could you get sick so easily? Stop pretending. Celeste's emotions are unstable. Come apologize to her."

I couldn't believe it: "Celeste twisted the truth and got me cyberbullied, and you want me to apologize?"

"You want me to just watch Celeste get bullied into suicide?"

Marcus's voice suddenly rose.

When I stayed silent, it dropped again. "Evelyn, your mother's nursing home fees—I'm the one paying them."

My heart trembled.

My mother's health was poor. She'd been in the ICU three times in one year.

Marcus saw how stressed I was and took the initiative to move my mom to a special care ward, covering all the expenses.

I'd been desperately saving and earning money, trying to pay Marcus back every cent he'd spent.

That way our relationship could be on equal footing.

Now he was using my mother to threaten me.

An unprecedented exhaustion washed over me. I suddenly felt there was no point in arguing anymore.

With tears in my eyes, I nodded and went to the address Marcus gave me in the villa district.

The weakness from the miscarriage made my legs unsteady.

I was barely forcing myself to move forward when the security guard stopped me. "I'm Marcus's girlfriend."

He looked me up and down suspiciously.

Only after calling Marcus did the guard let me through, his face full of contempt:

"Everyone knows Mr. Murphy's girlfriend is Miss Porter. I've lived long enough—these days even mistresses dare to show up openly!"

When he saw me, Marcus's face showed an expected smile: "Be good, and I'll pay for your mother's medical expenses."

He brought me in front of a phone set up for recording: "We're going live in a moment. Tell everyone you're the mistress and apologize to Celeste."

I jerked my head up and stared at him: "You're saying I'm the mistress?"

Celeste laughed lightly: "Marcus already made our relationship official with me. If you're not the mistress, then am I?"

Marcus didn't answer my question.

Instead, he frowned at me and handed me a piece of paper: "Evelyn, be good. Just read this in a moment. Don't stress about it. It'll be over quickly."

The paper was filled with statements about how I was jealous of Celeste, so I deliberately seduced Marcus to destroy their relationship.