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After discovering my husband's infidelity, I reclaimed my life
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While I was at home preparing a birthday gift for my son, I discovered an order for a wedding dress my husband had purchased—but the size didn’t belong to me. Before I could even ask him about it,...
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第1章
While I was at home preparing a birthday gift for my son, Noah, I found a wedding dress order slip in my husband Liam Foster’s pocket.
It was the exact style I loved most.
I had been waiting for this wedding for seven years. I never expected my husband to be preparing a surprise for me—but why wasn’t the size mine?
I pretended I’d seen nothing, folded the order slip neatly, and put it back in his pocket.
Then my phone rang suddenly.
“Is this Ms. Clara Bennett? Your mother, Sophia, was pushed down the stairs. She has intracranial bleeding and needs emergency surgery. We’re still short fifty thousand for the deposit. Please bring it over immediately, or we won’t be able to start the operation!”
The doctor’s voice was rushed and cold, like a bucket of ice water poured straight over my head.
My mind went blank with a loud buzz. I grabbed my wallet, snatched my keys, and rushed downstairs.
Wasn’t my mom supposed to be picking Noah up from kindergarten?
How could she have been pushed down the stairs?
At the hospital payment counter, I swiped three different bank cards in succession. Every single one came back with the same message:
Insufficient balance.
I clenched the cards in my fingers, the cold plastic edges digging painfully into my skin.
All these cards had been set up for me by Liam. He’d always said the household money was mine to manage—he earned it, I just needed to stay home and live peacefully.
And now, every cent was gone.
There was no time to argue. I turned and ran home.
There was still some money I’d saved before marriage, hidden in the false compartment of my bedside table. That was my last hope—the final bit of security I’d kept for myself.
The moment I pushed the door open, something felt wrong.
The living room was in chaos. Noah’s toys were scattered across the floor, as if someone had kicked them aside in a hurry. A cold premonition crept up my spine.
The master bedroom door was half open.
Sticky panting and teasing laughter spilled out, freezing the blood in my veins and turning my limbs ice-cold.
It was my husband.
With my sister.
She was my father’s illegitimate daughter—the reason my mother had divorced. But she’d always treated me well. I thought she was the only warmth left in my broken family.
I stood there, nailed to the spot. Through the crack in the door, I saw Liam pressing Vanessa down on our marital bed, on the sheets I had personally chosen. His chin rested against her neck, his profile filled with a tenderness and obsession I had never once received.
And the words he spoke were knives dipped in poison.
“My Vanessa really is the sweetest. That necklace looks perfect on you.”
His fingers brushed over the dazzling sparkle at her throat.
My pupils shrank violently.
That was the diamond necklace I’d admired in magazines for ages. On my last birthday, I’d asked Liam for it. He’d wrapped an arm around me and said, “Too flashy. It doesn’t suit you. Simple things look better on you.”
Then he took me to a street stall and bought me a plastic one.
So it wasn’t that it didn’t suit me.
He just never intended to give it to me.
Vanessa giggled and snuggled closer, her fingers tracing his chest flirtatiously.
“Liam, you’re so good to me. You even bought this because you knew I’d like it. But… you used my sister’s card to buy me a gift. Won’t she get angry if she finds out?”
“Her?” Liam snorted, his tone both indulgent and cruel.
“That blockhead probably won’t even notice the money’s gone. Besides, what’s hers isn’t mine? Even her little stash of private savings—didn’t I use that to buy you jewelry too?”
My nails dug deep into my palms.
That money… I’d saved it desperately before marriage by working part-time jobs. It was meant to be my last line of defense.
He’d been eyeing it all along.
“You really are the good one,” Liam murmured as he lowered his head to kiss Vanessa’s collarbone.
“Not like that useless Clara. Can’t even keep a child. Three of them. Three. Pregnant, lost it. Pregnant again, lost it again. Such a waste of my time.”
Vanessa laughed sweetly, her voice dripping with sugar.
“Liam,That's not how it works. If it weren’t for my sister’s three babies, how could we have given birth to Noah so smoothly?”
My breathing stopped.
