By the time I woke up again, Ian was right beside my bed.

I glanced up, noticing the expensive imported medicine hanging above my head.

Ian quickly got up and asked whether I felt any discomfort.

Realization dawned on me as I spotted the receipt peeking out of his coat.

"Ian, I don't have the money to pay you now…" I croaked.

A warm smile appeared on his face, despite his cool features.

"I'm not asking you to pay me," he said. "Don't overthink."

While he fixed the interval of my IV drip, he suddenly thought of something and glanced down at me.

"Do you want to see your baby? I'll get the nurse to bring her here."

I immediately jerked my head aside and frowned. "No."

As though he understood my situation, Ian didn't pester me. "Sure. It's up to you."

The last person I wanted to see was Hector and his mistress' child. I was just a vessel—barely considered her mother.

The past ten months had felt like a nightmare, but at least it was finally over.

"Actually, you don't have cancer," Ian said, handing me a diagnosis report. "But your health is in terrible condition. You need to take care of yourself from now on."

I wept bitterly. This result meant everything to me.

Back then, I had believed Hector when he told me I had cancer. Once I had moved past my despair, I convinced myself to bear a child for him.

I never expected him to use my guilt against me, turning me into nothing more than a tool for childbirth.

The supplements he had been giving me over the past few months had only weakened my body, making me frail and exhausted. In other words, he had been trying to kill me.

With a clear picture of everything, I finally had a goal. I would get treatment and recover.

Hector could take my child and my money, but he could never take my life.

While I was recovering in the hospital, Yara had been flaunting their relationship on social media. Her posts had been hidden from me when we first became friends online, but now that her scheme had worked, she no longer bothered to keep me in the dark.

Their audacity was beyond belief. Hector actually had the nerve to leave their child behind to go on a luxury cruise with Yara, who posted a selfie of the two of them with a suggestive caption.

"He's my mentor, my friend, and the closest person to me."

Just thinking about how Hector was blatantly splurging my money made my blood boil.

I checked my bank balance—just enough to hire a lawyer. Then, I scrolled through Yara's social media, saving every post as I went.

Every single post about Hector made my heart ache.

It turned out that they had known each other for four years. Hector had visited her college as a guest speaker, and she had been on the organizing committee.

They had grown closer over the past two years. He had given her her first Louis Vuitton handbag, picked out her first Chanel suit, and arranged her first trip to Maldoves.

Their affair had always been in plain sight—I was just too big of a fool to realize it.

I reached out to an old classmate who was now a lawyer, and he referred me to a renowned divorce attorney.

After I got in touch with Lucas Payne, I laid everything out on the table. I only had one goal in mind—to make sure Hector walked away with nothing.

Anyone who had taken from me would eventually pay the price.