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She Wanted My Husband's Love Fourfold,So I Gave Her Quadruplets
NovelShort
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At our daughter's hundred-day celebration, my husband was in a hurry to get back to the company for overtime. But yesterday I'd gotten a message from the hospital. The embryo screening for him and his...
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第1章
At our daughter's hundred-day celebration, my husband was in a hurry to get back to the company for overtime.
But yesterday I'd gotten a message from the hospital. The embryo screening for him and his childhood friend was done, and the transfer could happen this morning.
I blocked his way and refused to let him leave.
My mother-in-law slapped me across the face and lectured me in front of everyone. "A grown woman with a child, and you're throwing a jealous little-girl tantrum. You don't earn a dime. What gives you the right to stop my son from going out to make money?"
"Honey, it's our daughter's hundred-day party. She can't have it without her father." I held my ground, still blocking him.
"It's just overtime, not a divorce. Do you have to make it sound so dire?" He shoved me hard and strode off.
I handed the baby to my mother-in-law, ignored her cursing, and grabbed a cab straight to the hospital.
In the waiting area, my husband, Sam Gilbert, was holding his childhood friend, June Finch, close and easy against him.
June poked at his chest. "Sam, you swore an oath. Whatever Daisy Chavez gets, I get four times the love."
"She's had her daughter. Now I'm going to give you four sons, and you're not allowed to go back on it."
Sam brushed a finger down her nose. "All right, all right. What's my little jealous thing got to be jealous of her for?"
"Her belly's covered in stretch marks now. One look and it turns my stomach. Every extra minute with her wears me out. It's only with you that I can relax."
I laid a hand over my stomach and bit down on my lip.
Four times the love, four sons, is that it? June, then I'll give you quadruplets all at once.
Sam, when her belly's crawling with stretch marks, will you find her disgusting too?
...
I watched Sam's face from across the room, listening to him coax her with more sweet words than he'd given me in a month.
Fifteen minutes later, I decided to give up seven years of marriage. Sam, I don't want you anymore.
I ran out of the hospital, sat down on the edge of a flower bed, and couldn't stop crying.
From campus to marriage, Sam and I had taken a full fifteen years.
From dead broke to a fortune worth hundreds of millions.
From a rented room to a two-hundred-square-meter luxury apartment.
From eighteen to thirty-three.
But Sam and June had known each other for thirty-three years. When Sam was eighteen, he fell into the water, and June saved him. She'd saved his life, and from then on they were sworn friends for life.
That year, June made him promise that no matter who he ended up with, he'd always give her four times the love.
All these years, if Sam bought me one flower, he bought her four.
If he spent one day with me on a holiday, he spent four with her.
Back then I never minded. I was always grateful that June had saved his life. I'd even tell Sam on my own to bring extra money for her.
While I sat in the car in a daze, a text came in from Sam.
"Wife, work's insane. Love you."
Followed by transfers of 520 and 1314.
I opened June's account, and sure enough, she'd posted four screenshots of 520 and 1314 transfers, with the caption, "Four times the love, never once missing."
The comments were nothing but praise.
So lucky, sis. Your man is so generous.
You eat well, sis. He's rich, handsome, and built.
Can't wait for you and him to have a beautiful baby.
June replied, "One's not enough. We agreed we'd have four."
Back at our new home, I rushed into the bedroom and shut the door. I didn't want to break down in front of my daughter.
My mother-in-law held the baby and pounded on the door.
"A grown woman with a child, running off to fool around. The baby's this small and you dare dump her on me. Heartless."
"Sweet girl, your mommy's bad, she doesn't want you, but Grandma does. Nasty mommy, let's hit her."
I leaned against the door and slid down to the floor, the pain in my chest so sharp I couldn't breathe.
The more you love, the more it hurts.
My best friend, Michelle Estes, called. "Daisy, where are you? Your husband's here with that childhood friend of his doing IVF. They're going for twins."
"And that piece of trash registered under a married couple's name. I had someone tip you off on purpose. Why aren't you here yet!"
My hand was shaking. I barely kept hold of the phone. "Give them quadruplets. Four sons."
第2章
"Daisy, have you lost your mind? A child born out of wedlock still has inheritance rights. You need to get people together right now, go to Sam, and stop them." Michelle was frantic, snapping at me over the phone.
"I'm. Not. Crazy. Do it. Give them the transfer." I dug my nails into my palm and answered one word at a time.
After I hung up, I took a cold shower, pulled myself together, and, through my mother-in-law's fury, took my daughter back into my arms.
Two hours later, Michelle messaged me. "The quadruplet transfer was a success. Whatever you decide, I'm behind you!"
She'd attached every piece of evidence of Sam and June doing IVF. I saved it all and sent it to my lawyer.
My decision was divorce.
Sam came home the next day, worn out, dark circles under his eyes.
