The day I gave birth to our daughter, my husband, Julian Blackwood, threw a fake paternity test showing no blood relation in my face. “Harper, I’ve been so good to you. How could you cheat on me? We’re getting a divorce! Take this bastard child and leave with nothing. I never want to see either of you again!” I held my sleeping newborn daughter in my arms and calmly nodded. Just last night, I’d overheard them at the delivery room door. Julian’s adoptive sister, Stella Blackwood, was clinging to his arm, whining: “Julian, my dying wish is to spend a year alone with you, to relive our childhood affection. Can’t Harper just take the baby and leave for a year, please?” Julian’s face was full of doting affection. “Silly girl, don’t say such unlucky things. Just be a good girl and have your appendectomy. The next year, I’ll only be with you.” Lying on the operating table, tears silently streamed down my temples. He had no idea. The man who’d waited ten years for me would come to pick me up tomorrow. Not just for a year, but for this entire lifetime. I wouldn’t be coming back.
Stella and Julian weren’t blood-related. She had a twisted, possessive obsession with him. Right now, Stella was pointing at my daughter, covering her mouth in a dramatic gasp: “Bro, no wonder this kid rubbed me the wrong way. Turns out she’s a bastard!” She practically shrieked, her long, sharp nail poking an indent into Lily’s delicate skin. “So ugly, all wrinkled up like a tiny old man. They say daughters look like their dads, Harper, you really aren’t picky, are you? You’ll eat anything.” Julian’s expression was distant and cold. “Harper, since this isn’t a Blackwood child, she doesn’t deserve this VIP room. Take the baby and get out, now.” I looked up at Stella, whose face was alight with smug triumph. Dressed in Chanel couture, a single diamond on her high heels could buy a hundred VIP rooms. Then I thought of myself, emerging from the delivery room, alone with my daughter, not even a nurse to help me. I laughed bitterly. It turned out that my daughter and I together weren’t worth Stella, his adoptive sister’s, whimsical little tantrum. Cradling Lily, I struggled to drag my legs. With every slight movement, a hot gush of blood surged from beneath me, staining the bed. Stella shrieked, “Ugh—that’s disgusting! So much filthy blood, it’s ugly and smells awful. I’m going to have nightmares tonight!” She screamed and burrowed into Julian’s arms, One hand forcefully yanking the blanket off me. Cold air rushed into the bed, exposing my body, clad only in a hospital diaper. An eight-centimeter incision on my stomach was trickling blood, which mingled with the postpartum discharge below, dripping onto the floor. The open hospital room door revealed people passing by. I was utterly humiliated, feeling as exposed as if I’d been stripped naked and left on the street. “Cover me up.” My voice trembled with shame. Julian’s face tightened uncomfortably. He turned his body to block the view from outside, reaching out to pull the blanket back. “Alright, alright. Going out looking like this, people will think the Blackwoods did something to you.” He glanced at the bodyguards. “Go, get a wheelchair. Take her to a regular room.” Stella immediately protested. “Julian, this is the wicked woman who cheated on you! She deserves to walk out like this, so everyone in the hospital can see what a shameless woman looks like and what kind of price you pay for infidelity!” “But…” “Julian! At a time like this, are you still going to protect this woman and her bastard child?” Stella’s eyes instantly welled up, her voice sharp and shrill with accusation. Seeing her like this, Julian sighed, his eyes filled with doting helplessness. “Fine, fine. You’re the Blackwood family’s precious gem, my only sweetheart. Whatever you say goes.” Stella hummed in satisfaction, And swaggered out ahead of me, clapping her hands and loudly broadcasting my “cheating scandal.” “Everyone, come see! This is the shameless woman who cheated and then tried to trick my brother into raising her bastard! She’s a filthy tramp, everyone needs to keep their eyes peeled, or she might seduce your men too!” The gazes of the people around me were like razor-sharp knives, piercing me from all directions. Someone, enraged, grabbed a thermos and threw a container of rice porridge all over me. The hot porridge scalded my exposed skin, instantly raising blisters. Julian didn’t even spare me a glance. He stayed by Stella’s side, silently kicking away tiny pebbles from her path, Doing everything he could to clear her way. Watching this scene, my chest felt like it was crushed by waterlogged cotton, so heavy I could barely breathe. I bit my lip and made it to the regular room, my legs like jelly. Powerless, I lay on the bed, Curling up with my daughter. Lily, you don’t have a father anymore, But it’s okay. After tonight, we’ll both have a new life.
