Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I let out a soft laugh.

Screaming and crying had only earned me ninety-nine failures.

Besides, he was the one who went cold first.

He had spent a fortune on vintage diamond jewelry for me, only to give it to Kendra behind my back.

All he said was, "You already have plenty of jewelry. Kendra doesn't have anything."

He broke his rule of never bringing plus-ones to galas and took Kendra instead.

"You have me to support you," he had told me. "Kendra is trying to start her own business. She needs the networking."

He let everyone at the fundraisers assume Kendra was his wife without correcting them.

"It's hard for a woman in business," he had justified. "Carrying my name protects her from being taken advantage of."

Later, he banned me from visiting his office or bringing him lunch.

All of those privileges were handed over to Kendra.

When I protested about being pushed aside, he merely frowned and sighed.

"An outsider hanging around the office hurts the corporate image. Besides, cooking is exhausting. Just let Kendra handle it."

"Why can't you just stay home and travel the world like a good wife?"

He treated me like a caged bird, keeping me around without a drop of love.

I couldn't take it anymore, so I abandoned the quest completely.

"I already found a rental," I said flatly. "Once I leave this hospital, I will never show up in front of you again."

Bryce clenched his fists, his temper flaring.

"Fine! Move! Call the movers right now and clear out every single thing you own!"

I nodded, unlocking my phone to call the moving company.

Seeing my decisive motion, his face darkened.

"Are you really that eager to leave me?"

Before I could reply, an incoming call interrupted the screen.

The impatient voice of my four-year-old son, Toby, came through the speaker.

"Mom, where did you put my Transformer? I can't find it anywhere!"

I spoke calmly. "I moved out. If you need something, ask your Mommy Kendra."

Toby paused. "What did you say?"

"I said Kendra is your mom now," I repeated. "I am not your mother anymore, and your life has nothing to do with me."

Silence hung over the line for a second before Toby cheered loudly.

"Yay! I finally get a new mom! Thank you, Auntie!"

With a joyous laugh, he hung up the phone.

Bryce's eyes turned bloodshot as he stared at me in disbelief.

"You don't even want your own son anymore?"

"Avery, how can you be cruel enough to abandon both me and Toby?"

Cruel?

Couldn't he hear how thrilled his son was?

In the past ninety-nine cycles, I had never managed to carry a pregnancy to term.

Toby was the only child born during a brief period when Bryce actually loved me.

I loved that boy with all my heart.

Until the day I heard Kendra's breathless moans coming from Bryce's private office.

They were fooling around right on his desk, and I heard Bryce complain that my body had lost its shape after childbirth.

My world shattered that afternoon.

Desperate to save the mission, I rushed to dig up evidence of Kendra faking her sickness.

During those dark days, my unborn baby and Toby were the only reasons I kept breathing.

Yet my son had fallen completely under Kendra's spell, begging for her to be his mother.

Bryce never disciplined him. Instead, he treated Toby's words as a cute joke.

"Sure buddy, Daddy will take you to play with Mommy Kendra!" he would say with a grin.

Whenever I got upset, Bryce dismissed it.

"He's only four. Toddlers say silly things all the time. Don't take it to heart."

I believed him.

Until last week, when my heavily pregnant self was shoved down the stairs by my own son.

"It's your fault Mommy Kendra can't live with us!" he had screamed. "Go die so we can be a real family!"

That was the moment I realized it was never just a silly joke.

My only goal became safely delivering my daughter, caring for her until she was a year old, putting her up for adoption with a loving family, and returning to my original world.

Yet Bryce had ripped her away before I could even hold her once.

Seeing that I had gone quiet again, Bryce stormed out of the room.

Slam!

As the hospital door banged shut, the mechanical chime of the system rang in my head.

"Host, you have three days left before world detachment. Please prepare for departure."