Wasn’t Noah adopted because Liam couldn’t bear to see me lose another child?
How was he Vanessa’s child?
And what did this have to do with my dead babies?
Liam chuckled softly.
“You’re right. You are smart. The first embryo tissue was used as a research sample. The second—its flesh and blood nourished your body, which is why you conceived Noah. As for the third, Noah was born prematurely, so we used that little thing’s stem cells and cord blood to save him. Thinking back, when she was crying so hard she almost passed out, I still had to hold her and comfort her. Disgusting.”
Every word was a red-hot iron rod, stabbing straight into my ears and branding my soul.
My legs felt leaden, rooted to the ground.
Fragments of dark memories surged back—the tearing pain of losing my children, Liam holding me and whispering “It’s fate being unfair. We’re still young,” Vanessa staying by my bedside with red eyes, saying “Rest well, sis. You’ll have another baby.”
All of it was a carefully woven lie.
A long, brutal sacrifice—paved with the flesh and blood of my own children—to build their love.
“That’s only because I didn’t want to get married yet, so I let her raise Noah,” Vanessa sneered.
“She treats him like her heart and soul. Feeding him, telling him stories, picking him up from school—she has no idea she’s raising a child who survived by drinking her own baby’s blood. Pathetic and stupid.”
“Noah is our son,” Liam said with a smile.
“She’s happy to be a free nanny. Saves trouble. You can focus on your dance career and secure Mr. G’s investment. Isn’t your father pushing you to marry that fool from the Nicholson family—Gregory? I say we just send Clara to his bed on the engagement day. They’re both Bennett daughters anyway. Whoever marries makes no difference. I get rid of her, and we can finally be together openly.”
The Nicholson family…
That heir rumored to be disabled from an accident, with a gloomy, twisted personality—Gregory Nicholson?
A substitute bride.
My blood froze completely.
They wanted my children’s lives.
They used my flesh and blood to raise their illegitimate son.
And now they wanted to squeeze out my last bit of value and throw me to another man like trash.
“But…” Vanessa’s voice softened, calculating.
“What if my sister causes trouble?”
“Would she dare?” Liam’s tone turned cold.
“Her mother Sophia’s medical bills—every bit of her follow-up treatment—is in my hands. Clara’s the submissive type. For her mom, she’ll swallow any humiliation. And besides—”
He paused, his contempt naked.
“A housewife I’ve supported for years. Her bank cards are with me, her documents are with me, and she’s long lost contact with her friends. Without me, she wouldn’t last three days. Once she’s sent into the Nicholson family, she can scream all she wants—no one will hear her.”
Hatred and pain surged in my chest like boiling magma, scorching my organs. Tears poured down uncontrollably. I bit my lip hard, the taste of rust filling my mouth, barely suppressing the scream clawing up my throat.
I couldn’t make a sound.
Not yet.
Leaning against the cold wall, I retreated silently into the stairwell. The motion-sensor light went out, and darkness swallowed me whole. Downstairs, their disgusting laughter drifted up faintly.
My hands shaking, I took out my phone. The screen’s faint glow lit my tear-streaked face. I scrolled to the very bottom of my contacts.
A name that had been silent for years.
Mr. G.
Three years ago, before I fully retreated into domestic life, I had been one of the most gifted rising stars in the dance world. During a performance, I caught the eye of the most discerning investor in the industry—Mr. G. He promised to make me a top-tier dance artist.
I gave it all up for my marriage with Liam.
That year, he handed me a pure black business card—only a name and a handwritten number.
Mr. G.
I’d thought it was just polite courtesy. I’d even been intimidated by his cold, oppressive aura.
But for some reason, I never threw the card away.
I never imagined I’d truly dial it.
The phone rang for a long time. Just as I thought no one would answer, a voice came through.
“Hello.”
Low and deep, slightly hoarse as if just awakened, carrying a trace of cold impatience—yet it oddly steadied my fraying nerves.
“Mr. G…” I spoke, my voice shattered and unrecognizable.
