Chapter 1"Why'd you get an IUD before you even had kids?" I went in for appendicitis. The doc dropped a BOMB.
An IUD? Impossible!
For seven years, I was always been told I was barren.
Because of that, husband looked at me with disgust. Mother-in-law? Constant verbal abuse.
But now? Staring at that piece of plastic that shouldn't exist...
I guessed I knew something—
It was SOMEONE wanted me sterile, right?
Huh. Fine.
I'll make sure her son's bloodline ENDS. WITH HIM!
---
Staring at the shadow on the screen, my hand instinctively went to my lower belly.
Seven years ago, when we started trying for a baby, they told me I was infertile—and that I had a small cyst.
I remember looking at Gideon Ray in a total panic, and he just whispered to me, trying to keep me calm.
"Don't be scared, babe. We'll just get the cyst removed first. I'm right here with you, every step of the way."
For the next seven years, Gideon walked me in and out of that hospital more times than I could count.
I snapped back to reality and looked at the doctor, asking him to yank the IUD out while he was in there for the appendectomy.
After the surgery, I was lying in the recovery bed when my phone buzzed. It was Gideon.
"Babe, where are you? Why haven't you been picking up?"
"I'm at the hospital. Just had surgery."
I spoke softly, but his voice on the other end came back sharp and frantic.
"Hospital? Which one?!"
Realizing he sounded a bit too intense, he quickly pivoted.
"I mean... what kind of surgery, babe? Are you okay?"
I couldn't even put my feelings into words. I gave him a quick answer and just hung up.
Before long, the door swung open, and Gideon rushed in.
"So, it was just your appendix? Why didn't you go to the clinic where my uncle works? He could've looked out for you."
He was scanning my face while he spoke.
I squeezed the copper IUD in my hand, keeping my face a total blank, and gave him a small smile.
"It hurt too much. This place was just closer."
My mother-in-law, Beatrice, pushed her way in right then, and the second she heard me, she started barking.
"How much could a little appendicitis hurt? If you can't even handle that, you'll never survive labor!"
"Then again, it's not like you're actually capable of getting pregnant anyway."
"Mom, back off. Andrea just got out of surgery. She's not feeling great."
Gideon poured me a glass of water, clearly checking to see if I'd caught on to the IUD thing.
Then, he was already in a rush to head out again.
"Babe, things are a mess at the office. I gotta run, but Mom will stay here and look after you."
I just nodded, watching his back as he disappeared through the door.
"I'm not wasting my time playing nurse for some barren bitch."
Beatrice spat that out with a sneer and followed him out.
The room went dead quiet, and I let out a long, heavy sigh.
Three days later, I was discharged.
In those three days, Gideon and his mother barely showed their faces. The nurses were the only ones who took pity on me.
I didn't go home. Instead, I headed straight to the medical center where Gideon's uncle worked—the same place where I'd had my "cyst" removed.
After making sure his uncle was off for the day, I walked over to the records department.
The clerk pulled up my file in no time.
I flipped through the pages one by one.
Seven years. Hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on exams, meds, and IVF.
And yet, there were only a few measly pages of routine check-ups in the whole thing.
When I got to the very first page, the record showed it wasn't a cyst removal at all. It was a sterilization procedure!
My hands started shaking violently. God, what a sick joke.
I'd suffered for seven years, drowned in guilt for seven years, and all this time some bastard had just stripped away my right to be a mother.
A bitter laugh escaped my lips, but the tears wouldn't stop.
After a while, I wiped my face and pulled out my phone to snap photos of the evidence.
But then I noticed the consent form—the one the next of kin signs—was gone.
I didn't make a scene. I just closed the folder, thanked the staff, and walked out.
As soon as I cleared the doors, I called an old college friend who worked at the State Health Department.
I explained the situation, and she told me to hang tight for a minute.
Before long, my phone rang.
"Andrea, I just sent that missing page to your phone."
"Got it. Thanks so much."
There was a pause on the other end before she spoke again.
"Your husband's records were scrubbed way too clean. I got curious and ran a check on his ID, too."