That night, Lily suddenly burst into loud cries, her body burning with fever. I struggled to get up, carrying her to the door, Only to be blocked by bodyguards. “Ms. Harper, I apologize, but without Mr. Blackwood’s or Ms. Stella’s orders, you cannot leave the room.” I clutched my daughter close, yelling at the bodyguards, “Let me through! My daughter has a high fever, she needs medical attention immediately!” The bodyguards stood impassively in front of me. “We apologize. Until you repay the wedding gifts worth eight hundred and eighty thousand, you are not permitted to leave the room. If you run, Mr. Blackwood will hold us accountable for the money. Please don’t make this difficult for us.” My whole body went cold. Something in my mind seemed to explode in an instant. Eight hundred and eighty thousand in wedding gifts? Everyone said marrying Julian was like a sparrow flying into a gilded cage, Becoming a high-society wife, with endless riches and glory for life. But no one knew. Because of Stella’s comment: “Julian, if Harper truly loves you, she wouldn’t spend a penny of your money. Otherwise, how is she any different from those gold-diggers eyeing the Blackwood family’s power?” From our wedding day until now, None of my living expenses were included in the Blackwood family’s daily budget. The designer gowns and expensive jewelry for events, Even the luxury car we rode in together, Would have its “fare” demanded by Stella after the event. My short three years as Mrs. Blackwood. I’d already drained all my life’s savings from my previous job. My account didn’t even have a hundred dollars left. Where was I supposed to get eight hundred and eighty thousand to give Julian? My daughter, distressed by the fever, was crying herself hoarse in my arms. I looked at the bodyguards with desperate eyes, my voice humbled to the dust. “I’ll find a way to repay the money.” “Please, just this once. She’s a premature baby. It’s already dangerous that she wasn’t kept in an incubator. If her fever keeps rising, she’ll die…” Three days ago, Stella had an appendicitis attack. The doctor had scheduled her surgery three months from now, at the same time as my due date. Stella cried until she was sobbing. “Julian, if my surgery clashes with Harper’s delivery, you’ll definitely abandon me to take care of Harper, won’t you?” Julian tried to comfort her, But Stella cried even harder. “Julian! You’ve changed! The old you would never let me suffer from appendicitis! Now that you have Harper, you don’t love me anymore, your whole heart is with her. I’m going to go underground and tell Mom and Dad you’re bullying me!” She then plunged herself into the swimming pool. And I was forcibly given an induction shot. Julian wiped the tears from my eyes. “Harper, she’s my only sister. She’s young and prone to jealousy, I need to reassure her. You understand me, right?” “Once the baby is born, I’ll make it up to you and Lily.” “Don’t worry, I’ll handle everything.” But what I got in return was, A forged paternity test, A crude, melodramatic charade played out for my daughter and me. The two bodyguards looked pained, but still stood firm at the door. “We’re sorry, ma’am. Mr. Blackwood instructed before he left that you couldn’t leave until the money was repaid.” In just a few minutes, Lily in my arms was burning up like a furnace, her cries growing faint. Just as I was about to threaten the bodyguards with a knife to my throat to make way, Julian arrived, his brows furrowed. His face was terribly grim. “Harper, this is a hospital, not a marketplace. Shouting like this, have you forgotten all your class, Mrs. Blackwood? You’ve disturbed Stella’s finger dressing.” I followed his gaze and saw the Hello Kitty band-aid on Stella’s fingertip, And the twenty-odd doctors trailing behind her. My heart felt like it had been pierced through. No wonder I’d been calling for a doctor for so long and none came. Julian had called them all to treat Stella’s finger. I swallowed the bitterness, took a few steps forward with Lily, and choked out, “Lily has a fever, please call a doctor.” Julian’s brows tightened further, his foot about to shift. Stella suddenly bent over, clutching her lower abdomen, and cried out weakly in pain, “Julian, I hurt so much, I feel awful. Am I going to die…?” Julian’s gaze instantly fixated on Stella. Sweeping her into his arms, he yelled at the cluster of doctors, “Prepare for surgery immediately!” I reached out and grabbed Julian, looking at him urgently. “Our daughter…” Stella wrapped her arms around Julian’s neck, burying her head in his shoulder. “Julian, I’m so scared. This surgery will cut out a piece of me, I won’t die of pain, will I?” “Can you make all the doctors do my surgery, please? More doctors mean more assurance. My biggest regret in life is not being able to properly repay you, Julian. I don’t want to die just yet.” Her voice was soft and clingy. Julian was utterly charmed, his heart melting into cotton. “Okay, I’ll not only have all the hospital doctors on standby for you, but the elite medical team I arranged will also arrive in ten minutes. I won’t let anything happen to you.” “What about our daughter?”
