My father had never lost a bet in his life.

Faced with this inevitable outcome, he wasn’t the least bit surprised.

He only replied with a calm hum, his voice sharp and concise.

“Lillian, you’re my daughter. This family empire will be yours to inherit sooner or later.”

“Let the past stay in the past. I won’t hold it against you—but there’s one thing you need to remember.”

“Don’t take what you’re not supposed to take. Don’t leave what you’re not supposed to leave.”

What I wasn’t supposed to take—the child growing inside me.

What I wasn’t supposed to leave—the fortune I’d built for Robert with my own two hands.

These ten years of suffering were the lesson he wanted me to never forget.

“I understand, Father.”

I hung up the phone just as Robert honked the horn downstairs, impatient to leave.

I slid into the passenger seat, where a torn pair of stockings lay discarded on the leather upholstery.

Neither of us spoke a word the entire drive.

He pretended not to notice the cold distance in my eyes.

I pretended not to smell the cloying perfume clinging to the car’s interior.

When we got out, Robert automatically reached for me to help me out of the car. His rolled-up sleeve revealed a long, jagged scar on his forearm.

For a moment, I felt a flicker of disorientation.

To be with me, Robert had earned no fewer than eighteen scars. Back then, he’d barely clung to life.

How had that man—who once loved me so fiercely he’d have died for me—turned into this?

Before I could dwell on it, a woman looped her arm through Robert’s, her voice dripping with honeyed sweetness.

“Robert, it’s been ages since you came to see me.”

“What brings you here today?”

“Fought with your wife again? Or got bored with your new toy?”

It was Scarlett.

Robert’s favorite mistress—the one who’d stuck by his side the longest.

Scarlett snuggled up to him, her ample chest pressing against his arm as she pouted.

Robert grinned, completely ignoring me. He pulled a ruby necklace out of thin air, dangling it in front of Scarlett to cheer her up.

“What nonsense are you talking? I’d never forget my little treasure.”

“Thought your skin looked so fair, I flew all the way to the East Coast just to buy this for you.”

“Now, be a good girl and play on your own for a bit. I’ve got to take my wife to her prenatal checkup.”

“I’ll come find you once I’m done.”

He gave Scarlett’s butt a playful slap for good measure.

Staring at the glittering necklace, I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing out loud.

A man who’d clawed his way up from the bottom—he knew how to stretch a dollar, all right.

One set of jewelry, split apart and gifted to dozens of different women.

The earrings in my ears burned like a brand against my chest.

I yanked them out and tossed them into the nearest trash can.

As I turned to leave, I overheard a group of passersby whispering among themselves.

They were speculating about the strange dynamic between the three of us.

One of them tried to lean in closer to listen, but his friend pulled him back.

“Are you crazy? Didn’t you see the lady standing next to him?”

“That’s the Winters family’s eldest daughter.”

The Winters family’s eldest daughter.

I hadn’t heard that title in years.

Before I could say anything, Scarlett let out a scoff.

She shot me a disdainful glance, her voice dripping with contempt.

“Eldest daughter? Please. She’s nothing but a cast-off who begged Robert to take her in.”

“Now she’s just an old hag, clinging to him only because she’s got a bun in the oven.”

“What’s there to be afraid of? I’ve always looked down on parasites like her!”

A parasite.

If that’s what I was, then what did that make Robert—the man who’d built his entire career on my family’s name?

What did that make Scarlett—the woman who lived off Robert’s ill-gotten gains?

When had these two even gotten together, anyway?

Was it when I’d miscarried our first child?

When I’d drunk myself to the point of a stomach hemorrhage to land that contract for Robert?

Or when I’d taken a beating for him, falling into a coma after saving him from his enemies?

It had been too long—I couldn’t remember.

All I knew was that while I lay in the hospital bed, pale and alone, Robert had been sleeping with this busty nurse.

They’d burned for each other, consumed by their reckless passion.

During that time, I’d received countless text messages from Scarlett.

In the photos, I was lying in bed, my face ashen, with no one by my side.

And Scarlett? She was sprawled across the sheets, her cheeks flushed, with my husband wrapped around her.

After all these years, Scarlett was still just as arrogant.

It was clear how thoroughly Robert had spoiled her.

But it didn’t matter.

Once I was gone, they could be together openly, without any more lies or secrets.

Right now, all I needed to do was get rid of the burden growing inside me.