"I found something. I sent it over with the rest, but..."
"You need to brace yourself, Andrea. If you need anything, and I mean anything, call me."
"I will..."
Chapter 2
I slumped onto a park bench and pulled up my phone.
The first photo was the missing page. There it was, in black and white: Gideon's signature.
I knew it was coming, but it still hit me like a freight train.
I could still hear Gideon's voice in my ear, all those times he'd "patiently" comforted me.
What was going through his head back then? Did he feel even a flicker of guilt, or was he just laughing at how gullible I was?
I tapped on the second photo. It was a birth certificate.
My heart physically lurched as my eyes darted to the line for "Father."
Gideon Ray!
I compared the two signatures. They were identical.
One signature had stripped me of my right to be a mother, the other had officially made him a father.
Tears blurred my vision, and a wave of pure, unadulterated hatred ripped through me.
I sat there for hours before I finally forced myself to go home.
Beatrice was parked on the sofa. The second I walked in, she started barking at me to get dinner started.
I used to live in a constant state of guilt because I couldn't get pregnant, I'd once even forced myself to cook while shivering with a 104-degree fever.
But this time, I didn't budge.
When she realized I wasn't moving, she scuttled over to the portrait of my late father-in-law to start her usual performance.
She wailed about how I'd ended the Ray bloodline and how her son was too stubborn to just divorce me already.
I'd heard this same damn script for seven years, over and over again.
And every single time, I'd felt like garbage while feeling "grateful" that Gideon hadn't kicked me to the curb.
Watching her now, I wondered—did she know she already had a grandson out there?
I must have been staring too hard, because she eventually cut the act and called Gideon instead.
I ignored her and walked straight into my bedroom.
I tore the room apart, but I couldn't find a single one of my medical records.
I'd gone through three rounds of IVF, all failures. Every time I'd asked to see the results, Gideon would say it would "only upset me" and hide them away.
I'd actually found it sweet back then. Looking back, it was a pathetic joke.
I collapsed onto the bed and closed my eyes, drained of every ounce of energy.
A while later, Gideon pushed the door open.
He walked over and leaned in to kiss my cheek, like everything was normal.
I pulled away. He didn't even blink.
"Hey, babe. Feeling any better? Come on, let's go eat."
He reached out to pull me up.
Looking at his hand, I had this overwhelming urge to just scream everything in his face.
But I couldn't. Not yet. I didn't have the full picture, and I couldn't risk tipping him off.
I took his hand and let him lead me out.
After dinner, Gideon knelt down in front of me, looking up with those soulful, lying eyes.
"Look, Andrea... I know you just had surgery, and I hate to bring this up, but the business is in serious trouble."
"What's wrong?"
"The competition is squeezing our suppliers, and the bank is calling in our loans. We're facing bankruptcy."
Before I could even open my mouth, Beatrice started screeching.
"And why is the bank pulling out?! Because you can't produce an heir, that's why!"
"Mom, leave Andrea out of this."
He turned back to me.
"The bank thinks there's too much risk because I don't have an heir. They're jumping ship. Babe, we built this together. I can't watch it go under."
Right. My father had cut the check that started this whole business from scratch.
He'd given me 80% of the shares right at the start, which was why I'd never doubted him for a second.
"If you don't have an heir, then adopt one! There's more than one way to skin a cat!" Beatrice yelled.
"She's right, babe. What if we adopt? Just someone from an agency? Once there's a kid in the picture, the bank will keep the credit line open."
He looked so desperate, so pained. But I didn't believe a word of it.
"I'm tired."
"Okay. You get some rest. We'll talk later. I'll figure something out."
Chapter 3
For the next few days, Gideon played the part of the depressed husband, "drowning his sorrows" in booze while I spent my time digging into the company's finances.
One morning, he skipped the drinks and headed out early.
I got a ping from my private investigator. It was the smoking gun—evidence that Gideon had been siphoning off company assets for months.
I sat there with the files, waiting for him to come home so I could end this marriage once and for all.