“This is Clara. Five years ago at the gala, you gave me your card. I need help. My mother needs medical fees. Someone killed my children. They’re planning to harm me at the Nicholson family’s engagement banquet in seven days—forcing me to marry the Nicholson heir in her place. If you save me, I’m willing to accept the arrangement you proposed back then.”
I was incoherent, struggling to hold back my sobs and shaking.
“Nicholson family… Gregory?”
There was a two-second silence on the other end.
Then his voice came clearly—no doubt, no hesitation.
“Attend the engagement banquet in seven days. I’ll handle everything.”
The call ended.
The cold electronic tone sounded, yet it felt as if I were clutching a lifeline. I leaned against the icy wall and slowly slid to the floor, darkness and silence wrapping around me.
My face was damp. I raised my hand and wiped away the tears forcefully. My fingers brushed my lips—blood from where I’d bitten them. The pain cleared my mind.
Beneath the bone-freezing ice in my heart, a tiny but stubborn spark finally ignited.
Liam. Vanessa.
You thought draining my blood, crushing my bones, turning me into a vine clinging to your lives meant I could only kneel and wait for death?
You’re wrong.
From the moment I learned the truth, the Clara who only cried, endured, and believed in “fate’s injustice”—died.
第2章
As for asking my father for help?
The thought barely surfaced before I crushed it myself.
I am his daughter with his ex-wife.
Vanessa is the daughter he had with the woman he cheated with.
I am the living proof of his betrayal of marriage—the only reason my mother hesitated before finally divorcing him. In my father’s eyes, blood ties have never outweighed naked利益.利益 always comes first.
Back when I was a rising star in the dance world, when I still carried the halo of being noticed by Mr. G, he was willing to show me some courtesy, treating me as a bargaining chip he could use to climb higher into elite circles.
But ever since I gave up my career and willingly became the housewife standing behind Liam, I completely lost my value in his eyes.
I was no longer Clara Bennett. I was just a tool meant to please Liam and maintain the illusion of a stable marriage.
If he were to find out that I couldn’t even keep my own husband, that I couldn’t even hold on to this fake marriage, he would only see me as utterly useless. He already treated me with cold indifference—if he knew, he would side with Vanessa and suppress me even harder.
That outcome would be far worse than being thrown to Gregory.
So Mr. G was my only lifeline.
I had to seize this opportunity tightly and fight with everything I had to reclaim my place in the dance world.
Only by standing high enough—by possessing undeniable achievements and real influence—could I truly take control of my life.
Only then could I save my mother.
Only then could I avenge my three dead children.
Only then could I reclaim everything that had been taken from me.
My phone vibrated.
It was a payment confirmation from the hospital.
Mr. G’s efficiency far exceeded my expectations. There were no unnecessary questions, no complicated conditions—only immediate action to fulfill his promise.
The massive stone hanging over my heart finally dropped. My mother’s surgery could proceed smoothly.
And yet, the chill in my chest didn’t fade. Instead, it condensed into something firmer, sharper.
I pushed the door open.
The sight in the living room stabbed painfully into my eyes.
Liam was leaning lazily against the sofa, Vanessa nestled against his side, the two of them laughing and playing with Noah. Noah was holding the birthday gift I had prepared long ago—a set of building blocks—but he was now offering them to Vanessa like a toy.
Vanessa laughed as she pulled him into her arms. Liam wrapped an arm around her, leaned down, and whispered something into her ear, making her giggle. The intimacy in her eyes was completely undisguised.
That was my home.
My sofa.
The throw pillows I had carefully chosen.
And now they had become the background for their picture-perfect family of three.
And me?
I was the intruder.
An invisible hand clenched tightly around my heart, a dull ache spreading through my chest. I didn’t step forward. I didn’t make a sound. I simply turned and walked quietly toward the bedroom.
When my fingers touched the doorknob, I took a deep breath, forced down the turmoil inside me, pushed the door open, and began packing.
Clothes.
Documents.
One by one, I placed them into the suitcase.
Keychains.
Snow globes.
All the proof of past affection.
I threw them into the trash.
Everything here stopped belonging to me today.
Those fake moments of warmth.
Those cruel lies.
