I had been married for a year. Every time I came home late, my mother-in-law, Ebony Herrera, would call me right away.

I thought she was being caring, until one day, while getting my car serviced, the mechanic found a GPS tracker under my car.

My scalp tingled, and a chill ran down my spine. I didn't know why that thing was on my car.

Fuming, I drove home. As soon as I walked in, my husband, Grady Diaz, came up to hug me. I shoved him away and threw the tracker on the table. "Grady, did you do this?"

He looked at me, realizing something was wrong. He quickly picked up the tracker and examined it. "What is this?"

I thought he was pretending. Sarcastically, I said, "Oh, who else would know better than you?"

Before he could respond, I launched into what happened at the service center. Grady was stunned.

After a long pause, he pulled me to sit on the couch and mumbled, "This must be something Mom did."

"What?" I jumped up.

If Grady had put it there, I might understand. But if it was Ebony, I couldn't comprehend it at all.

I remembered how every time I worked late, she would call me, asking, "Katie, where are you?

"How many people are there? Are there any male colleagues?"

"Send me a photo. I'm worried about you."

I used to think she was just concerned about me and felt quite touched.

Now, thinking back, I felt chilling.

"What does your mom mean by this? Does she think I'm cheating? Is she spying on me?"

Grady silently hung his head, which only fueled my anger.

"Fine, if you won't tell me, I'll ask her."

Grady panicked and quickly held me back, explaining the reason.

"Honey, she didn't mean any harm."

I slapped him lightly, urging him to get to the point.

It turned out Ebony wasn't widowed, and Grady had a father.

Ebony Herrera came from a rural background with little education. When she was young, she worked as a maid for Grady's father. The family, impressed by her diligence, arranged for their widowed eldest son to marry her.

They had a brief period of happiness, but as Grady's father climbed the social ladder, he grew disdainful of his uneducated wife.

He even fell for a young colleague and wanted a divorce.

He offered to leave everything to her, including the child, but she refused.

Angered, he moved in with his mistress.

The two had never divorced, and he had never returned to see her. When Ebony found out I earned much more than Grady, she feared he might repeat his father's mistakes.

I was stunned after hearing all this.

When we were dating, Grady told me he came from a single-parent family and that his father had died.

My mom strongly opposed our marriage because she worried that the single mother might be overbearing. But I persisted.

After we got married, I boasted to my mom about how gentle and caring Ebony was. Little did I know, I would be proven wrong so quickly.

"Honey, mom has had a hard life. She did this for our sake. I'm begging you, please don't confront her for my sake."

I gritted my teeth. "Am I really that unreasonable? Look, this can't happen again. And mom needs to see a shrink.

"She might have PTSD from emotional betrayal."

Grady looked at me, touched. He promised to have a heart-to-heart with Ebony and take her to a therapist.

The next day, I left some files at home. When I popped back to grab them, I noticed our bedroom door was open.

Ebony lived next door and didn't have our keys. No way she could've gotten in.

I was scared out of my wits but grabbed a mop for courage and tiptoed into the bedroom.

What I saw nearly made me faint.

There was Ebony, sniffing my dirty underwear from last night and holding it up to the light.

"Mom, what are you doing?" I blurted out.

She jumped, turned pale, and then brazenly said, "I came to tidy up. Why are you shouting?"

I was shaking with anger. "Is that how you tidy up? What's going on here?"

I wanted to ask why she was fondling my clothes but couldn't bring myself to say it.

"This is my son's home. I'm just trying to help. What's with the attitude?" she snapped. "Are you treating me like a thief?"

Seeing her twist things around, I called Grady and told him to come home right away.

He wasn't busy at work and would've been home in half an hour.

After my call, he rushed back. I angrily explained what happened and left for work.

I was truly furious.

Ebony had not only made a secret key but was going through my personal things. I wasn't going to let this slide like before.

Before I even got to work, Grady called to say his mom had fainted from anger.

