Chapter 2

Ethan's eyes were rimmed with red.

He seized my wrist.

"Have you lost your mind? Just because I wouldn't give you three thousand dollars, you threw away our child?"

"I didn't throw him away."

I looked at him, eyes burning.

"I told you — it was an emergency."

"Ethan, look, she's lying to you again."

Olivia stepped forward and snatched up every single prenatal report I'd had since the start of the pregnancy.

"Every checkup came back normal. How could something suddenly go wrong last night?"

I looked at her.

"You know exactly why something went wrong, don't you?"

Olivia froze.

I clenched my teeth and forced out every word.

"What did you put in my soup last night? Did you really think I wouldn't find out?"

"Enough!"

I was shoved hard. My lower back slammed into the corner of the table, and the pain blacked out my vision.

Ethan glared at me through gritted teeth.

"Stop blaming everything on Olivia."

"Haven't you falsely accused her enough times already?"

Olivia bit her lower lip, gazing at me with that wounded look.

I steadied myself against my back and almost laughed at the absurdity.

It had always been this way.

When Olivia pushed me down the stairs — I was maliciously framing her.

When Olivia lost the livestream script — I'd set her up on purpose.

When Olivia put something in my soup — I was slandering her.

Looking at this man I'd loved for seven years, I suddenly felt so tired.

"Don't worry."

My voice was quiet.

"I'll never accuse her of anything again."

I pulled open the drawer and held out the divorce papers.

"I'll just wish you both happiness."

Ethan went rigid.

He looked at me, his voice faintly trembling.

"Emily..."

"See?"

Olivia let out a cold laugh, her eyes full of contempt.

"Ethan, I told you."

"Once Emily's other tricks didn't work, she'd pull out the divorce papers. It was only a matter of time."

Ethan's hand, halfway reaching for me, froze in midair.

Olivia turned to me, her tone gentle, but every word barbed.

"Emily, Ethan cares about you, so he's easily swayed by you."

"But I'm a woman too. Did you think I couldn't see right through you?"

"You really know how to scheme. First you kneel on the ground with your pregnant belly to play the victim. Then you get rid of the baby but claim you lost it, so Ethan feels guilty."

"And then you come prepared with divorce papers — your safety net."

"Honestly, most men wouldn't survive that kind of routine."

"Even if Ethan does divorce you, you'll leverage his guilt to walk away with a fortune."

The urgency drained from Ethan's face, bit by bit.

The way he looked at me grew colder, degree by degree.

When he spoke again, his voice dripped with contempt.

"Fine. We can divorce."

"But don't think you'll see a single cent."

He snatched the divorce papers from my hands and flipped to the property division page.

Then he went still.

It was written there in black and white.

I voluntarily relinquished all marital assets. I would leave the marriage with nothing.

Ethan looked at me, visibly surprised.

Olivia frowned without thinking.

But almost immediately, she leaned in and whispered, "Ethan, sign it."

Ethan's brow tightened.

Olivia jumped in at once:

"She's banking on you going soft."

"She offers to give up everything, and your instinct is to compensate her with a huge payout."

"That way, she keeps her reputation and walks off with the money."

She looked at me coldly.

"But someone who would use her own child as a bargaining chip — why should she get to have it all?"

Ethan gripped the pen.

"Ethan, only when you sign will she realize this trick doesn't work."

"Only then will she stop using the same tactics to hurt other people."

Ethan laughed.

A mocking laugh.

"Emily Carter, I have never been more disappointed in you."

He signed both copies of the divorce agreement in quick, sharp strokes.

"Since you're the one who offered to give up all the assets, then so be it."

He tossed my copy at me, apparently hoping to catch a flash of regret in my eyes.

But I simply put it away, quietly, without any particular reaction.

He frowned, clearly displeased.

The next second, he took Olivia's hand and walked out without looking back.

That night, Olivia's livestream exploded again.

"Look, everyone — this is a case study of a woman who tried to weaponize divorce to guilt-trip a man, and I saw right through it."

On screen, my divorce agreement with Ethan was enlarged to fill the frame.