Chapter 1 Her Husband's Mistress

"It hurts..."

Emma Stevens was lifted up onto a stretcher. Falling debris had injured her back, the tips of her hair had been singed, and angry blisters covered the back of her hand.

Just ten minutes before, she had charged into the blazing fire and rescued a pregnant woman from the brink of death.

After getting the pregnant woman into a firefighter's hands, she had collapsed a mere three steps away from the exit.

Lying on the stretcher now, she pulled out her phone with what little strength remained and dialed a number. The screen was cracked like a spiderweb, and her trembling hand brought it to her ear.

The phone continued to ring, yet nobody picked up.

"It hurts... Austin... please save me..." Emma murmured.

At that moment, a black Porsche Cayenne came speeding toward the scene and slammed on its brakes near the edge of the fire.

The vehicle's door swung open.

Amid the bustling crowd, she caught sight of a tall, commanding man making his way toward her.

The man was Austin Edwards, her husband.

Dressed in a custom-tailored black suit, he had a sharply defined, chilly face and an air about him that discouraged anyone from approaching.

He was normally so distant and impossible to approach, but now he had his brows drawn tightly together. Never before had she seen such deep worry on his face.

Emma's pain had been unbearable and her nerves strained to the limit. Yet seeing him immediately relieved much of her tension.

He had finally come.

Surely, his concern for her had sent him rushing here directly from his office.

A medic approached her just then. "Ma'am, have you managed to reach your family?"

"Yes. My husband is here..."

Emma intended to continue, only for the rest of her words to stick in her throat.

Austin, however, was not coming toward her.

Instead, he was striding in another direction entirely.

Someone was gently helping a woman away from the crowd.

The woman's face had gone pale, and she swayed on her feet. Judging by her belly, she was around six months pregnant. Silent tears rolled down her cheeks as soon as she spotted Austin.

"Austin... you've finally come. I was terrified something might happen to the baby..."

With just a few hurried steps, Austin reached the woman and gathered her into his embrace.

"There's no need to be scared, Sadie. I'm here now. How do you feel?"

His low voice sounded tender, in a way Emma had never heard him speak to her before.

To Emma, it felt as though the entire world had gone quiet.

She seemed incapable of hearing anything at all.

The only thing she could concentrate on was the sight of the pair embracing each other.

Austin kept the pregnant woman in his arms, comforting her, without casting so much as a single momentary glance in his wife's direction.

That same pregnant woman was the one Emma had put her own life at risk to rescue from the flames moments ago.

"Austin, it hurts so bad," Sadie Watson whimpered sweetly, nestling against him.

Austin draped his suit jacket over her shoulders. His voice was filled with unmistakably doting affection when he reassured her. "There, there. I'm here now."

A cold sensation spread through Emma as she remained on the stretcher.

The terrible pain in her back grew more intense by the second. Her clothing clung to the skin that had been burned, making every breath she took agonizing.

Sweat had formed on the visibly worried medic's forehead. "Hold on, ma'am. There are too many victims. Another ambulance will be here any moment."

"Austin... why..." Emma murmured.

The woman for whom she had nearly sacrificed her life turned out to be her own husband's mistress.

Just at that moment, an approaching ambulance siren became audible.

"Quick, get her inside!" the medic called out.

As Emma was being wheeled into the ambulance, her final glimpse outside was of Austin carrying Sadie away in his arms.

He had apparently failed to hear her cry out for him.

Then again, perhaps he heard her and deliberately paid no attention.

The ambulance doors swung shut.

Once inside, the medic gently took hold of her freezing hand. "Stay with us, ma'am! We'll reach the hospital soon!"

Emma was so devastated that she longed to weep, yet her eyes remained painfully dry. She couldn't shed even one tear.

As soon as they reached the hospital, she abruptly found herself struggling to breathe.

The doctor's face grew tense. "Get the operating room ready. Right now!" he shouted. "We can't afford to wait!"

They wheeled Emma straight into the operating room.

Her thoughts gradually became hazy as the anesthetic began to work.

Overhead, the bright surgical lights illuminated her.

Just before her eyes finally shut and she lost consciousness, an unexpected thought came to her.

Suppose Austin learned that the woman pregnant with his child was the very person she had nearly died rescuing from the fire. What would he say then? Would he offer her his thanks? Or would he refuse to give her even a single glance?

At that moment, Emma understood that even the searing burns on her back were nowhere near as painful as the emptiness aching inside her chest.