Jamie was rushed to the emergency room after he and Candace were dropped off at the hospital.

The attending doctor from the emergency department wrote up a bill for Candace and asked her to pay the medical fee. Jamie was a premature baby, so he had to use imported medication. The medical bill totaled around 2,000 dollars.

After Candace got married, she resigned from her job so she could stay home and dedicate all her attention to caring for Shawn. As a result, she only had about 20,000 dollars in her savings account. She had already spent most of it on Jamie, so she was essentially broke.

She rummaged around in her bag for the black card Shawn had given her in the past. But when she tried using it, she realized that the bastard had canceled the card. She resorted to calling everyone on her contacts list, but nobody was willing to lend her a hand.

In the end, Candace had no choice but to call Shawn. The call went through within seconds as Yelena's voice echoed through the receiver. "Candace, what's up? Shawn is taking a shower."

Before Candace could respond, the sound of Yelena's giggling sounded from the other end of the line, and there came the unmistakable clatter of the phone falling to the floor.

"Why are you in such a hurry, Shawn? I haven't dried my hair yet—"

Wanton noises echoed through the line.

Disappointed, Candace hung up. As she was wondering who else she could ask to borrow money from, the attending doctor, Zayne Pearson, offered to foot the bill for her.

Candace was shocked, gratitude bubbling in her heart. She nodded at him gratefully and said, "Dr. Pearson, thank you for saving me and my child's life that day, and thank you for helping me out again today. Once I sell my marital home, I'll return the money to you."

"You don't need to rush to return the money to me." Zayne looked at her compassionately. "You're still recovering, so you can't afford to catch a cold. Take good care of yourself and don't take any unnecessary risks. After all, it took us an entire day and night to save you and your child in the operating room."

Warmth welled up in Candace's heart as tears began to fall. A doctor she had only met a handful of times was willing to extend a helping hand to her, but her own husband deemed it fit to punish her and cancel all her cards.

Worse yet, Shawn didn't care one bit about Jamie. He was too busy fooling around with his lover. There was no point for Candace to be "Mrs. Hamilton" anymore. The title was completely worthless as it didn't command any respect. In fact, it was more of a joke than anything else.

"Mrs. Hamilton, you should refrain from crying during the postpartum recovery period. You may develop issues with your eyes if you do," Zayne said gently. "Stay strong. I need to return to the emergency room."

Candace wiped away her tears. She chewed on her bottom lip before saying, "I will live well for Jamie's sake."

"Oh, that's right. Mrs. Hamilton, our hospital has developed a new medication that has shown promising results. Do you not plan to inform Mr. Hamilton?" Zayne asked. "This medication is able to repair damaged nerves in the brain. It should be able to help Mr. Hamilton regain his memories faster."

"You can tell him that after Jamie's one-month birthday celebration the day after tomorrow," Candace said.

Two hours later, Jamie's high fever was finally under control. She cradled him close to her, her tears dripping onto his small face. Zayne said that if they had arrived at the hospital just ten minutes later, Jamie would have suffered irreparable brain damage.

Jamie had only been four and a half pounds when Candace gave birth to him. He had spent half a month in an incubator just to stay alive.

Shawn had only dropped by once when Jamie was discharged from the hospital. He had looked at Jamie with disdain in his eyes for about three minutes before he took his leave.

Shawn's unwillingness to help Candace today had nearly caused Jamie to become a cripple! It was clear that Shawn was unsuited to being a father.

Candace became determined to make Shawn regret everything he had done today when he finally regained his memories. She wanted him to suffer heart-wrenching pain every single night and be tormented by his conscience for as long as he lived.

As she brought Jamie downstairs with her to retrieve his medication, Shawn, Yelena, and Nathan entered the elevator that she was in.

Shawn was carrying Nathan and was all smiles when he said, "You don't need to be frugal with my money, Lena. Just choose the most expensive dental filling for Nathan. 1,800 dollars is only worth a leather belt to me."

