“Don't turn yourself into some bitter, nagging wife.”

The word nagging landed, and the last ripple of feeling inside me went still.

I looked at him and asked quietly：

“That was going too far?”

Lawrence blinked.

The next second.

I raised my hand and slapped Elise across the face as hard as I could.

The crack echoed through the entire lounge.

Elise's head snapped to the side, five red welts blooming instantly across her cheek.

I shook out my stinging hand.

“You want to see me go too far? I haven't even started.”

Lawrence finally lost it.

He lunged forward and shoved me.

My lower back slammed into the corner of the table. Pain exploded white-hot behind my eyes.

The prenatal exam report slipped from my hand and fluttered to the floor.

Lawrence didn't even glance at it.

He caught Elise first, pulling her into his arms.

“Pauline!”

“What the hell happened to you?”

His eyes were full of disappointment. Nothing else.

As if I were the one who had done something wrong.

“You used to be the kindest person I knew.”

“Elise had nothing growing up. You were the one who felt sorry for her, remember?”

“Now, just because she fell in love with me, you want to destroy her?”

A laugh almost escaped me.

He said I'd changed.

But Lawrence.

Who was the one who became disgusting first?

My mind drifted to a long time ago.

The first time Lawrence proposed, his hands shook so badly he couldn't even open the ring box.

He slid the ring onto my finger with red-rimmed eyes and said：

“Pauline, just getting to stand beside you is the luckiest thing that's ever happened to me.”

“No matter how high I climb, I'll never forget that you're the one who pulled me up.”

He was young then. Sincere. I was the only person in his eyes.

But now, the face that once held my hand and swore those vows.

And the face shielding Elise while demanding to know what had happened to me. Slowly, they merged into one.

All at once, I was calm.

I wasn't the one who had changed.

The man who promised he'd never make me cry.

He died the day he first betrayed me.

I didn't say another word.

I turned and walked out of the office.

Behind me, Elise was still sniffling.

“Lawrence, do you think Pauline will really ruin me?”

Lawrence lowered his voice to soothe her：

“She won't. I'm here. Nobody touches you.”

“But how are you going to thank me? Wear that outfit from last time. Remember what you called me?”

Elise's tears turned into a giggle. She swatted his chest playfully, her voice turning coy.

“Oh stop it, you're so bad……”

My steps didn't slow. I was already dialing the head of legal counsel.

“Notify the Board of Directors.”

“Suspend all of Lawrence James's authorizations within the company. Freeze every asset under his name.”

“Revoke every clearance under Elise Henson's name.”

A beat of silence on the other end.

“Ms. Swanson, Mr. James might……”

I rested my hand gently against my stomach.

“As of right now, there is no Mr. James at this company.”

That afternoon, every one of Lawrence's permissions was locked out of the system.

He couldn't sign a document, couldn't move a dollar.

He couldn't even badge into the executive conference room.

Elise had it worse.

When HR placed the termination notice in front of her, the color drained from her face.

Lawrence finally realized I wasn't throwing a tantrum.

He called me over a dozen times.

I didn't pick up once.

At eight that evening, I had just left the boardroom when the driver veered off the usual route home.

The car turned down an unfamiliar road.

I looked up at the front seat：“Where are we going?”

The driver wouldn't meet my eyes.

“Ms. Swanson, Mr. James says you've been under a lot of stress lately.”

“He asked me to take you to the suburban villa to rest for a few days.”

The next second, the car doors locked automatically and my phone signal cut out.

When the car stopped, Lawrence was already waiting at the entrance.

He had changed his clothes. His expression was dark, but underneath it, a restless impatience simmered in his eyes.

“Pauline. Let's talk.”

I looked at him and let out a cold laugh：“By kidnapping me? That's your idea of talking?”

He frowned.

“I just didn't want you acting on impulse and blowing this up beyond repair.”

“You're pregnant. You shouldn't be getting involved in corporate disputes right now.”

“Reinstate my authorization. Then sign a power-of-attorney for the equity transfer.”

“From now on, the company goes through me.”

I almost laughed from sheer disbelief.

Lawrence led me into the living room.

The documents were already laid out on the table.

He pushed a pen toward me.

“Sign, and we're still husband and wife.”

“I can promise you that.”

“From now on, there won't be anyone else besides Elise.”

I raised my head and stared at him, barely able to believe what I was hearing.