And the seven years of my youth and sincerity.
All of it deserved an ending.
“You’re packing?” Liam’s voice suddenly sounded at the door, carrying a faint trace of scrutiny.
I paused but didn’t turn around. I picked up a neatly folded old sweater and answered calmly, masking everything beneath a familiar tone.
“Yes. Just some old things—taking up space. Noah’s birthday is coming up. I want to clear the room and give him a surprise.”
I made my voice sound as natural as possible—no different from the obedient wife I had always been.
Liam didn’t seem suspicious. He gave a perfunctory “Mm,” then added casually,
“That works. Don’t tire yourself out. Go make lunch for Vanessa later—something nutritious. No seafood. She’s allergic.”
I smiled coldly.
Seven years of marriage, and Liam had never once known my preferences or my food restrictions.
He said nothing more and turned to leave.
But just then, a small figure suddenly charged in, accompanied by a sharp scream.
“What are you doing?! Don’t touch my things!”
It was Noah.
Like an enraged little animal, he rushed over and swept the clothes I had just folded onto the floor. Building blocks and toy cars were hurled at me, striking my arm and back painfully.
“Noah!” I frowned and reached out to stop him.
But he violently shook my hand off. His face was twisted with a hatred completely unfitting for his age. He pointed at my nose and shouted:
“You bad woman! As soon as you come home, you start seducing Dad! You make it so Dad can’t stay with Mommy Vanessa! You’re not nice at all—Mommy Vanessa is gentler than you, prettier than you!”
My heart felt like it had been pricked by countless needles.
This was the child I had raised for five years. From infancy to his first steps, from babbling sounds to carrying a schoolbag on his back. Every meal, every diaper, every bedtime story—I had done it all myself.
I had loved him with everything I had.
And now…
“I don’t want you to be my mom!” Noah’s voice suddenly rose, the malice in his eyes sharp as ice picks.
“Vanessa is my real mom! Why don’t you hurry up and die? If you die, Mommy Vanessa can stay here properly, and Dad will be happier!”
“Hurry up and die.”
Those three words smashed into my heart like a heavy hammer, instantly freezing my entire body.
Five years of devotion—this was what it amounted to.
I stared at him, at this familiar yet utterly strange child, and felt nothing but bitter irony.
He was alive only because of the flesh and blood of my three children. And I, like a fool, had poured my entire soul into loving and raising him.
“Noah, you’re not allowed to speak to your mother like that,” Liam walked in. He didn’t scold Noah—only said it lightly. Then he turned to me, his tone clearly biased.
“Clara, don’t take it to heart. Noah’s still young. Kids say things without thinking.”
“Without thinking?” I finally spoke, my voice trembling with restrained anger.
“He’s five. He knows what ‘death’ means. He knows who treats him well. Liam, look at him—this is the ‘good son’ you’ve raised? This is what Vanessa teaches him?”
Emotions I had suppressed for far too long finally cracked. Anger wrapped around my heart like thorny vines.
Liam’s expression darkened instantly. Impatience and disgust flashed through his eyes. He stepped forward, pulled Vanessa tightly into his arms, took Noah by the hand, and looked at me coldly.
“Clara, have you had enough? He’s just a kid—why are you arguing with him? If you don’t want to pack, then don’t. Stop ruining everyone’s mood.”
Without giving me any chance to respond, he turned and walked away with Vanessa and Noah.
As they left, Vanessa glanced back at me. A trace of smug provocation flashed through her eyes—like a fine needle piercing the last of my disguise.
The bedroom was left with only me.
Clothes and toys were scattered across the floor. Noah’s vicious words still echoed in the air.
I slowly crouched down and picked up the clothes one by one. My fingers were ice-cold. My heart, however, felt hollowed out.
There was no longer the searing pain from before—only a vast, deathly calm.
This home.
This place I once believed was my harbor.
This place I gave everything to protect.
Now, there was nothing left but betrayal and hurt.
I felt no attachment to it anymore.
Once my procedures were complete, I would take my mother and leave.
第3章
The next day, my lawyer finally handed me the divorce agreement he had prepared. I was ready to go find Liam and have him sign it.
