Chapter 2

Perhaps God wanted to spare my life. Both the baby and I survived.

The day I left the operating room, I saw my mother-in-law's face fall when she heard it was a girl, muttering "money-losing burden."

Jack didn't even glance at the baby, just lit a cigarette and left.

I stared blankly at the hospital ceiling, constantly comforting myself.

It's okay, I still have my daughter.

I slept in the ward for a day. When I woke up, my parents had rushed over from out of town.

Seeing them, I felt a sense of relief.

But tears kept flowing.

I said I wanted to divorce Jack.

My parents had already heard what happened. Seeing my haggard state, they supported my decision to divorce.

When I called a nurse to take my parents to see the baby, the nurse looked surprised and said, "Your mother-in-law just took the baby out."

My face turned pale.

I called Jack. He told me his mother was worried I'd be too tired caring for the baby, so she took her back to their hometown.

My whole body shook as I tried to steady my trembling voice, "Jack, the baby is only two days old and very fragile. She can't be exposed to wind. Please bring her back..."

I heard his mother snort on the other end of the phone, saying sarcastically, "What's there to be delicate about a money-losing burden? It's not a boy. She'll be married off sooner or later anyway. If she dies, she dies. Just have another one."

I had the call on speaker. Hearing my mother-in-law say such things, my parents were furious and wanted to drive over to confront them.

But Jack on the phone didn't panic. Instead, he laughed and said to me, "Ava, I still have feelings for you. Are you sure you still want to divorce me?"

I didn't understand why he was asking such an obvious question.

Things had come to this point, how could I not divorce him?

Suddenly, a loud "bang" came from downstairs. Soon after, I heard nurses shouting, "There's been a car accident! We need help!"

A chill ran down my spine, my heart turning ice cold.

Based on the timing, my parents should have been in the car by now.

I bit my lip hard, holding back tears as I said word by word, "Jack, if anything happens to my parents, I will never let you off!"

Jack actually had the audacity to laugh.

Fortunately, my parents were fine. The car had just started moving when the gas pedal was too loose and the brakes failed, crashing into the hospital wall. No one was hurt, except my dad's leg got stuck and he'll need a cane for the rest of his life.

I didn't tell my parents about this accident being related to Jack. They didn't suspect anything either.

I stopped mentioning divorce to Jack. Our baby was still with his mother in their hometown. Every day, I would receive videos of the baby from his mother.

But my hatred for Jack only grew.

I knew he was using our baby to threaten me, to prevent me from divorcing him.

I hated him every day, hated how he pushed me to this point, hated that I had wasted eight years of my youth on this scumbag.

Because of this, I learned that Jack didn't want to divorce me because his company was competing for a partnership with a big corporation. His married status would help him stand out among other candidates.

I didn't want him to get this project at all.

Especially when I found out the big corporation was hosting a banquet and invited us as a couple to attend, I wanted to sabotage it.

But Jack seemed to know what I was thinking. As we got in the car, he casually said to me, "Ava, if you want to see our baby's corpse tomorrow, go ahead and do whatever you're planning."

He always knew how to hit my weak spots.

He always knew.

At the banquet, I naturally didn't do anything rash. But I learned a lesson.

If I didn't get rid of this psychopath, he would control me for the rest of my life, and my child would always be in danger.

I couldn't just sit back and do nothing.

Jack's career was thriving, while I had become a tool he used to maintain his image in business circles. Looking at his increasingly smug face, I felt utterly disgusted.

On one hand, I was looking for an opportunity to bring him down, on the other, I carefully avoided any resistance.

After a while, I really found a breakthrough.

Jack liked women. After I caught him, he became even more reckless. Few women could stay around him for long, but there were always exceptions.

And this exception was a woman named Fiona.

I didn't know Fiona, but someone among my friends did.

When I intentionally posted a photo of scenery from a shopping trip, someone recognized the woman in the photo as Fiona.

My friend asked me, "Ava, how do you know Fiona?"

Without waiting for my answer, she continued, "She's the mistress of the CEO of Saint Corp. Any chance you could introduce us sometime?"

Saint Corp?

I remembered, that was the big corporation Jack had partnered with through my efforts earlier.

I just didn't expect Jack to be so bold as to get involved with the wife of his business partner.

I casually replied to my friend that I didn't know her well, but inside I was overjoyed.

Because I had finally found a chance to deal with Jack.

Jack was very cautious. I couldn't gather much information from his side, so I started following Fiona.

Fiona was a rich housewife. Every day, besides playing mahjong and getting beauty treatments, she would meet Jack at various hotels to have fun.

Jack met her quite often, at least three times a week.

I captured all those moments - hand-holding, kissing.

While holding back my disgust, I carefully took more evidence, hoping for some other juicy details to emerge.

Perhaps heaven heard my call. One day, I noticed something odd about Fiona.

She didn't go play mahjong or get beauty treatments. Instead, she went to a psychiatric hospital.

That psychiatric hospital was famous in our city, specializing in patients with mental illnesses or confusion.

I didn't enter the hospital, just waited outside, timing how long she stayed.

A full hour. Fiona stayed inside for a whole hour.

I didn't want to give up any leads and wanted to investigate further. But facing this heavily guarded psychiatric hospital, I knew that even if I barged in, I wouldn't be able to find out anything. So I needed someone to help me, and that person had to be a professional.

So I asked a friend to contact the most reliable private investigator in the city.

A few days later, my friend introduced me to someone. He was expensive, but guaranteed results if he took the job.

Jack controlled all my credit card transactions to keep tabs on me. Luckily, I had saved some secret funds. Though not a huge amount, it was enough to buy this information.

So I said, "As long as your results satisfy me, I'll pay whatever it costs."

My instincts told me that once I knew this secret, things would completely turn in my favor.

Not long after, the investigator arranged to meet me.

We met at a coffee shop. When we met, I was surprised by how young and handsome he was.

He handed me a manila envelope and said, "The person Fiona visited at the psychiatric hospital is named Lily, a 21-year-old performing arts student. She was often with Fiona recently, and Fiona took very good care of her. Last month, she went to a nightclub and had an accident, then went to the hospital..."

I already knew the latter part of what he was saying, because this Lily was the girl Jack had made bleed heavily that night.

I glanced at Lily's photo in the envelope and saw another piece of paper.

Then I heard him say, "The CEO of Saint Corp has never had a son. A fortune teller read his birth chart and said he'd have a better chance with a young woman whose birth chart matched his. But Mr. Saint is old now and can't perform, so they could only use IVF. The baby in Lily's belly was actually Mr. Saint's..."

I didn't need to hear the rest to know what happened. Lily lost the baby at the nightclub and no longer had any value to them, so Fiona put her in the psychiatric hospital.