Chapter 3
“Hey sis, the hotel suite from your honeymoon? We left our marks on those sheets.”
“Didn’t Elijah swear he’d hold you every night? Bet I can summon him with one call.”
Katia’s voice message churned my stomach.
Ugh-
Just after I threw up, Elijah violently pushed the door open.
“Sophia? Why is the morning sickness so bad? I’ll make you something light right away!”
He moved quickly and soon came in with a steaming bowl of tonic soup.
That was the Prenatal Gourmet Plate he specially learned from a Michelin chef.
To learn this dish, he turned down three merger deals.
The man looked at me expectantly, as if waiting for me to throw myself into his arms moved like before.
Seeing me unmoved, he froze for a moment.
Then he skillfully massaged my temples.
“Elijah,” I suddenly spoke.
“Is there something you’ve lied to me about? If you now…”
Elijah, just for the sake of that time I jumped out the window and you tightly shielded me, breaking three ribs.
I’m giving you one last chance.
“What nonsense? You and our child are the loves
I watched his perfect act.
It felt utterly ridiculous.
of
my life.”
Elijah studied my expression intently before chuckling softly.
“I knew it. You say these things to get me to pamper you.’
He leaned in to kiss me.
A thunderclap cracked outside the window.
0.0%
12:12
I instinctively burrowed under the blanket.
I hadn’t cried over thunder in years.
Since meeting Elijah, I thought I’d found my safe haven.
Yet now, tears streamed down uncontrollably.
Elijah pulled me close: “Don’t be afraid. I’m here.”
His embrace felt warm as ever, but I shuddered cold to the bone.
Just then, a servant rushed over and whispered in Elijah’s ear.
His face paled, but he forced calm.
“Can’t you see the lady’s here!”
He patted my back halfheartedly, eyes darting toward the door.
“Sleep, I’ll stay with you.”
But the moment he thought I’d “fallen asleep,” he bolted out without looking back.
My phone screen glowed then dimmed in the darkness.
The photos from Katia grew increasingly distasteful.
Rumpled sheets, Elijah’s bare muscular back, and a bunny tail damp with fluid.
The last voice message came with a breathy smirk:
[“Sis, Elijah hasn’t touched you since the pregnancy, has he? But he can’t resist me-just took me three times…”]
[“Heard he hasn’t named your child? Ours is called Niannian.”]
Katia revealed the tattoo on her chest, its placement identical to Elijah’s.
A deafening roar echoed in my ears.
That wedding night when I’d traced the “Cici” tattoo over his heart with trembling fingers, moved to tears-
The complex emotion flashing in his eyes wasn’t tenderness, but guilt.
Every time he tenderly whispered “Cici,” his heart had always belonged to someone else.
For three years, I’d been living as the ultimate fool.
I sat motionless until dawn.
Finally, I replied to the waiting number:
[I agree to you being the child’s legal father. Let’s cooperate.]
The next morning, commotion jolted me awake.
The hall was packed with Los Angeles elites celebrating my birthday.
I froze.
It had been ten years since I’d celebrated after my mother passed away.