I had just reached the door of his bedroom when voices drifted out from inside.
It was Vanessa’s voice, carrying a hint of barely concealed urgency.
“Mr. G is arriving in the city tomorrow. These next few days, we have to keep Clara locked up. We absolutely cannot let them meet.”
Liam laughed casually.
“What are you afraid of? She hasn’t touched her dance shoes in how many years now? Besides, that choreography plagiarism scandal back then—she didn’t even make it to the semifinals. These days, if anyone brings it up, she gets cursed as an opportunistic thief. No matter how much Mr. G admired her back then, he must’ve long grown sick of someone with such questionable character.”
The words “questionable character” slammed into my chest like a sledgehammer.
My entire body stiffened. I had to lean against the wall just to stay upright.
The memories surged back uncontrollably.
For that all-important selection competition, I had spent countless nights in the dance studio. The reflection in the mirror went from upright and proud to hunched and exhausted. Sweat soaked through one practice outfit after another. Every movement, every beat, was carved into my bones.
But the day after I submitted my choreography proposal, Vanessa came to me with reddened eyes, saying her concept had “accidentally overlapped” with mine. She begged me to withdraw, saying dance was her entire life and that she couldn’t afford even the slightest stain on her reputation.
I had always been serious about my work. That choreography was the crystallization of my blood and sweat—how could I just hand it over?
I refused her.
And then news broke online that I had plagiarized Vanessa. The backlash was immediate and vicious.
Fortunately, my mentor appreciated me and believed in me. She was willing to give me a chance, even under immense public pressure—allowing both of us to advance to the next round, letting us prove originality with our strength on stage.
Back then, I naïvely believed that such fairness would clear my name.
Who could have imagined that on the day of the competition, I would fall into an unnaturally deep sleep? By the time I struggled awake, the event was already over. I was ruled to have forfeited, and the label of “plagiarist” stuck to me like a stubborn bandage—impossible to tear off.
I didn’t even dare face my mentor, afraid of seeing disappointment in her eyes.
All these years, I thought it was just bad luck. That sudden, overwhelming drowsiness had ruined everything. When Liam later persuaded me to “return to the family and stop chasing unrealistic dance dreams,” I actually believed it was for my own good. I willingly put away my practice clothes and became the “well-behaved” wife he wanted.
But now, Vanessa’s words were like a key—unlocking Pandora’s box and exposing every buried truth to the light.
“You really were smart back then,” Vanessa said, her voice full of admiration.
“You secretly took her choreography drafts and gave them to me. And you slipped sleeping pills into her milk so she slept right through the semifinals. Otherwise, with her brilliance back then, how would I ever have had a chance?”
Liam chuckled softly, indulgence practically spilling from his tone.
“For you, that was nothing. I told you long ago—I’d clear every obstacle for you and make sure you stood firmly in the dance world.”
Boom—
My mind went completely blank. All I could hear was a deafening buzz.
So it wasn’t an accident.
Not coincidence.
But a meticulously planned conspiracy.
It was my husband who stole the work I’d stayed up nights creating and handed it to my sister.
It was my husband who drugged me at the most critical moment, robbing me of the chance to defend myself and condemning me to years of accusations.
And it was my husband who, under the guise of “doing it for my own good,” made me personally abandon the career I loved most.
I clenched my fists so hard my nails cut into my palms. The metallic taste of blood spread through my mouth, yet that pain was nothing compared to the agony crushing my heart.
I slid down the cold wall and sank to the floor.
Why did he do this?
He married me—yet for Vanessa, he destroyed my dreams, stained my name, and pushed me into the abyss. Did he really love her that much? Enough to deceive me, use me, and sacrifice everything I had?
If Vanessa was the one he loved, then why marry me?
Why make me play the role of a happy wife for seven years?
Why let me waste all my passion and hope inside this fake marriage?
The murmurs in the bedroom continued—those intimate, self-satisfied words. Each one was a poisoned thorn, stabbing into my heart, stirring hatred and despair into a violent storm.
I once thought that betrayal in marriage and the horrific deaths of my children were the ultimate forms of pain.