Lawrence, though, looked as if he thought he was being incredibly generous.

“Pauline, you grew up in this world.”

“You know how it works. What man out there doesn't have seven or eight women on the side?”

“All I want is you and Elise.”

“You're the wife. The mother of my child. The respectable face of the James family.”

“She's been with me all this time. I can't just abandon her.”

“This arrangement can still work. We can still be a family.”

So that was how Lawrence saw things.

I was supposed to feel grateful that he was willing to let me keep the title of wife.

In that moment, I genuinely felt sick.

I picked up the pen, and Lawrence's expression finally eased a fraction.

I lowered my gaze to the power-of-attorney.

Then I lifted my hand and tore it in half.

Every trace of composure drained from Lawrence's face.

“Pauline Swanson. Don't push me.”

I threw the shredded paper in his face and smiled, cold and thin.

“You think you're qualified to run my company?”

The last flicker of warmth in Lawrence's eyes went dead.

His voice dropped, flat and hard, as he turned to the bodyguards：

“Take Mrs. James upstairs.”

“When she's come to her senses, she can come back down.”

Two bodyguards stepped forward and seized me, one on each side.

I wrapped my arms around my belly, my voice turning to ice.

“Lawrence. Don't you dare.”

He looked at me, his tone still somehow gentle.

“Pauline, I'm doing this for you and the baby.”

“Once you've calmed down, you'll understand.”

The door slammed shut behind me.

The lock turned. The windows had been sealed. My phone was gone.

The only thing left in the room was a single dim lamp, casting everything in sickly yellow light.

I pressed one hand against the wall as my lower abdomen tightened, wave after wave.

Cold sweat crept down my spine.

From downstairs, Lawrence's voice drifted up, muffled but audible.

“Don't let her out tonight.”

“She signs the contract, she comes out. Not before.

Elise gave a soft little laugh.

It was quiet, barely there, but it pierced through me like a needle.

“If Pauline can hear us down here, do you think that'll make it worse for her?”

“Or maybe……”

Her voice dipped lower, but the tail end curled upward on purpose.

“Maybe it'll make it more exciting?”

My fingernails dug into my palms so hard the skin broke.

Lawrence was quiet for a moment.

When he spoke again, his voice was rougher than before.

“Elise, stop it.”

“You really shouldn't have provoked her today.”

Elise let out a wounded little whimper.

“Then punish me. Like last time. Make my legs give out for three days again……”

Faint sounds drifted up from downstairs. Fabric rustling against fabric.

Lawrence's breathing seemed to falter for a beat.

I closed my eyes.

My fingers tightened around the distress beacon hidden inside my sleeve.

My brother Duane Swanson had given it to me years ago.

He'd said：

“Pauline, Lawrence James is too ambitious for his own good.”

“You love him. I won't stop you.”

“But remember this. When you've got nowhere left to turn, press it.”

“Ten minutes. I'll be there.”

Back then, I'd laughed and told him he was overreacting.

Turns out my brother had always seen things more clearly than I had.

Lawrence thought he had me trapped.

Too bad he didn't know.

People who grew up in circles like ours

never left themselves only one way out.

I used every last scrap of strength I had and pressed the beacon.

The red light blinked on. Downstairs, Elise was still laughing.

Lawrence kept his voice low, coaxing her.

“Pauline's pregnant. She can't keep this up much longer.”

“Once she comes to her senses, she'll come crawling back to me.”

“The Swansons sheltered her too well her whole life. Without me, she wouldn't know the first thing about holding a marriage together.”

Elise giggled and asked：

“What about the Swansons, though?”

“If her brother finds out, won't he come after you?”

Lawrence was quiet for a second.

Then he scoffed.

“Duane Swanson can be as powerful as he wants. He still can't interfere between a husband and wife.”

“Pauline is carrying my child.”

“As long as the baby exists, she and the Swansons would never actually touch me.”

I leaned against the side of the bed, cold sweat soaking my temples, the pain splitting me in half.

Hearing that, I actually laughed.

Lawrence, you still don't understand the Swansons.

My child would carry the Swanson name and inherit the Swanson legacy.

As for the child's father, alive or dead, who would care?

A deep roar of engines erupted in the distance.

A line of black SUVs screeched to a halt outside the villa gates.

Men in black suits poured out of the vehicles and locked down the entire compound in seconds.

The front door was kicked open from the outside.