He spread his arms wide. "Babe! Let me hold my little girl. Once this big project comes through, I'm buying her a mansion."
The second she reached his hands, our daughter started crying. He came over, faintly irritated. "I'm a little tired. You take her after all."
I looked at him and held out an insurance policy. "The mansion can wait. This is the million-dollar education fund you promised our daughter. Sign it."
Sam frowned at me, displeased. "Daisy, is there anything you can do these days besides ask me for money?"
June walked in with my mother-in-law. "Sam adores his little girl," she said loudly. "A million-dollar education fund? He wouldn't think twice about it."
Her figure was lovely, dressed in the newest, prettiest clothes, looking ten years younger than me.
"Here, this is the latest scar cream, I had a friend track it down. Great for the stretch marks on your belly. I was a little busy yesterday, couldn't make it to the baby's hundred-day party. You're not upset, are you?" June propped a hand at her waist and looked at me, pleased with herself.
"What right does she have to be upset? She doesn't earn a cent, my son supports this whole family. Spending money on her is a waste." My mother-in-law curled her lip and eased June carefully into a seat.
"I don't need it. Keep it for yourself." I looked coldly at the three of them playing at being one happy family.
Sam frowned, out of patience. "June comes here out of kindness to bring you scar cream, and you curse her, wishing more scars on her."
"Daisy, ever since you had the baby, you've been impossible. Like a shrew."
So I was a shrew. Impossible.
Fifteen years together, and in the end, in his eyes, this was all I amounted to.
June's lips curved, all put-on generosity. "Sam, women who've just had a baby always get suspicious over everything."
"Besides, Daisy's dad cheated when he was young. It's normal for her to be triggered. I won't hold it against her."
Sam sighed. "Daisy, when will you learn some of June's grace and warmth? You go on like this, and I'll wear out."
"Sam, back when you two were dating, I told you not to take a woman from a single-parent home. They're prone to mental problems. But no, you wouldn't believe me." My mother-in-law looked over at me with disgust, as if I were some kind of virus.
"Mom, that's enough! Daisy's just sensitive after the baby." Sam's mouth stopped his mother, but I saw the regret in his eyes, plain as day.
Back then, when he was chasing me, he said he'd protect me for life, love me for life.
That he'd never let me walk my mother's road, that he'd make sure our future daughter was happy.
Now he was walking my father's road.
But I would not let my daughter walk mine.
I looked at Sam. "The education fund for our daughter. Are you giving June four times that too?"
第3章
Chapter 3: Chapter 3
3.
"Daisy, June and Sam grew up together, and she saved his life. Marrying into the Gilbert family, you ought to kneel and thank June for it."
"So what if Sam spends a little more on her, treats her a little better!" My mother-in-law jabbed a finger at me, screaming, her eyes ready to swallow me whole.
June glanced at Sam, then turned to me with a face full of wounded innocence. "If it bothers you, the promise Sam made me, I'll tear it up right now, starting this second."
"I'm never getting married. He and I are just childhood friends. You don't have to guard against me."
From the day I met Sam, June had been at our side the whole time.
She called herself a woman who'd never marry, said she wanted the joy and freedom of the single life.
But for fifteen years, Sam poured four times the energy and four times the money into her that he ever gave me.
Little by little, I became June's one-fourth.
I looked at Sam and wouldn't let it go. "Are you willing to tear it up?"
"Daisy, keeping your word is the foundation of being a decent person. Even if you're my wife, I won't let you turn me into an ingrate. That's the one line I won't cross." Sam looked at me, all disappointment.
"Your word means keeping the promise you made to her. And the promise you made to me?" I cried the question out at him.
Was it just because I was his wife that keeping faith no longer applied between us?
Sam said nothing.
"She gave her life for yours, so she gave herself to you. If you hadn't shoved your way in, June would be my daughter-in-law by now. And you have the nerve to force them to tear up their pact." My mother-in-law stepped forward and slapped me across the face.
My daughter burst into terrified wails. I wiped my eyes, my cheek burning, and rushed to soothe her.
"Go feed the baby, she's hungry. Stop dwelling on things and making yourself miserable." June watched me, savoring it.
"Honey, let me apologize for Mom. She shouldn't have hit you. Go inside and feed the baby first." Sam's apology was a formality. Every time his mother picked a fight, this was his response.
By the time I'd fed my daughter, rocked her to sleep, and came back out, the living room was empty. All that was left was a signed insurance policy.
I opened my phone. Sure enough, June had posted again online, showing off the four-million-dollar policy Sam had given her.
[The baby isn't even born yet, and Mr. Gilbert's fourfold devotion has already arrived.]
I screenshotted it and saved it. Then I took my marriage certificate, my ID, and Sam's card, and went to the bank to pull the transaction records.
Line after line of transfers, more than sixty million all together.
