Chapter 4

Melissa only coughed a few times before Ethan rushed over.

He kicked me in the leg.

“Clara, you vicious woman! I was being merciful, thinking about the eight years we spent together. I was going to ask Melissa to let you be my mistress, and you dare hurt her?”

He pounced and pinned me to the ground.

“Apologize to Melissa. Beg her to let you stay as a maid. That way you can be close to me and see your daughter.”

His words made me sick.

I gritted my teeth.

“In your dreams! I won’t serve you people. I’m going to kick you out of my house.”

“Your house?”

A sinister glint flashed in Ethan’s eyes.

He grabbed my throat and pinned me against the wall.

“These compromising photos of you are all photoshopped. I not only showed these photos to our daughter but also to your father.”

The corner of his lips curled into a cold smile.

“Do you know how your father reacted when he saw these photos?”

Without waiting for my answer, he continued: “Your father said he didn’t have such a shameless daughter. He also said Melissa and I worked so hard to take care of our daughter, so he left all his assets to us.”

“Impossible! My father would never believe your lies.”

I roared.

“Of course your father wouldn’t believe it easily, but I have a virtuous wife to help me.”

Ethan looked at Melissa.

“After you disappeared, your father was paralyzed. Melissa applied to be your father’s home nurse. She took care of his every need for two years before earning that old man’s trust.”

He smiled.

“Of course, I didn’t fall behind either. At night, Melissa and I would do it in your bedroom. During the day, I was still your father’s most filial son-in-law.”

“With Melissa’s and my tireless efforts, your father finally believed you were a woman who abandoned her husband and child. He tearfully handed the company over to me, including this house.”

I glared at him with hatred.

“Ethan, you’ll get what’s coming to you.”

Ethan was one of the first college students my father sponsored.

Before my father gave him financial aid, Ethan could only attend school during the day and work at my family’s restaurant at night, usually eating customers’ leftovers.

Once he fainted from malnutrition at the restaurant. My father happened to witness it and started sponsoring him.

After graduation, Ethan knelt before my father to apply for a job, saying he didn’t need a salary and just wanted to repay the kindness.

My father thought he was a grateful, good kid. He not only trained him carefully but also arranged for me to marry him.

How could he do this?

Melissa grabbed my chin and forced me to look into her eyes.

“Clara, You have to look out for yourself, or the world will crush you. Ethan and I come from the countryside. We know how terrifying poverty is, so we started planning ten years ago, all to become rich.”

“Ten years?!”

I exclaimed in shock.

“Ethan working at my father’s restaurant, not asking for salary when applying for the job, including... including marrying me—it was all part of your plan?”

“Of course!”

Melissa lifted her chin proudly.

“Your father was our prey. Not asking for salary was just a tactic, and marrying you was our stepping stone to becoming rich.”

She viciously pinched my arm.

“Watching Ethan get down on one knee to propose to you made me so jealous. But Ethan compensated me by giving me your wedding rings.”

“He also had me drug you while you were pregnant.”

“So that’s why I kept bleeding and almost died during childbirth?”

I stared at her with wide eyes.

Melissa laughed coldly.

“What a shame you were tough to kill. We couldn’t finish you off!”

A flash of guilt crossed Ethan’s eyes.

“I did have some feelings for you and your father. But you two were ungrateful, always on guard against me, not handing over the company sooner. I had no choice but to drug you both!”

Watching the hour hand on my watch move forward another hour, I glared at them with hatred.

Go ahead and spill all your secrets. I want to see just how painful a hundredfold suffering will be.

“Clara, now you know everything. But what can you do about it? We have your father’s will for the inheritance we received. Your daughter only recognizes me now.”

She forcibly grabbed my wrist. “Being born into privilege still doesn’t mean you won... huh?”

Before she could finish, she suddenly stared at me with terrified eyes.

“Clara, you’re... pregnant!”