Only now did I realize I had lost far more than that.
I lost the dream I fought for.
The dignity I was proud of.
My clean, honest life.
The Clara who once shone on stage, who burned with passion for dance—she had already been murdered seven years ago, by Liam and Vanessa together.
I slowly lifted my head. Tears blurred my vision, yet a cold resolve gathered in my eyes. I stood up and calmly picked up the scattered divorce papers—my movements eerily steady.
Mr. G is coming, is he?
They thought that by locking me away, they could bury the truth forever. That Vanessa could climb upward by stepping on my corpse.
They were wrong.
Painfully wrong.
Liam. Vanessa.
What you owe me isn’t just a marriage, or three children.
You owe me my dreams.
My innocence.
Seven years of a life built on lies.
This debt—I will collect it, piece by piece, with interest.
And Mr. G’s arrival is not an obstacle you can use to stop me.
It is the beginning of my revenge.
After a while, I wiped away my tears, put on a face of complete ignorance, and knocked on the door. I mixed the divorce agreement in with some gift invoices and handed them to Liam for his signature.
Fortunately, Vanessa was clinging to him at the time. Everything went smoothly.
He didn’t even look before signing.
第4章
I was dragging my suitcase, about to leave, when I ran into Vanessa, who had come out to get a glass of water—though it was just as possible she had come out specifically to find me.
She blocked me alone on the second-floor observation terrace of the villa. Leaning against the ornate railing, her red lips curved into a venomous smile. Word by word, she crushed the stability and obsessions of half my life into dust.
“Big sister, do you really think Aunt Sophia’s fall was an accident?” Her eyes were filled with undisguised malice. “It was Noah who pushed her. He’s known for a long time that I’m his real mother. All these years, he deliberately smeared you, deliberately smashed your favorite vase, deliberately acted out in front of your mom. He even pushed her down the stairs himself—just so he could drive you, the woman who stole someone else’s place, completely out of this house.”
The blood in my body froze. My fingers clenched until they turned white. A loud ringing filled my ears.
That child I had raised with my whole heart for so many years—behind those seemingly innocent eyes, there had been such vicious calculation.
Before I could recover, Vanessa’s smile grew even crueler.
“And that National Gold Dance Trophy from seven years ago—you really thought you lost because you weren’t good enough?” She sneered. “Liam planned it himself. I was the one who took your place. You were too outstanding, too radiant—you blocked my path. He never married you because he loved you. It was all so I could stand on that podium without obstacles, so you would willingly step aside and make room for me.”
My heart felt as if it were being crushed by an invisible hand. I couldn’t breathe. Seven years of obsession, seven years of regret—I had believed it all to be fate. And yet it had been a carefully orchestrated scam.
I stared at the woman in front of me, my voice trembling.
“Why is Liam so good to you?”
Vanessa let out a soft, mocking laugh and leaned close to my ear. Her warm breath carried honeyed poison.
“That’s thanks to you, my good sister. When we were young, you saved Liam and never left your name. That’s how I got to replace you and become his lifesaver. He’ll spend his entire life repaying that debt—to me.”
My mind exploded.
Fragments of memory surged violently, but Vanessa gave me no time to think. Her tone suddenly shifted, striking straight at my weakest point, every word soaked in blood.
“Oh, right—I almost forgot to tell you. Your mom is still lying in the ICU, isn’t she? Dad still can’t get over her. A divorced woman, already old, still flirting around—what right does she have to occupy my father’s heart? If she weren’t alive, would I have been forced into an arranged marriage with that old, ugly cripple?”
She raised her brows, her eyes filled with ultimate cruelty.
“I’ve already sent people to the hospital. Take a guess—do you think the person I sent has already pulled out your mother’s oxygen tube?”
“You’re insane!”
The last shred of reason shattered under the weight of despair and rage. I raised my hand and slapped her hard across the face. The sharp sound exploded across the empty terrace.
I shoved her aside and turned to run. I had to save my mom.
Vanessa clutched her face. A flash of viciousness crossed her eyes, and then she let out a piercing scream.