Gideon got back in the afternoon.
"Babe! I found a way to save the company!" he shouted, his excitement cutting off my divorce talk.
"A distant cousin of mine died in a car wreck. Left behind a wife and a kid. She can't afford to raise him, and she's willing to let us adopt."
"Oh, that's perfect!" Beatrice chimed in. "The boy's name is Leo, right? He's family, he's got Ray blood. It keeps the legacy alive!"
Leo? That name rang a bell.
"What's the mother's name?"
"Tiffany Summers."
I felt a cold smile tug at my lips. Tiffany Summers. That was the mother's name on the birth certificate.
"Babe, what do you think? We adopt him, throw a big 'Welcome Home' party, and get the bank off our backs."
"And if we ever have a biological kid down the road, the company will still go to them."
"Sure," I said, nodding.
A party sounded great. The more people there to witness the fallout, the better.
The day before the party, Gideon brought the "widow" and the boy home.
The moment they walked in, Tiffany forced the kid onto his knees.
"Go on, Leo! Kneel down for Mrs. Ray! She's the one taking you in. She's your new mommy now."
"No! I'm not kneeling! I don't want a new mommy!"
Leo started screaming and lunged at me, his fingernails raking across my arm, leaving angry red welts.
Gideon was too busy playing knight in shining armor to Tiffany.
"Andrea, for God's sake! She's giving you her son. The least you could do is show some gratitude instead of making her grovel!"
Tiffany leaned weakly against Gideon, looking fragile.
"It's okay, Gideon. As long as Leo is well taken care of, I don't care about anything else."
The kid gave me a sudden, violent shove. I wasn't expecting it, and I went down hard.
Crack. My jade bracelet shattered against the floor.
It was the only thing I had left from my mother. Seeing it in pieces, I saw red and slapped him.
Gideon immediately snatched Leo and tucked him behind his back.
"Andrea! Are you out of your mind?! He's just a kid!"
"He broke my mother's bracelet!"
A flicker of guilt crossed his face, but it vanished in a heartbeat.
"It's just a bracelet! I'll buy you a new one in a few days, alright? Drop it!"
He brushed me off and turned all his attention back to Leo's face.
He'd forgotten that when he proposed, he held that very bracelet and swore he'd spend the rest of his life protecting me for my mother's sake!
At dinner, Leo hogged all the food and then literally spat into my plate.
Gideon and Beatrice acted like nothing happened. The four of them looked like a perfect little family, while I sat there like the hired help.
After dinner, Gideon came to me with a folder.
"Babe, I need to get the adoption papers moving. I need to use your downtown condo as proof of residency for the school district."
"Just sign here so we can get him enrolled."
I took the papers and started to flip through them.
Gideon slammed his hand down on the page.
"Andrea, don't you trust me? Just sign it."
The old me would have signed without a second thought. But not today.
"Are you absolutely sure this is just for the school enrollment?"
I asked loudly, making sure the nanny cam caught it.
"Of course. When have I ever lied to you?"
I watched him take the signed papers like they were gold. As soon as he left, I uploaded the footage to the cloud.
By the afternoon, I checked the home security system. Sure enough, that clip had been wiped clean.
That night, Leo threw a tantrum because he wanted to sleep with Gideon.
Gideon gave me a "helpless" look.
"Babe, Leo is still adjusting. Would you mind sleeping on the couch tonight? Just for one night."
I didn't even let him finish. I just walked out.
That bed was filthy anyway. I didn't want to touch it.
In the middle of the night, I got up to use the bathroom and heard the muffled moans coming from the guest room. It was Gideon and Tiffany.
"Gideon, baby... when can we finally be together for real?"
"Soon," Gideon whispered, chuckling. "I've moved most of the money. Once the party's over and the condo is in my name, I'm dumping her."
He gave a low laugh.
"My mom is losing her mind too. She's been dying to go full 'Grandma' mode with Leo."
I clenched my fists.
Fine. If that's how they wanted to play it, they were going to regret ever making me a target!
