Chapter 4

I put the house on the market.

I had bought this house with the money I scrimped and saved. The six-hundred-thousand-dollar down payment came entirely from my account, and I was the one paying the mortgage every month.

Ethan had dumped all his earnings into research projects and medical equipment.

In eight years, he hadn't contributed a single brick to this home.

My lawyer assured me that since we weren't legally married, he had no claim to the property.

Because of his career ambitions, we had delayed getting officially married.

Thank God.

We were never married.

The house was mine.

When I went back to pack my things, I pushed the front door open and froze.

The nursery door stood wide open.

Everything I had meticulously chosen—the tiny socks, the pastel bonnets, the soft onesies—had been trashed.

They were scattered across the floor, covered in dirty footprints.

Draped over the crib were women's bras and stained, yellowing underwear.

I knelt down to pick up the clothes, my fingers shaking violently.

Just then, the front door clicked open.

Ethan and Chloe walked in together.

Chloe was holding her baby in one arm, her phone propped up in the other, streaming live on TikTok.

"Thank you so much for the gifts, guys~" Her voice was sickeningly sweet.

"Today, I'm introducing you all to my first love—Dr. Miller right here~"

The live comments exploded.

"OMG, first love?! He's gorgeous!"

"Kiss him! Kiss him!"

Chloe blushed, glancing shyly at Ethan. "Oh, we shouldn't..."

The comments flooded in faster: "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

She stood on her tiptoes and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek.

Ethan stiffened slightly.

But he didn't push her away.

The chat went wild:

"A real-life fairy tale!"

"A man never forgets his first love! Other women are just stepping stones!"

"He's saving a single mom! This is pure romance, I'm literally crying!"

I stood at the end of the hallway, nausea churning in my gut, my heart freezing over.

I spoke coldly:

"Sorry to interrupt your little show."

"I've sold this house. Pack your crap and get out."

Ethan's smile vanished instantly. "Nora, Chloe was just joking for her stream! Don't take it the wrong way!"

"And didn't we buy this place together? How can you just sell it without telling me?"

"Together?" I glared at him. "Where was your money? Didn't you just spend seven hundred thousand in cash on a condo for Chloe? You can move in with her."

Chloe toyed with a delicate gold necklace around her neck, smiling innocently.

I stopped dead in my tracks.

That was my mother's wedding gift to me, part of the matching set with the bracelet.

The bracelet was on Chloe's baby.

And the necklace had been altered and hung around Chloe's own neck.

Everything my mother had saved her whole life to give me had been stolen by this mother and daughter.

Fury exploded inside me. "Give me back my bracelet and necklace!"

Chloe rolled her eyes. "It's just jewelry, why make such a fuss? When you have a kid later, Ethan can buy you something way better."

"Aren't you ashamed of bullying a single mom for some trinkets?"

"I've already called the police," I said, pulling out my phone. "Grand larceny for stolen property over fifty thousand carries serious prison time."

"That heirloom set is worth over two hundred and eighty thousand dollars. You're going to prison."

Chloe's face paled.

Panic flashed in her eyes. "Stop trying to scare me! Ethan gave these to me!"

I sneered. "Then he's an accomplice to grand theft!"

Ethan looked furious, but before he could speak, my phone rang shrilly.

It was Aunt Claire. Her voice was cracked and sobbing on the other end:

"Nora... someone called your mother and told her your baby died. She went into shock, had a massive heart attack... The paramedics couldn't bring her back..."

"Boom."

It felt like lightning struck my skull.

My mind went completely blank.

I remembered being little.

The woman who carried me on her back through three miles of mud in the middle of the night when I had a burning fever.

The woman who swung a broom at my abusive father to protect me.

The woman who secretly sent me envelopes of cash after I graduated because she worried I wasn't eating well.

The one person who loved me unconditionally in this world.

The person who spent her entire life giving me a foundation.

She was gone.

Killed by sheer grief.

It was Chloe!

My vision turned crimson. I lunged at her like a madwoman:

"You bitch! I'll kill you for what you did to my mother!"

"Nora! Calm down!" Ethan threw himself between us.

"Chloe would never do that! Your mother had a heart condition, that's her own medical issue! What does that have to do with Chloe? Can you stop blaming innocent people for everything that goes wrong?!"

Before my fingers could even graze Chloe's clothes, Ethan shoved me hard.

A sudden, tearing pain ripped through my lower abdomen.

Something warm and wet began running down my thighs.

Blood. Bright, crimson blood.

Just like the day in the delivery room when my daughter slipped away.

"Why are you bleeding?!"

Ethan's voice sounded like it was coming from miles away.

Darkness closed in, and I collapsed onto the floor.