My knuckles were white as I held Lily, my lips bitten until they bled. All doctors on standby for Stella, who would save our daughter? Julian glanced at the baby in my arms, a look of impatience on his face, then turned to a doctor. “Who’s a pediatrician? Stay and take a look.” “Julian, hospitals charge for consultations, and Harper still owes us eight hundred and eighty thousand. How would she even have money?” Stella snuggled in Julian’s arms, giving me a malicious smile. “But out of three years of goodwill, I can condescend to help her,” “If I lose a piece of flesh, she has to pay too.” Stella gestured to a bodyguard, who kicked over a medical waste bin. Needles scattered across the floor, glinting coldly. She looked down at me, chin raised. “Find all of them, and I’ll cover this consultation fee for you.” Julian cast a fleeting glance at me and instructed his assistant, “Do as Ms. Stella says.” He then carried Stella away in a rush to the operating room, without a single backward glance. I knelt on the floor, using my bare hands to scrape and search. Soon, my ten fingers were covered in needle pricks, Bloody and raw. Not a single piece of clean skin. Later, hearing Lily’s even fainter cries, I had no choice but to use my tongue to lick for them. Half an hour later, I held a pile of needles, looking at the doctor. Blood continuously welled up in my mouth as I spoke. “They’re all here. Please save my daughter…” Having said that, I could no longer hold on and completely fainted. When I woke again, my nostrils were filled with the smell of disinfectant. I instinctively reached out, but didn’t touch the soft warmth I expected. “Lily…” I stumbled out of the room and saw my daughter in the doctor’s office. The female doctor who had treated her last night was gently rocking her, feeding her milk, Her eyes full of sympathy. “Sigh, what a tragedy. She was born a little princess, but because of a family squabble, she can’t even drink her mother’s milk. It’s so pitiful.” Her colleague whispered, “Isn’t that the truth? And Mr. Blackwood personally supervised the forging of the paternity test. He said he’d blame the hospital a year later, claiming we messed up the test, surely able to coax the mother and daughter back. Spending millions to have the whole hospital put on an act – rich people sure play their games.” “That’s not all. I also heard that Stella is just an adoptive daughter. Anyone with eyes can see she’s got a thing for her brother. Last night, during rounds, I personally saw that adoptive sister kiss Mr. Blackwood on the lips while he was asleep. He woke up five minutes later and didn’t say a word.” The two exchanged knowing glances, pursing their lips in unspoken understanding. I leaned against the wall, my eyes aching. Stella was an adoptive daughter of the Blackwood family. Because they were siblings in name, My jealousy would be seen as destroying their sibling bond, as irrational tantrums in the eyes of outsiders. As long as Julian uttered, “If it were as messed up as you think, I’d have married her long ago. Would it even be your turn?” I would be speechless. Yes, He was the heir to a powerful fortune, high above everyone else, Of course, he wasn’t a match for an ordinary working woman like me, who worked nine to five. But why did he send me tens of thousands of roses, patiently guide me through the dark period after my family’s passing, teach my boss a lesson for making inappropriate comments to me… And even shield me during a car accident, ending up in the ICU himself? I still remembered him swearing on our wedding day, “Harper, in this life, I will always love and respect you, and never let you down.” But hearts change in an instant, and “forever” was just an embellishment. Looking up again, Julian stood before me. Meeting my bloodshot eyes, he uncharacteristically showed concern. “You just gave birth, why aren’t you resting?” A waft of Stella’s usual perfume drifted over, Making me dizzy and nauseous. Avoiding his touch, I stepped back a few paces, “Aren’t we getting divorced? Sign it now.” Julian froze for a few seconds, his face darkening, a cold sneer forming on his lips. “Harper, don’t play games. You’re penniless. Leave me, and you’ll be sleeping on the streets with your child tonight.” I met his gaze, my voice cold. “The child isn’t yours, why are you worrying?” This taunt enraged Julian. Taking the divorce papers from his assistant, his signature pressed hard through the paper. Before I could even pick up the last pen stroke, Julian snatched the agreement, pointed towards the hospital entrance, veins bulging on his neck, “Ungrateful woman, get out of my hospital immediately!” I held my daughter and walked out. Seeing the dark sedan across the street, I quickened my pace. However, before I could take a few steps, two bodyguards suddenly appeared and forcibly dragged me back.