Candace lowered her gaze to hide the glaciers in her eyes. Would Shawn still be willing to fork out so much money for Nathan when he regained his memories? She was impatient to witness the scene of him breaking down in tears when he realized what he had done.

"Thank you for treating Nathan so well." Yelena lifted her eyes and saw Candace standing in the elevator. An unnatural smile stretched across her face. "Candace, how is Jamie? You don't look so good. Why don't you let Shawn take care of Jamie for the time being?"

"Why should I help with her child?" Shawn asked coldly. "Candace, you're willing to do anything to get me to go home, aren't you? You'd even make your own child fall ill so you can come to the hospital to get in my way.

"I can't believe a mother as heartless as you actually exists in this world."

Candace treated Shawn as nothing more than the air around her. She kept her head lowered as she adjusted Jamie's clothes. She didn't expect her bag strap to snap at that moment, causing Jamie's milk bottle and diapers to scatter all across the floor.

Ignoring the excruciating pain radiating from the incision on her abdomen, she knelt to pick up the fallen items.

Yelena touched Candace's arm and said, "You're hurt, Candace, so you shouldn't move around too much. Let me help you."

"Why are you helping her, Lena?" Shawn grabbed Yelena and pulled her behind him. "Who knows what tricks she may have up her sleeve? You need to stay away from her," he chastised unhappily.

"Shawn, you shouldn't think so badly of Candace. After all, I was roommates with her once upon a time," Yelena said gently. "Although her academics weren't very good, she was a very hardworking student!"

Shawn barked out a laugh. "She was a hardworking student, but still scored the lowest and came in last in her entire year. It's humiliating for my son to have such an academically inept mother," he said.

"It's even more humiliating for my son to have such a heartless father." Candace powered through the pain of her incision as she picked up Jamie's bottle. "Don't tell anyone that you're Jamie's father. You don't deserve that title!"

Shawn stared at Candace in disbelief. He suddenly felt as if she were a stranger to him. She had always been obedient and never talked back to him in the past.

"Stop playing hard to get, Candace," he warned, face darkening. "No matter what you do, I'm not following you back home tonight!"

Candace didn't bother waiting for Shawn to finish his sentence before she took Jamie with her and exited the elevator. However, she was forced to halt her footsteps, her eyes widening to the size of saucers.

For reasons unbeknownst to her, Jamie had extended his tiny hand from the blue blanket he was swaddled in and grabbed Shawn's sleeve. He babbled nonsensically at Shawn. The milk that leaked from the corners of his mouth dripped onto the back of Shawn's hand.

Shawn was stunned for a moment before he batted Jamie's hand away. He stripped out of his blazer and tossed the garment into the trash bin that was nearby. His brow was furrowed as he roared, "What are you doing? That's revolting!"

Jamie was frightened by his harsh tone. He buried his little head against Candace's chest and started wailing in despair.

"Don't cry, Jamie. Mommy's here." Candace felt as if her heart was being stabbed by a knife. She kissed away the tears beading at the corners of Jamie's eyes. She choked out, "Mommy will always be with you, sweetheart. We'll live happily in the future, just the two of us."

Shawn froze in his tracks upon hearing Candace's words. As he gazed at her anguished appearance, an uneasiness he couldn't explain flashed through his heart. He felt as if he was slowly losing control over something.

"Shawn, Nathan has a nosebleed!" Yelena exclaimed, panicked. "Take him to the restroom to clean up!"

Shawn pushed those strange thoughts to the back of his mind as he took Nathan away. Before he left, he halted his footsteps once more and said coldly, "Candace, it'll be the baby's one-month birthday celebration the day after tomorrow.

"I'm warning you. Take good care of him. Don't let him suffer anymore, or I won't let you off the hook!"

Candace only lowered her eyes and scoffed. She didn't respond to his warning. There were only 12 hours left before she would leave with Jamie.

