Chapter 4

He stared at me in total bewilderment, biting his lip until it turned pale.

Finally snapping out of his daze, two tracks of tears rolled down his cheeks. "Nora, no matter what you think, I will never divorce you."

Carter stubbornly wrapped his arms around me, ignoring my struggles.

"Baby, let's just go home tomorrow, okay?"

"If you want kids, we can adopt one, or even two."

"Why, Carter? You promised me that if your feelings ever changed, you'd tell me."

"Why did you lie to me?"

His prolonged silence was like a blunt weapon, shattering the last of my illusions.

I pulled back, staring at him blankly.

Following his conflicted gaze, I saw his phone light up with an incoming text.

[Carter, can you come over? Mason says he misses you so much.]

[On my way.]

Without a moment of hesitation, Carter released the tight embrace he had just sworn by and stood straight up.

"Carter, you swore you would stay by my side every single night."

"Did you forget?"

He knitted his brows and pulled his hand out of my grasp. "Nora, grow up. Why are you competing with a sick child?"

"Get some sleep. I'll just check on him and come straight back."

After waiting an entire day in vain, I tracked Carter down at the hospital.

Inside the private room, the three of them were happily sharing breakfast together.

Seeing me walk in, Carter turned awkwardly to Vivian.

"Take Mason outside for a walk. Let me talk to her."

That single sentence made his stance crystal clear.

The last microscopic shred of hope I held for him was crushed into dust.

Vivian, however, refused to leave. She looked at me with wide, pitiful eyes:

"Nora, I know this is a huge shock to you. But I swear, I never wanted to take anything from you. I just wanted Mason to have a real childhood."

"Carter and I made a pact to tell him that his daddy works out of state and can only come home during summer breaks."

She dropped to her knees right in front of me. "I'm begging you. Mason is such a sweet boy. Please don't hurt our child. Please don't say anything cruel to him."

Our child?

There were other patients and visitors in the ward, and their judgmental gazes quickly bounced between the three of us.

Someone whispered, "Did the mistress really just barge into the hospital to confront the poor mother? How shameless can you get?"

Carter heard it, but he only furrowed his brows, not uttering a single word in my defense.

Watching Vivian's delicate, fragile act,

it was no wonder the bystanders immediately took her side.

In moments like this, I could only rely on myself.

I straightened my spine and peeled her fingers off the hem of my coat, one by one.

"Vivian, Carter and I have been married for ten years."

"Mind telling everyone how old your son is?"

The sharp, critical stares in the room instantly whipped around, landing squarely on Carter.

Vivian slumped to the floor, sobbing softly and not daring to look up.

Having not slept all night, I had felt dizzy on the way here.

Yet right now, raw power coursed through my veins.

It seemed a person only becomes truly unbreakable after hitting rock bottom.

I never knew I could be this ruthless.

"Carter, starting in our third year of marriage, you took a month-long 'business trip' every single summer."

"Even the year I suffered my last miscarriage and had my uterus removed, you couldn't stay away from that trip."

"Turns out you had this big boy hidden away all along."