“Sister, I was just worried about Aunt Sophia! How could you push me?!”
Rapid footsteps followed.
Noah rushed over and grabbed my wrist tightly. His childish voice carried a brutality far beyond his age.
“You’re not allowed to hit my mom!”
He was unbelievably strong. The force of his collision knocked me backward toward the edge of the floor-to-ceiling window. In the struggle, Noah also lost his balance, and the two of us ended up clinging desperately to the window ledge.
My position was far more dangerous. My center of gravity was unstable, half my body hanging outside the building. Cold wind rushed into my throat, and suffocating terror seized me instantly.
At that moment, Liam burst into view.
Without hesitation, he reached out, pulled Noah toward him, and held him tightly in his arms.
In that single instant of separation, Vanessa pretended to take Noah from him—and then suddenly raised her hand and shoved me hard in the lower back.
The sensation of weightlessness crashed down on me.
My body fell like a kite with its string cut, plunging straight downward.
The wind roared past my ears. The last thing I saw was the triumphant smile at the corner of Vanessa’s lips—and Liam holding the child, not sparing me even a single glance.
Pain spread through my entire body.
My consciousness sank into endless darkness.
---
When I woke again, it was to the blinding white light of the hospital. The smell of disinfectant lingered in my nose. Before I could even speak, Liam’s accusations came crashing down on me, his tone filled with extreme disgust and disappointment.
“How could you be so cruel? Laying hands on a child—are you even worthy of being a mother?” He stood by the hospital bed, his features cold and rigid, every word a condemnation. “I knew it. Noah isn’t your biological child. You can’t have kids, so you don’t have even a shred of maternal love. Clara, stop fixating on Vanessa. Stop being jealous of her. She’s different from you—she has ambition, she has her dance career. Unlike you, all you know is clinging to this house, being a housewife who depends on a man.”
He paused, his voice taking on a tone of protection—one that sliced my heart apart like a blade.
“She’s about to gain Mr. G’s recognition. Everyone in the industry knows that any dancer he favors is destined for the world stage. Behave yourself. Stay home, cook properly, take care of the child—that’s enough. If you want to keep living in this family, go apologize to Vanessa. She’s my benefactor. Back then, she saved me from drowning and injured her leg. Otherwise, her achievements in dance would have been even greater. To repay that debt, I must have Mr. G invest in her and make her famous.”
Every word favored her.
Every sentence belittled and denied me.
I lay on the hospital bed, my fingers curling into fists, my nails digging deep into my palms until the pain went numb.
I already knew the truth.
I was the one who saved him back then.
The trophy was mine.
Even the so-called debt of gratitude he now cradled so carefully—it was all mine.
Everything Vanessa had stolen.
And yet, at this moment, I didn’t even have the strength to argue. I no longer had the desire to expose the truth, not even word by word.
My heart was dead.
And once your heart is dead, any explanation is nothing more than a pale joke.
I didn’t want to care about his so-called gratitude anymore.
I didn’t want to care about Vanessa’s schemes.
I didn’t want to care about this so-called family at all.
I only wanted to know one thing.
Was my mother still alive?
A metallic sweetness surged up my throat. Supporting my broken body, I forced the words out in a hoarse voice, my gaze locked onto him.
“Liam… how is my mom?”
第5章
Liam frowned deeply and snapped impatiently, “Your mother is fine in the hospital. What the hell are you freaking out about?”
“Vanessa said she sent someone to pull out my mom’s oxygen tube.” I stared straight into his eyes, my voice shaking beyond control. “She said if my mom doesn’t die, she won’t be able to swallow this anger.”
The moment those words left my mouth, Liam’s expression darkened sharply. Anger surged in his eyes as he reached out and grabbed my wrist, the force so brutal it felt like he was about to crush my bones.
“Clara!” he barked. “How can you be this vicious? Making up lies to frame Vanessa out of thin air! I know exactly what kind of person she is. She risked her life to save me back then—pure-hearted and kind. How could she possibly do something like this? You’ve disappointed me beyond words.”
He didn’t believe me.