“Did you see the trending news? Mrs. Blackwood forced to divorce, all because of that adoptive daughter.” “She’s truly evil. If it were me, I’d expose her online too.” All through the hospital, people were discussing the same thing. This was clearly Stella’s doing. I didn’t understand her purpose in putting herself in the spotlight. Until Julian slapped me, without bothering to distinguish right from wrong, “Harper, I never imagined you could be so vicious. No wonder you were so eager to sign the divorce papers earlier. You had already planned to deal with Stella, didn’t you? Using a post-delivery divorce to gain sympathy, even roping me into your schemes. You’re truly malicious.” “The media will be here any minute, you must publicly apologize to Stella. Do you know how awful the insults online are? Stella is still so young; if I hadn’t arrived in time, she would have been provoked into slitting her wrists!” On the hospital bed, Stella sat perfectly fine, Whole and unharmed, not even a red mark on her wrist. A person pretending to sleep won’t wake up, no matter how much you call. Besides, someone else was waiting for me. “No need for all that trouble.” I handed Lily to a nurse who had followed us, pulled out my phone, and started a live stream. I bowed deeply to Stella. “Ms. Stella, I’m sorry. Regarding the false rumors online, I sincerely apologize to you. You are not a manipulative, wicked sister. It was I who was too malicious, getting irrationally jealous of your sibling bond with your brother, intentionally divorcing him, posting online to gain sympathy, and hiring trolls to attack you.” Then, I bowed to her again. “Ms. Stella, you and Mr. Blackwood have always been completely innocent, merely a normal brother-sister relationship. It was my jealousy that led me to use unscrupulous means to frame you. Please forgive me.” I spoke each word clearly and forcefully. With every sentence, Julian’s and Stella’s faces turned paler. Stella, because I had forever nailed them to the pillar of sibling shame. Julian, who looked at me with complex eyes, a flicker of uneasy panic in his heart. Stella glared at me hatefully, Then suddenly, she tugged at her hair, her voice trembling like a sieve. “I’m not a bad woman, I’m not a bad woman! It was Harper who cheated, she cuckolded my brother. She didn’t cherish him, so I will. If this is called depraved and shameless, then let me die…” Her sudden outburst broke the fleeting panic that had just surfaced in Julian. Julian pulled her into his embrace. “Stella, we’re not blood siblings. In fact, there was even talk of us marrying when we were children. Even if you truly like me, you’ve done nothing wrong.” As his words fell, countless rose emojis erupted in the live stream, The screen filled with “999+” messages. They stung my eyes. A large group of reporters pushed through the door, pointing cameras at my face, snapping furiously. “Mrs. Blackwood, does this mean you were the other woman all along?” “Mrs. Blackwood, you were just an ordinary person. To marry into such a wealthy family, you must have used some underhanded tactics, no? Could you tell us about them?” “Don’t you feel guilty for breaking up a golden couple just to marry into wealth?” Flashbulbs popped wildly in my face, They wanted to brand me with every humiliating word imaginable: “homewrecker,” “low-class,” “slut”… Amidst the shoving, I saw the wicked smile on Stella’s face. She subtly tilted her head, and a reporter caught the signal, Sharply turning his lens towards Lily in the nurse’s arms, snapping away. “Damn, is that the bastard child? She looks like a monster, Mrs. Blackwood really isn’t picky.” “Like mother, like daughter. You can tell they’re morally corrupt just by looking. Take more photos, they’ll be useful for future footage. Let’s call it ‘Homewrecker’s Legacy,’ it’s bound to hit headlines.” My fury boiled over, and I slapped the reporter who said those words. I didn’t hit him hard, but he suddenly collapsed to the ground, unmoving. “Oh no, Mr. Davis has a heart condition, you can’t touch him!” “Ah! He’s not breathing! You murderer!” A reporter pointed at me, his eyes filled with hatred, as if he wanted to devour me. “Don’t touch her, any problems, talk to my lawyer.” No sooner had Julian spoken than Stella again clutched her lower abdomen, looking distressed, “Julian, I got too emotional just now, my incision feels like it’s split open…” I held Lily, looking helplessly at Julian. Julian gave us a deep look, then bent down to pick up Stella, saying to me, “Wait for me.” Then his back disappeared down the corridor. And I was surrounded by enraged reporters, handcuffed with cold metal. … Three months later, at the courthouse, “This court rules that Ms. Harper Rhodes is sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of three million dollars for involuntary manslaughter.”
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