Chapter 4

Backstage at Fashion Week was absolute pandemonium.

They had forced me into an ill-fitting, drab gray utility jumpsuit, smearing soot across my cheeks until I looked like a circus clown.

Cecelia wore the couture gown I had pieced back together with my own blood and tears, surrounded by a horde of stylists like a pampered princess.

Catching sight of me, she raised her voice deliberately:

“Oh my, isn't this the great designer Amber? How did you end up carrying my train like a servant?”

The surrounding models and crew burst into mocking laughter.

Christian walked over, glaring at me with a venomous warning in his eyes.

“When you step out there, you’d better keep your head down.”

“If you dare pull any tricks, your mother’s life is forfeit.”

I nodded mechanically. The throbbing pain in my abdomen had turned sharp and violent, as if a serrated blade were twisting inside my gut.

Yet I swallowed the agony. I knew that if I spoke up, my mother’s last chance of survival would vanish into thin air.

The runway show began.

Cecelia stepped out as the finale model, and I followed behind her, bent double, lifting the heavy, flowing train of the gown.

The audience below was packed with fashion icons, critics, and dozens of flashing cameras.

Right as we reached the center of the runway, Cecelia suddenly came to a halt.

She glanced back at me with malice burning in her eyes, then stepped firmly onto the front edge of her own hem.

“Aaaah!”

She let out a theatrical shriek, throwing her weight backward with exaggerated drama.

I had no time to react. The sudden momentum dragged me forward, sending me crashing face-first onto the hard stage floor.

Riiiiip—!

The delicate train tore open with a sickening shredding sound.

The entire venue gasped in shock.

Cecelia collapsed onto the floor, clutching her face as she sobbed hysterically:

“My dress! My entire life's work!”

“Amber! Why would you do this to me?!”

“I know you’ve always been jealous of me, but this was my comeback show!”

Every camera lens pivoted instantly, locking onto me.

Christian charged up from backstage. Without asking a single question, he swung his palm and struck me across the face with brutal force.

“You vile bitch! You did that on purpose!”

“I told you to carry the train, not sabotage the show!”

The blow made my vision explode with white spots, and my head slammed violently against the hardwood runway.

The searing agony I had been repressing in my lower belly detonated all at once.

A warm, thick wave of fluid gushed down my inner thighs.

It soaked through my coarse gray jumpsuit and began pooling across the pristine white runway.

My eyes widened in sheer, paralyzing horror as I stared at the bright crimson stain spreading beneath me.

“My baby... my baby...”

I hadn't even known I was pregnant. But at this horrific moment, a mother’s primal instinct told me exactly what I was losing.

Forgetting the burning pain in my cheek, I reached out desperately, clutching at Christian’s pant leg, sobbing for help:

“Christian... please help me... it hurts so bad...”

“Our baby... it’s our baby...”

Christian looked down at the pool of blood. A brief flicker of panic flashed across his face, only to be instantly replaced by icy disgust.

“A baby? You think you’re worthy of carrying my child?”

“You probably got knocked up by some random scumbag on the street!”

“And now you want to use a bastard child to play the victim? Not a chance in hell!”

Cecelia scrambled to her feet by then, pointing an accusing finger at me and crying out to the crowd:

“Look, everyone! This woman is completely unhinged! She gets pregnant by some unknown stranger, and now that she’s miscarrying, she’s trying to pin it on Christian!”

“She did all of this just to destroy my show! To ruin the Hayes Group!”

The crowd’s fury was instantly ignited by her performance, and guests began standing up, shouting insults at me.

“Disgusting! How did someone like that even get in here?”

“Get her off the stage! Don't ruin our eyes!”

“Mr. Hayes, why are you still keeping a toxic psycho like her around?!”

Listening to the roar of condemnation around him, Christian’s expression turned increasingly savage.

To protect his and Cecelia’s public image, he had to sever every tie with me right then and there.

He gripped the collar of my jumpsuit, dragging my limp body up from the floor.

“Since you want to ruin Cecelia so badly, why don't you just go die!”

Right at that moment, the double doors of the auditorium burst open with a resounding boom.

A voice drenched in pure, murderous fury tore through the hall.

“Hayes, are you tired of breathing?!”