Several onlookers recognized Samuel, and whispers rippled through the gathering crowd.

"A marriage contract? Like in those TV dramas?"


"Classic rich people games."

"If there's no love, only business, why stay married at all?"

Samuel's face cycled through shades of rage and humiliation.


"Shut up! You know nothing about my private affairs!"

"She's carrying my child and wants to leave me! I won't allow it!"


The nurse who had first confirmed my pregnancy stepped forward.

"You're her husband? She's been here multiple times fighting to save this pregnancy while you were nowhere to be found. No wonder she wants a divorce!"

Samuel's face turned crimson, veins bulging in his neck as he struggled for words.

His phone rang, cutting through the tense silence.

"Sir, it's an emergency! Rachel just turned herself in to the tax authorities. She's claiming you ordered her to orchestrate tax evasion schemes for the company…"

The voice blared on speakerphone for everyone to hear.

Samuel inhaled sharply.

"You've won this round, Lucy. I'll handle the company crisis first, but we're not finished!"

Rachel knew all Samuel's secrets after years as his right hand. With this crisis consuming him, I'd bought myself precious time.

I immediately requested discharge papers.

The nurse tried to convince me to stay.

I gave her a tired smile and shook my head.

"Freedom is too precious to waste. I promise I'll take care of myself."

By the time Samuel could spare attention to track me down, I had already liquidated my assets and vanished from the city.

Our divorce hearing took place online several months later.

On the video screen, Samuel looked like a shell of his former self.

With both his dutiful wife and his scheming mistress gone, his personal and professional life had crumbled. His voice during the proceedings was barely above a whisper.

He raised no objections to the property division and readily agreed to the divorce terms.

Just as the session was ending, he lurched forward, his face filling the screen.

"Lucy, please—when the baby is born, let me see it just once. I'm begging you." His voice broke. "I am still the father."

I offered a small, cold smile.

"You're too late. There is no child anymore."

The screen went black, but the audio delay captured his anguished howl in the final second.

My hand brushed across my flat stomach. I hadn't lied.

I had initially wanted to keep the baby—a final tribute to the love I once felt.

But the medications I'd taken for my leg injury had compromised the pregnancy. The doctors warned of significant health risks.

In the end, I terminated the pregnancy.

Perhaps this was Samuel's karma—a man so selfish and cruel didn't deserve to be a father.

In my new life, I still caught occasional news about the Wilson Group.

After our divorce, Samuel reportedly suffered a breakdown. He began frequenting temples, consulting spiritual healers, and taking strange herbal remedies. People said he'd become unhinged.

Eventually came reports of the Wilson Group's bankruptcy and forced restructuring.

I closed the browser tab. His story was no longer mine to follow.

Now I had my freedom, financial security, and a future entirely my own. Everything had worked out exactly as it should.