Chapter 1

I had just given birth when my husband Matthias tossed me a bundle of cash.

I stared at him in confusion:

"Why are you giving me money? Where's the baby?"

He avoided my gaze, but his stepmother Rachel smiled:

"Matthias already gave the baby to me. I really like him. Thank you for bearing a child for me."

I threw the money in his face.

For the next four years, we fought over the child constantly.

The day the baby ran a fever, I rushed him to the hospital and set fire to the mansion.

But when the child woke up, he pushed me away and cried:

"Why did you take me! I want Rachel to be my mom! Get out! Get out!"

I froze. After a long silence, I said to him:

"Call me 'Mom' one last time, and I'll never come back."

My son Steve blinked his little eyes:

"If I call you 'Mom' just once, you won't fight with Rachel over me anymore?"

I nodded.

"Mom."

My hands, burned from carrying him to the hospital, still hadn't been treated. The blisters were badly swollen.

I raised my hand to cover them: "Yes."

"I called you that. So you really won't... fight over me anymore?"

I looked at his innocent little face and smiled, shaking my head:

"No. I won't."

Never again.

Steve was desperate to leave the hospital. I quickly bandaged my hand.

I carried him back to the place Matthias and I shared.

By the time we arrived, Matthias had already sent people searching everywhere.

When he saw me return carrying the child, he paused.

Steve struggled violently in my arms. I quickly set him down.

He ran toward Rachel, who stood beside Matthias.

His clear voice reached everyone's ears:

"Mommy!"

Matthias frowned and scolded me: "Christiana! Why did you take the child again!"

Rachel held Steve in her arms, checking him over with no gentleness in her movements.

Her manicured nails could scratch the child's skin at any moment.

I instinctively reached out, then remembered my promise and pulled back.

After confirming nothing was wrong, Rachel glared at me:

"This is my and Matthias's child. What right do you have to take him!"

The other friends and family who had been helping search all frowned:

"Rachel is your elder! And she treats your child like her own!

"You've never fed him or taught him anything. How dare you call yourself his mother!"

"What right do you have to take the child!"

Someone grabbed my collar in their agitation.

Matthias called out coldly:

"She's mine. I'll discipline her myself."

Everyone fell silent. Rachel's face darkened.

Matthias escorted me back to my room.

He spoke coldly:

"Why would you do something so extreme? Do you realize you almost hurt Rachel?"

I sat on the sofa, staring blankly ahead:

"Steve had a fever."

"Fever or not, that's his mother's concern. What are you trying to prove by interfering?"

I looked at him. He seemed to realize what he'd said and corrected himself:

"I mean, everyone knows that Rachel is Steve's mother in name. You shouldn't have disrespected her like that."

I stared at the man before me for a long time. The longer I looked, the more he felt like a stranger.

"Matthias, let's get divorced."

His hand holding the cigarette paused. We sat facing each other, locked in silent eye contact.

The cigarette ash burned down to his fingers, but he didn't notice.

I thought he wouldn't agree.

He laughed—a single mocking laugh.

He stood up, stubbed out the cigarette in the ashtray on my side, and leaned down to look at me:

"They were right. You really did use this trick to manipulate me."

I froze. He pulled out his phone and transferred five million to someone.

He sent a voice message:

"I lost the bet. Transferred you the five million."

"Matthias..."

I looked at him in disbelief: "What are you talking about?"

"Rachel said you'd definitely threaten me with divorce. She was right. Women understand women best."

He tapped my nose:

"You just cost me five million."

I slapped his hand away:

"I'm not joking!"

He looked at his slightly reddened hand.

He pulled it back indifferently, sighing with a hint of impatience in his expression:

"Stop making a scene, will you? After all this drama, you still can't come up with anything substantial?

"Christiana, if you actually went out and slept with another man, that would be more threatening than your tantrums."

Slap! A hard blow landed on his face.

His head tilted slightly to one side.

I used all my strength:

"Where did the Matthias who killed his own mother for me go!"