Shawn would be served with a divorce agreement during Jamie's one-month birthday celebration.

The next morning, Candace got in touch with a realtor to arrange tours for potential buyers.

An elderly couple exchanged glances with each other. They wore solemn looks when they asked, "Mrs. Hamilton, you're still recovering from postpartum, so why are you in a rush to sell such a wonderful home? There's nothing wrong with this house, is there? Where will you live once you sell the house?"

"I intend to go back to my old home to rest," Candace answered calmly. "There aren't any disputes for this property. If you're serious about buying the house, I can give you a 500,000 dollar discount, but you have to pay the full price upfront."

"That's fine!" The elderly couple agreed easily as they penned their signatures on the contract.

Candace followed them to the Real Estate Bureau to process the transfer procedures. She then requested the realtor to purchase a fully-furnished home that was ready for move-in in Fohzan. After the sale was completed, she canceled all of her cards.

She rushed to the Government Affairs Agency to pick up her new passport before purchasing a flight ticket that would take her out of Bloomingville the next day.

When night fell, Candace dragged her exhausted body back home. She was surprised to see a pair of red high heels that didn't belong to her on the shoe rack. A man's white shirt was thrown haphazardly on the floor while a black bra was discarded a short distance away from it.

Candace felt as if an explosion had been set off in her brain. She stumbled up the staircase and saw a man and woman entangled with each other through the open master bedroom door. Condoms were scattered all over the floor.

Hearing movement from beyond the door, panic flickered across Yelena's face. She was half-kneeling on the floor and tried to push Shawn, who was positioned behind her. "Shawn, stop fooling around. Candace is back! It's inappropriate for us to do this in front of her—"

Shawn scoffed. "This is my home. What can she do to stop me when she's only 'Mrs. Hamilton' in name and nothing else?"

He gripped Yelena's waist with his large hands and continued rocking into her.

Candace covered her mouth with one hand as she bolted for the downstairs bathroom. She kneeled next to the toilet and vomited violently into it. She threw up so hard that she was spitting out bile by the end of it.

Drained of strength, she leaned against the wall and swallowed large gulps of breath, letting the tears stream endlessly down her face.

Shawn was truly a cruel man. It was one thing for him to parade Yelena around the city; it was another thing altogether to have sex with her in Candace's room. It was utterly humiliating!

Candace dug her nails into her palms and forced the tears to stop. She accepted the glass of water that Lisa offered her and said weakly, "Tidy up the guest room on the first floor for me. I'll be staying there with Jamie tonight.

"Remember to move the pot of aloe vera Lucia left for me from the master bedroom to the guest room. It has to grow in a clean environment. It doesn't do well when it's in a filthy place."

"Understood, Mrs. Hamilton." Lisa paused for a moment before speaking again. "Mr. Hamilton said that Ms. Chapman wants to have your lamb stew. He ordered you to deliver a bowl to them after you're done preparing it. He also said that if you don't do as he says, he'll never come back again."

Candace's gaze turned glacial. "It's perfectly fine with me if he never comes back. At least I'll have some peace in my own home!"

She then went to the guest room and crawled into bed. She covered herself with a blanket and fell into a deep sleep. However, the blanket was suddenly ripped off her body.

Shawn roared from above her, "Have you gone deaf? I told you to prepare the stew for Yelena, didn't I?"

"Why should I prepare the stew for her when I'm still in my postpartum recovery period?" Candace countered heatedly. "Just because you brought her back today to disgust me? Just because you hoped that Jamie and I would die during childbirth so she could usurp my position?"

Shawn stared at her in shock. He stayed mute for a few seconds before finally saying, "So you finally grew a spine, did you? You have the nerve to talk back to me now. I'm going to count to three. If you don't prepare the stew, I'll—"

Powering through the pain in her abdomen, Candace grabbed a glass of water and threw it at Shawn. "Get out! Your mother gave this house to me. You have no right to raise your voice at me here!"