From beginning to end, he had only ever believed Vanessa.
I looked at the contempt and fury in his eyes and felt nothing but bitter irony and sorrow. Seven years of marriage couldn’t compare to a single careless lie from Vanessa. In his heart, I had always been this despicable.
Just then, his phone rang sharply. On the screen flashed the name “Vanessa.”
He glanced at it, released my wrist without a second thought, and his tone softened instantly as he answered the call. Turning away, he hurried out of the room without offering me a single explanation.
The hospital room fell into dead silence.
The pain in my legs and the pain in my chest intertwined, so intense I nearly passed out. But I couldn’t care about any of that. I threw off the blanket and yanked out the IV needle from the back of my hand. The needle tore through the vein, blood seeping out, yet I felt nothing.
Staggering, I braced myself against the wall and moved step by step toward my mother’s ward.
The hallway lights were a bleak white, illuminating my unsteady figure like a dying lone goose.
As I passed a room at the corner, the door slightly ajar, I glanced inside by chance—and saw a scene that was painfully warm.
Liam sat by the bed, carefully massaging Vanessa’s hand. She had sprained it when she pushed me down the stairs. Noah was curled in her arms, whining and calling her Mom. Vanessa smiled radiantly, lifting a hand to stroke the child’s hair.
The three of them leaned together, looking exactly like a real family of three—peaceful, harmonious, timeless.
The sight stabbed into my eyes.
Yet I felt nothing at all.
Their lives, their warmth, had nothing to do with me anymore.
All I wanted now was to find my mother.
I clenched my teeth and quickened my steps, finally forcing myself to the door of her ward. The moment I pushed it open, the large room was completely empty.
The bed was neatly made, spotless, devoid of any warmth. On the bedside table, my mother’s usual thermos was gone as well.
My heart stopped abruptly.
A freezing chill shot up from the soles of my feet straight to my scalp.
“Where is my mom?!” I rushed out like a madwoman, grabbing a passing nurse. My nails dug almost into her arm as I shouted hoarsely, “Where is the patient from Bed 302? Where did she go?!”
The nurse was startled and shook her head in panic. “I—I don’t know. Someone just came claiming to be your husband and took her away. As for where they went, we really don’t know.”
I grabbed a doctor. I grabbed a caregiver. People moved back and forth through the hallway, yet not a single person could tell me where my mother had been taken—or whether she was even alive.
Panic and despair swallowed me whole.
My hands trembling, I sent Liam a message, every word soaked in blood:
Liam, tell me—where is my mom?
The message vanished into silence. No reply. Nothing.
I leaned against the cold wall. The pain in my legs nearly sent me collapsing, my vision darkening in waves. Just as I stood on the edge of complete breakdown, several black-clad bodyguards suddenly rushed over, grabbing my arms with brute force and dragging me toward the elevators.
“What are you doing?! Let go of me!” I struggled desperately, screaming. “I need to find my mom! My mom is missing!”
“Mr. Wright has ordered that you just underwent surgery and need to return to your room to rest,” one of the bodyguards said expressionlessly, his voice cold, his grip unrelenting.
Only then did I understand.
Liam never intended to let me find my mother.
He believed Vanessa. He protected Vanessa. And my mother’s safety meant absolutely nothing to him.
I was forcibly dragged back to my hospital room. The door was locked from the outside. The large room became a cage built just for me.
I collapsed onto the bed, staring at the heavy night outside the window. The pain in my legs had long gone numb, but the hollow in my chest only grew wider and deeper.
Liam.
Vanessa.
Noah.
What you owe me, what you owe my mother, what you owe my seven years of life—I, Clara, will remember every bit of it starting today.
I no longer beg for your love.
I no longer beg for your trust.
All I ask for now is that my mother be safe.
Once I find her and protect her, I will leave this nauseating prison forever.
I will reclaim my former self—the Clara who once stood on the podium, blazing with light. The Clara who had not yet been ground down by love, not yet destroyed by schemes.
And then—
I will return with a blade in hand.
Blood debts will be repaid in blood.
Just then, my phone lit up.
A message had arrived—from Mr. G.