Chapter 3

"Ah!" Chloe screamed in terror.

Julian shielded her with his body, and the vase shattered heavily against his back. Yet, his instinct was to hold Chloe steady, making sure she didn't fall.

"Audrey! Why don't you just kill me?!"

He whipped around, his eyes bloodshot with rage.

"I have no family wealth, and I can't give you a child! You can abuse me and look down on me all you want! But don't drag innocent people into this!"

"Chloe is the most kind-hearted, pure woman I've ever met! She's only working as a maid to support her family. She actually has a college degree and could easily get a more dignified job!"

His voice grew colder and more venomous with every word.

"In my eyes, a spoiled, useless heiress like you, born with a silver spoon in your mouth, isn't even worth a single strand of her hair!"

Every word was a dagger straight to my heart.

He had no wealthy background, and he was infertile. Years ago, I had fought against my parents' fierce opposition to marry him. The condition they set was that I had to double our family company's profits within two years.

During those two years, I barely slept. I worked myself to the bone, acting like an emotionless machine, giving it my absolute all.

And I succeeded.

Yet now, he claimed I looked down on him. He called me a useless heiress and laughed with another woman about how unfeminine I was.

Driven to madness, I stormed into the study and shredded the throw pillow that looked like Chloe. I grabbed everything within reach, photo frames, potted plants, desk lamps, and hurled them at them.

But he shielded Chloe tightly, easily dodging my rage.

"Audrey, I've had enough of living under the Sterlings' thumb! I am talented. I am the youngest Chief of Medicine in this country!"

"Do you really think I need to rot away at your brother's hospital? Let me tell you, plenty of top-tier hospitals are begging to recruit me!"

"If you keep acting like a psychopath, we are getting a divorce! And you will be the only one regretting it!"

I gripped the banister tightly to steady my shaking body. "Suit yourself!"

Chloe trembled in his arms, whimpering, "Julian, couples fight all the time. Mrs. Sterling just has a terrible temper, but you should just bear with it."

"Life is so hard for divorced women. People look down on us, just look at me..."

Julian sneered, not even deigning to look at me. "Who cares about her? She brought this on herself. Not every woman deserves to be cherished!"

An overwhelming wave of exhaustion suddenly washed over me. I let go of the banister and silently walked upstairs.

Julian stared after me, seemingly caught off guard by my sudden, quiet departure. A flicker of guilt crossed his face, and he opened his mouth to call me back.

Just then, Chloe's phone rang.

"What? Leo has a high fever?"

"Okay, okay, I'm coming to the hospital right now!"

Hanging up, Chloe's eyes filled with tears of panic. "Julian, Leo has a 104-degree fever! What do I do?"

Julian's face went pale. "Leo? Wasn't he perfectly fine at the amusement park yesterday?"

"I'll go with you!"

Listening to the sound of the front door slamming shut, my knees buckled, and I collapsed onto the floor.

He had already been taking her kids to amusement parks?

Or were those kids actually... his?

At that thought, I bit my lip until it bled and dialed my brother Harold's number.

"Harold, I need you to run a background check on Julian and Chloe."

"What's going on? Did he cheat?"

"I suspect... he has illegitimate children."

Harold gasped on the phone. "Are you sure? I thought he was medically infertile."

I felt all the energy drain from my body, my throat tightening. "Chloe claims she has hyper-fertile genes."