Chapter 2

Marco's eyes reddened at the edges.

He seized my wrist in a crushing grip.

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

"I didn't throw anything away."

I looked at him, eyes burning.

"I told you—the situation was critical."

"Boss, see? She's lying to you again."

Serena strode forward and snatched up every prenatal report I'd had since the start of the pregnancy.

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

I looked at her.

"You don't know why something went wrong?"

Serena froze.

I clenched my jaw and spoke through my teeth, word by 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.

Marco glared at me through gritted teeth.

"Stop pinning everything on Serena."

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

Serena bit her lower lip, the picture of wounded innocence as she looked at me.

I steadied myself against my aching back, and suddenly I found it laughable.

It had always been like this.

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

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

Serena put something in my soup—I was slandering her.

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

"Don't worry."

I said it quietly.

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

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

"I'll only wish you both happiness."

Marco went rigid.

He looked at me, his voice faintly trembling.

"Ava..."

"See?"

Serena let out a cold laugh, her eyes dripping with contempt.

"Boss, I told you."

"When Ava's earlier tricks don't work, she always pulls out divorce papers at the end."

Marco's hand, reaching toward me, froze in midair.

Serena turned to me, her tone gentle, every word barbed.

"Ava, Boss cares about you, so he's easily swayed by you."

"But I'm a woman too. How could I not see through you?"

"You really know how to play the game. First you kneel with your pregnant belly for sympathy, then you get rid of the baby but claim you lost it—so Boss feels guilty."

"Then you have divorce papers ready as a safety net."

"Honestly, most men couldn't hold up against a routine like that."

"Even if Boss does divorce you, you'd still walk away with a fortune from his guilt alone."

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

The way he looked at me turned cold, degree by degree.

When he spoke again, his voice was thick with scorn.

"Fine. Divorce."

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

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

Then he froze.

It was written in black and white.

I voluntarily relinquished all marital assets. A clean break. Not a penny.

Marco looked at me, visibly surprised.

Serena frowned involuntarily.

But almost immediately, she whispered, urgent.

"Boss, sign it."

Marco's brow tightened.

Serena spoke at once:

"She's counting on you going soft."

"She offers to give up everything, and your instinct will be to compensate her with a huge sum."

"Then she walks away with both her reputation and the money."

She fixed me with a cold stare.

"But why should someone who'd use her own child as a pawn get to have it all?"

Marco's grip tightened on the pen.

"Boss, only after you sign will she understand this trick doesn't work."

"Only then will she stop using the same tactics to hurt someone else."

Marco laughed.

A laugh laced with derision.

"Ava Carter, I am so disappointed in you."

He scrawled his name across both copies of the divorce agreement without hesitation.

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

He tossed my copy at me, as though expecting to see regret in my eyes.

But I simply picked it up, quietly, without any particular reaction.

He frowned, clearly displeased.

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

That night, Serena's livestream exploded again.

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

On the stream, my divorce agreement with Marco was blown up to fill the entire screen.