Chapter 1

1.

In the delivery room of Boston General Hospital, the shadowless lights were so glaring that it was impossible to keep one's eyes open.

Nora Shaw lay on the surgical table, her consciousness drifting in and out with waves of blinding pain. She could hear the sharp, frantic beeping of the heart monitor and feel the warm rush of blood leaving her body, staining the white sheets red.

"Dr. Martinez, she's lost over 1500 ccs of blood! BP is 70/40 and dropping!"

"Get blood prepped! Call the blood bank now!"

"The bank is saying they're critical on O-negative! It'll be twenty minutes, minimum!"

"She doesn't have twenty minutes! We have to stop the bleeding now, which means surgery!"

The panicked voices swirled around Nora. She tried to speak, but her throat felt clogged. All she could manage was a weak whimper.

The door to the delivery room swung open. With her last ounce of strength, Nora turned her head and saw the man she had been waiting twelve long hours for―Caleb Vance, her husband.

He was finally here.

Tears instantly welled in Nora's eyes. She thought he would rush to her side, grab her hand, and ask if she was okay, like any other terrified husband.

But Caleb just stood at the door. His suit was perfectly tailored, his tie knotted just right. He showed no sign of panic, no hint that his wife was bleeding out on a table. His gaze went right past Nora, landing on the tiny baby in the incubator.

"A girl?" His voice was terrifyingly calm.

"Yes, Mr. Vance," a nurse answered timidly. "A healthy baby girl, seven pounds, three ounces."

Caleb's brow furrowed, just barely.

He pulled his phone from his pocket, his thumb swiping quickly across the screen. Nora saw the name on the display―Chloe Whitmore.

That woman.

The Beacon Hill socialite. The heiress whose family could fund Caleb's campaign for District Attorney.

Dr. Martinez's voice cut through Nora's spiraling thoughts. "Mr. Vance, your wife is in critical condition. She has a severe postpartum hemorrhage and a uterine rupture. If we don't perform a hysterectomy immediately, she will bleed to death. But we need a family member to sign the consent form―"

"Wait." Caleb finally looked up from his phone, a sharp, calculating gleam in his eyes. "A hysterectomy? That means she won't be able to have any more children?"

Dr. Martinez was stunned, clearly not expecting the question. "Yes, but―"

"The Vance family trust has a clear stipulation," Caleb said, his tone as detached as if he were discussing a business contract. "'The beneficiary must be a male heir born within the confines of a legal marriage.' If she can't produce another child, she has no more value to the Vance family."

"Mr. Vance!" Dr. Martinez stared at him in disbelief. "Your wife is bleeding out! She is going to die!"

"Then save the child first," Caleb said without a change in his expression. "As for her… just do what you have to do to stop the bleeding. Bill us separately. I'll be filing for divorce in the morning."

"What did you just say?!"

Caleb turned to look at Nora. His eyes held no warmth, only impatience. "Don't look at me like that, Nora. You should be grateful I'm even willing to pay for your emergency care. Frankly, if it wasn't for the Vance family's reputation, I wouldn't even be footing that bill."

Nora's world started to spin.

She remembered three years ago, when Caleb had knelt by the Charles River and proposed to her, telling her she was the purest, kindest woman he had ever met, that he would love her for the rest of his life.

She remembered giving up her spot in the PhD program at Johns Hopkins to support his legal career, taking a simple job at a community clinic in Boston instead.

She remembered how, after she got pregnant, his "work dinners" became more frequent, how he came home later and later, his suit smelling of a perfume that wasn't hers.

It was all a lie. All of it was because she had failed to give him a "valuable" heir.

"Dr. Martinez, prepare for surgery," Nora said suddenly. Her voice was weak, but firm.

"Dr. Shaw?!"

"I consent to the hysterectomy." Nora stared daggers at Caleb, the love in her eyes completely gone, replaced by an ice-cold resolve. "I'll sign the papers myself. I don't need his permission."