My heart leapt into my throat. I was both worried and upset.

Luckily, Grady said he'd keep an eye on her and asked me to bring some soup.

After work, I rushed to buy groceries and hurried to the hospital. As I was about to open the door, I heard Ebony's shrill. "What an ungrateful brat. I just went to tidy your room, and she threw a fit.

"Like mother, like daughter. I bet she's just like her mom, always seducing men.

"I heard her mother spent the night at a man's place as soon as she came of age. If I don't keep an eye on her, who knows what she'll get up to with that pretty face of hers?"

I kicked the door open and faced her coldly. "You can insult me, but leave my mom out of this.

"If you don't explain yourself, I'm divorcing Grady."

Ebony cowered back as if I might attack her.

Grady frowned at me and said mildly, "Mom's still sick, you know."

Anyone could tell he was siding with his mom and blaming me for scaring her.

I couldn't hold back my tears anymore. Ebony was the one talking trash behind my back, but somehow it had become my fault.

"Explain yourself," I demanded. "When did my mom ever spend the night at a man's place right after coming of age?"

Ebony looked at me with contempt and said, "Your mom probably didn't have the guts to tell you, but I heard from her classmates that when she was 18, she hid in a man's house to sleep and was almost beaten to death by his father."

I threw the soup in my hand onto the floor and shouted, "You don't know. That was my uncle's house. My mom wanted to study law, but my grandpa insisted she study medicine. She was just hiding there to fill out her college application.

"My grandpa hit her because she ended up applying to law school. You, who didn't even finish elementary school, sure have a lot to say about intellectuals. No wonder your husband doesn't like you."

With that, I turned and walked away. If she wanted to talk behind people's backs, then we could just hurt each other. After all, everyone knew what had happened back then.

Yet Ebony had the nerve to badmouth my mom in front of Grady.

My parents' house was too far away, so after the argument, I packed my bags and went to stay at my best friend's house.

Honestly, at that moment, I regretted marrying Grady. If Grady and Ebony didn't give me a satisfactory explanation, I was determined to get a divorce.

When I got to my best friend's house, I blocked Grady. The next morning, when I went to the company, I saw him standing at the entrance, looking disheveled.

When he saw me, he came up to stop me. I didn't want to argue at the company entrance, so I let him get in.

Once inside, Grady kept apologizing, but he was basically saying that his mom had been misled by others and that I was wrong to scold her yesterday.

"Grady, get out of here. We're done. Go get the marriage certificate. We're getting a divorce.

"Your mom is a mom, but mine isn't? I'm telling you, if she doesn't call my mom to apologize, this isn't over.

"Don't forget, my mom is a lawyer."

Grady sat there, stunned and motionless. After a while, he asked sadly, "Is it worth making such a big deal out of such a small thing?"

At first, I had some regrets about saying the word "divorce," but at that moment, I just wanted to get divorced.

But life was unpredictable.

We agreed to go to City Hall the next morning, but when it was time to leave, I felt a heavy sensation in my stomach.

When we got to the City Hall, the sun was blazing. As soon as I got out of the car, everything went black, and I fainted.

When I woke up again, Grady was attentively by my side. Ebony saw me open my eyes and said, "Katie, what happened that day was all my fault. Don't take it to heart."

Then she slapped herself in the face, making my mouth twitch. I didn't know what she was up to this time.

But this time, she was different. After slapping herself, she hesitantly said, "I'll call your mom to apologize right now. I won't talk nonsense anymore."

She immediately took out her phone and called my mom, putting it on speaker.

In the call, she explained everything and sincerely reflected on her actions. My mom forgave her.

I felt increasingly strange and wanted to sit up to ask what was going on. I wondered if I had a terminal illness.

But if that was the case, Ebony probably wouldn't act like this.

Grady helped me sit up, saying, "Take it easy, you're pregnant now. Don't sit up too quickly."

"What?" I asked, confused.