Chapter 1

On the day I was supposed to register my marriage, I suddenly heard the inner voice of the unborn child in my best friend Chloe's womb.

[God, you sent me into the wrong belly! Ethan isn't the billionaire daddy I ordered!]

Ethan was my fiancé. We were supposed to get our marriage license today.

And Chloe was actually carrying his baby!

Before I could even open my mouth to confront her, Ethan burst through the front door, looking euphoric.

"Chloe! Incredible news! It turns out I’m the long-lost heir to the billionaire Sinclair empire! I’m going back to inherit hundreds of millions!"

"I'm breaking off the engagement with Nora right now. We're going to live the high life!"

I watched in stunned silence as the two of them wrapped their arms around each other and kissed passionately right in front of me.

[These two trashy cheaters have completely lost their minds! That DNA report and the fancy letter from the billionaire family were just a pre-wedding prank orchestrated by Nora’s best friend, Nicole Sinclair!]

Ethan turned to glare at me, his lip curling in disgust. "A massive fortune needs an heir. A barren loser like you isn't worthy of standing by my side anymore!"

I drew in a slow, deep breath.

I had originally planned to tell him the truth today. My family wasn't just comfortably well-off with tens of millions—our conglomerate was worth tens of billions. I had even prepared a stock transfer agreement worth tens of millions as a wedding gift for him.

Silently, I slipped the document back into my bag.

If he wanted out, I was more than happy to grant his wish.

"Nora, why are you just standing there like a statue? Don't tell me you see Ethan striking it rich and now you're desperate to cling to him?" Chloe sneered, crossing her arms over her chest.

Ethan ripped off the diamond engagement ring and hurled it straight at my face.

"Don't want to leave? Fine! Keep this pathetic apartment. I couldn't care less about this dump anymore!"

I stared at the man I had loved for three years, and the woman I had trusted most.

Trying to process the sheer audacity of it all, I asked quietly, "Are you truly breaking up with me?"

Ethan straightened his spine, looking down on me with utter contempt. "I'm dumping your useless ass! Got it?"

"What kind of bogus rich girl are you anyway? Even this damn engagement ring looks cheap as dirt! You couldn't even buy us a proper mansion!"

"What good was marrying you? You did nothing for my career, nothing for my status! Now that I’m drowning in cash, don't even think about leeching a single cent off me!"

I looked down at the ring rolling across the floor.

During our three years together, I had landed him executive jobs, introduced him to top-tier industry connections, bought him luxury cars, and purchased this very home for him. I had dragged him out of the rural backwaters and established him in high society.

This high-rise penthouse was worth just as much as any luxury estate in the hills.

And that ring? The center stone was modest, but it was a bespoke piece created by a world-renowned master jeweler. It was a one-of-a-kind collector's item, worth several times more than a standard ten-carat rock.

[Three months ago, while you two were busy fooling around in bed, Chloe had already swapped your real ring for a five-hundred-dollar fake. Of course it looks cheap!]

The baby's telepathic voice rang clear in my mind.

I bent down and picked up the ring. Sure enough, the engraving inside the band was completely wrong.

Seeing me hold the ring, Chloe instantly flared up. "You really aren't planning to let him go, are you?!"

"You kept Ethan tied down for three years, and what did he get out of it? Nothing! Now that he's rich, you want a piece of the pie?"

"The Sinclair family sits on hundreds of billions! What happens if there's no heir? You can't even get pregnant! Staying with him would ruin Ethan's entire future!"

Ethan shot me a look of pure disgust. "You never helped me move up, and now all you do is drag me down. You're completely worthless."

My voice turned icy. "The sole heir to the Sinclair empire is currently running operations abroad. If you don't believe me, google it yourself."

Ethan scoffed loudly. "Billionaires have secret bastards everywhere! That overseas guy is probably incompetent, which is why the old man is bringing me home to take over!"

When I first met him, it was sweltering summer. He had hauled heavy crates on a construction site all day just to earn fifty bucks, only to turn around and give every single penny to an elderly homeless woman.

Back then, I thought that even if he was unpolished and clumsy, he was fundamentally kind and honest.

Now I realized he was just an irredeemable idiot blinded by greed.

Chloe chimed in, tossing her hair. "It's bad enough that you're useless, Nora, but now you're actively trying to keep him from his rightful billionaire family!"

"Do you really expect Ethan to rot away with you in this shoebox forever, working himself to the bone every single day for a miserable few thousand bucks a month?"

A few thousand? That was because Ethan was utterly incompetent at his job.

If I hadn't been pulling strings behind the scenes and subsidizing his performance, he wouldn't have even earned minimum wage!

I swallowed the bitter lump in my throat. "Fine. We're done."

A triumphant smirk spread across Chloe's face. "To make sure you don't come crawling back later claiming to be his ex, let's head over to David the lawyer right now and get an official separation agreement notarized."

Ethan's eyes lit up immediately. "Chloe, you're brilliant. That way, if she ever tries to show up at my mansion to cause a scene, I can wave the notarized agreement and have the cops throw her behind bars!"

I didn't object to getting a lawyer.

In fact, I wanted legal documentation just as badly—to ensure he could never come crawling back to me when reality hit.

[Ethan, you utter jackass. I swear I want to strangle myself with my own umbilical cord and respawn!]

[That sleazy lawyer Chloe wants to see is in on her schemes! He was the one who pawned Nora's real diamond ring! Those two have been sleeping together behind your back for months!]

I committed every single detail to memory. While heading to the law firm, I pulled out my phone and texted my executive assistant, instructing him to trace the whereabouts of my stolen ring immediately.