Chapter 2

2.

He squeezed my neck so hard I could barely breathe.

"It's all because of you. Aria is dead! She was carrying my child, did you know that?"

My pupils shrunk. My mind went completely blank.

Silas was clutching that glaring pregnancy report in his trembling hand.

The patient's name was: Aria Leighton.

We had been married for five years, yet he had never touched me except for that one night he was drunk.

Even during that messy night, the name he moaned was "Aria."

The next morning, he had pulled away coldly and handed me a pill.

"I don't want children right now," he had said flatly.

We had been married for years without a child.

My mother-in-law had pressured me countless times. Behind my back, she called me "a useless hen that can't lay an egg."

But now, I watched the usually stoic Silas holding that report, questioning me like a madman.

"Did you know she was pregnant all along? Did you?"

At that moment, I didn't explain. My heart was nothing but ash.

The butler appeared at the door, his voice hesitant. "Mr. Sterling, Ms. Leighton's personal effects have arrived."

Only one thing had been recovered from the wreckage in the dirt: a ring.

It was part of a pair, matching the one on Silas's ring finger. We didn't have wedding rings.

I heard Silas had those custom-made himself.

He couldn't give her a legal title, but in every ritual that mattered, Aria was his wife.

As for me, I had long stopped hoping for anything.

Silas gripped that ring, whispering to himself like a man possessed.

Then, he turned and walked away without a second look.

My phone rang abruptly. It was my father.

"Elena, what's going on?! Why did Silas suddenly pull his investment?"

"Everything was fine before. Did you piss him off again?"

I let out a bitter laugh. "Dad, I can't control what Silas decides."

"You're useless! Don't think I don't know Silas has been promoting that little actress, Aria."

"Did you pull your 'rich girl' attitude and make things hard for her again?"

My father didn't give me a chance to explain, launching into a lecture.

"I'm telling you, the partnership between the Pierce and Sterling families cannot fail! If you mess this up, don't blame me for being heartless!"

I listened with a blank face. The insults felt like mud being thrown at a statue.

In his eyes, my only purpose was to be a tool for a family alliance.

I was just a pawn to be traded for profit.

"Speak! Are you a mute now?"

Outside the window, a small bird was fluttering its wings, trying desperately to reach a higher branch.

I suddenly laughed. I laughed at how pathetic and helpless I was.

I don't even know when the call ended. I didn't care anymore.

I could hear the servants whispering outside the door.

"What a shame. Aria was so young and sweet. The good ones always go first."

"I know. Mr. Sterling is so devoted. I heard he's even planning a posthumous wedding for her..."

A wedding for a dead woman? Ha. How ironic.

While she was alive, he treated me like a piece of furniture while Aria did whatever she wanted.

Now that she was dead, he wanted to officially bring her into the family. What did that make me, his legal wife?

It felt like a needle was piercing my heart, and then the pain moved to my stomach.

The next second, I collapsed to the floor.