Chapter 1

Chapter 1

On the day of my engagement party, I was kidnapped and brutally violated for three days and three nights.

After I was rescued, my fiancé immediately called off the wedding and married my younger cousin, Sylvia.

Everyone in our circle ridiculed me as soiled goods, a ruined woman nobody would ever want.

At my absolute lowest, my fiancé's uncle, Rhett Montgomery, stepped forward and silenced the public with a multi-million-dollar grand wedding.

I truly believed I had found my savior.

Five years later, I finally became pregnant with our child.

That was when I overheard him laughing with his assistant outside the private study.

"Mr. Montgomery, you were brilliant back then," his assistant, Alan, chuckled. "Hiring those thugs to ruin Miss Thorne was the only reason Miss Sylvia could smoothly marry young Leo."

Rhett let out a quiet laugh. "They were in love from the start. Nydia was the one clinging to the betrothal contract. I simply put everything back on the right track."

Alan sounded slightly puzzled. "Still, marrying her was already more than enough compensation. Why did you insist on getting her pregnant with your own bloodline?"

At that, Rhett's calm voice finally carried a distinct ripple of tenderness.

"Sylvia's little boy is desperately sick, and he needs cord blood stem cells to survive. Sylvia's health is too frail to carry another pregnancy."

"Nydia is her blood-related sister, isn't she? A baby from her will be an exact match. If one baby doesn't work, she'll just have to keep giving birth. As long as Sylvia is happy, that's all that matters."

The two men shared an amused smile. Outside the door, I slumped against the wall, trembling in agony.

The man I thought was my savior was actually my executioner.

Even the baby in my womb was nothing more than a medical container to please his secret obsession.

Throwing my pregnancy scan into the trash, I typed a message to his fiercest business rival: "I have a multi-billion-dollar deal for you. Interested?"

Inside the study, the two men continued their mocking conversation.

"That plan is flawless, Mr. Montgomery," Alan said. "Just tell her you love kids. A lovesick fool like Nydia will jump at the chance to give you more. I only worry she'll make a scene if she ever finds out the truth."

"What right does she have to make a scene?"

Rhett tossed his wooden meditation beads onto the desk, his voice turning icy. "The moment she delivers, they will harvest the cord blood before she even wakes up. Even if she finds out later, what can she do? On the operating table, I make all the rules."

"She had better pray this first child works. It'll save her a lot of physical suffering."

With that, he glared sharply at Alan.

"Only you and I know about this. If a single word reaches Nydia and she refuses to cooperate, you know the consequences."

Alan hastily thumped his chest to pledge his loyalty. "Don't worry, boss. I know what's at stake. Besides, I personally hired the men who snatched Miss Thorne back then. Telling her would be a death wish for me."

*Bang!*

Rhett flung a heavy stack of folders straight at Alan's chest with a sharp thud.

"Idiot! How many times do I have to tell you? That matter is in the past, so don't ever bring it up again. No matter what, Nydia is my wife now, and her reputation cannot bear a single stain."

Alan staggered back a few steps, his face turning bright red. "I'm sorry, boss. My mouth got ahead of me. But what if the truth comes out after the birth and she demands a divorce? What will happen to you and the baby?"

It was a casual question, but Rhett picked up his beads again and scoffed dismissively.

"Then I'll just tell her I couldn't bear to see her estranged from her family. I'll say I did it all out of love to mend her relationship with Sylvia. With that and a newborn child, how could that foolish woman ever leave me?"

The two shared a knowing glance. Outside, my knees gave out completely, and I stifled a bitter sob against the wall.

When the study fell quiet, I forced my trembling body toward the corner bathroom and turned on the faucet.

I splashed cold water over my face, taking several deep breaths, only to see a face drenched in tears when I looked up at the mirror.

It had been a rainy afternoon five years ago. I was eagerly stepping out to prepare for my engagement, only to be ambushed by kidnappers.

For three whole days and nights, I lost all sense of time. All I could remember were foul stenches, filthy bodies, and endless torment until despair consumed me.

When the warehouse doors finally opened, justice did not await me―only my fiancé's public humiliation and the cancellation of our wedding.

Everyone branded me a dirty, unchaste woman, whispering that I should kill myself to prove my innocence.

It was Rhett Montgomery who stepped up, spending an exorbitant fortune to marry me. He declared to the world that he loved me, saying that having me as his wife made his entire life worthwhile.

The public ridicule gradually turned into envy, and I fell deeply into the fairytale castle he had built for me.

Yet reality was now ripping off the mask. He was the root of all my misery, and every ounce of my agony had been orchestrated by his hands.

No wonder Sylvia always looked at me with that subtle disdain and mockery.

On the day of the kidnapping, she was supposed to be my bridesmaid and walked out the door with me, yet the kidnappers only took me.

She had known the truth all along. For the past five years, she had simply watched me like a pathetic clown dancing for her amusement.

The cruelest joke was that I had fallen in love with my butcher, willingly bearing his child so he could harvest my baby for his beloved's son.

I bit my lower lip until it bled, but the sharp physical pain couldn't compare to the agony tearing through my soul.

"Nydia? Are you in there?"

His familiar, gentle voice echoed from the hallway, followed by the bathroom door swinging open. Rhett rushed inside anxiously, wrapping his arms around me.

"Sweetheart, are you unwell? Did you have another nightmare? How on earth did the maids look after you? I'm firing them all, useless fools!"

The housekeeper and maids trailing behind him fell silent in terror. I glanced coldly past his shoulder toward Alan.

That man was the primary accomplice, the one who had physically arranged my living hell.

Rage screamed in my chest. Just as I opened my mouth to speak, Rhett lifted me effortlessly into his arms and carried me toward the master bedroom.