Four of them were property payments. Behind my back, he'd bought June four luxury apartments.
I hadn't known a thing about it.
June hadn't posted these online either. So they both understood these were marital assets, Sam's and mine.
Sam's call came through, a thread of exhaustion in his voice. "Honey, I bought you a pair of gold bracelets. My secretary will bring them over. It's hard on you, taking care of our daughter. Don't hold anything against my mom."
I gripped the phone. "Sam, mine is one pair. Is June's four pairs of gold bracelets?"
"Daisy, haven't you made enough of a scene? June saved my life. Even if I gave her ten pairs of gold bracelets, it would be no more than she deserves." Sam hung up, furious.
I gripped the phone. Sam, June saved the life you had at eighteen. But this fortune of yours, worth hundreds of millions, I built it beside you, drinking until I threw up blood, working through the nights.
I wore my body down. Carrying our daughter, I was spotting from week eight to week thirteen, fighting the whole way to keep her, and only then, out of necessity, did I become a stay-at-home mom.
I sent Sam a message. "I want to see you within the hour."
第4章
Chapter 4: Chapter 4
4.
I set a timer on my phone. Sam made it home with a minute to spare, face like a thundercloud, June trailing behind him looking put out.
"What's so urgent, big sis? You scared Sam so bad he ran a red light on the way over. That's dangerous!"
I looked at June, cold. "Whatever happens between my husband and me, do I owe you a report? Get out of my house."
June turned to Sam, all wounded innocence. "Sam, I'm sorry. I never should have dragged you out to pick a stroller."
"When you choose to be a single mother, you have to accept the sneers and the mockery."
Sam steadied her by the shoulders, eased her down onto the couch with painstaking care, poured her a cup of warm water. "Don't get worked up. Rest for now. I'll talk to her."
They looked, for all the world, like a devoted married couple.
I was the one who didn't belong here.
"Sam, whose baby is she carrying?" I held his eyes. Would he tell me the truth?
Something panicked flickered across his face. "You really think that low of me, of what June and I are? There's nothing between us. We're clean."
"June is an independent woman. She did IVF to become a single mother. All I've done is help her out a little more."
I looked at him, calm, and asked again. "Then the man who provided the sperm, was that you?"
Sam couldn't meet my eyes. He turned his head away and cleared his throat.
"Big sis, the hospital has a sperm bank. I picked a young, accomplished donor. Don't get the wrong idea. I only had Sam keep me company." June stood up to smooth it over for him, but the look in her eyes was anything but distant.
"Since the baby you're carrying has nothing to do with Sam, then let's get it notarized. If you've lied to me, we divorce, and Sam walks away with nothing." I took out paper and a pen and slapped them down on the coffee table.
At the word divorce, June's eyes lit with delight. Then she heard walks away with nothing, and her mouth curled into a pout.
"Daisy, you're just a pathetic little leech living off me right now. What right do you have to bring up divorce?" Sam cracked. He grabbed my arm, his face gone livid.
I pried his fingers off one by one. "Sam, I'm no leech, and I've never lived off you for free. More than half the company's business came through me."
"You care so much about June. Wouldn't it be better if I just let you two have each other?"
June rose from the couch, tears running down her face. "Big sis, this is all my fault. Don't divorce Sam. He loves you so much."
"The fourfold-devotion pact, let's cancel it today. I never should have come between you."
She said cancel, but her hands clung tight to Sam's arm.
Sam shielded her behind him, as if terrified I might lose my mind, and murmured to soothe her. "Don't take her words to heart. She hides behind postpartum depression all day long. It's just her way of forcing me to fall in line, of trying to control me."
I watched him, and it hurt. The postpartum depression was a hospital diagnosis. The doctor was the one who told him to spend more time with me.
And he called it my excuse, my way to control him.
This man who once swore to protect me for the rest of my life, to make me happy, had brought me nothing but grief and storms.
He looked at me with disgust. "Daisy, that scheming face of yours is honestly sickening."
June pressed a hand to her chest. "Sam, my chest hurts. I can barely breathe."
Sam scooped June up into his arms and glared at me. "Daisy, if anything happens to the baby in June's belly, I'm not done with you."
He wasn't even bothering to pretend anymore.
If he was this frantic over their child, then of course I would let him have his way.
The next day, the legal team I'd hired walked into Sam's office.
I sat in the new apartment, drinking coffee, while the nanny mixed formula for my daughter.
Sam's call came through, and he was screaming into the phone. "Daisy! You're actually divorcing me. Who gave you the nerve?"
"You want to destroy this whole family, drag our daughter into a broken home to suffer?"
I laughed, cold. "Sam, after the divorce our daughter gets all my love and all my money to herself. Stay married, and someday she'll be fighting four illegitimate little brothers for the inheritance. That is what suffering looks like."