The Billionaire's Fatal Choice

The kidnappers gave my billionaire husband a twisted ultimatum: he could only walk out of here with one of usme, his five-months pregnant wife, or Lola, his childhood sweetheart.

I opened my dry lips to scream for help. Suddenly, glowing text materialized in the empty air directly in front of my face.

[Here we go! Hes reborn! Hes definitely picking Lola this time.

In the last timeline, he saved pregnant Maeve first and made Lola cry. Dude regretted it his whole life.]

[Poor Lola. Even though she staged this whole kidnapping herself, not being chosen by the man she loves last time was brutal. I still feel sick thinking about what she went through.]

[Ugh, Maeve is such a stage-five clinger. Shes totally ruining the romance between Harrison and Lola. Thank god he eventually killed Maeve and that bastard baby to be with Lola in the end, or I would have rioted!]

The oxygen scraped out of my throat. Before my brain could even process the sheer absurdity of those floating words, Harrisons voice echoed through the concrete warehouse. Not a single fraction of a second of hesitation.

"Lola. I choose Lola."

[Called it!]

[OMG so sweet!]

More text scrolled rapidly past my eyes. My nails dug into the fabric over my swollen belly. Every drop of blood in my veins turned to ice, sending a violent, uncontrollable tremor rattling through my spine.

Chapter 1

After handing over the ransom, my husband, Harrison, stripped off his custom-tailored suit jacket and wrapped it tightly around an entirely unharmed Lola. He stepped right over my blood-soaked legs, deliberately swerving to avoid my dirt-caked fingers. He didn't spare me a single glance.

"Harrison!" I tore my throat raw.

My answer was a heavy combat boot slamming into my ribs. The impact folded me in half, violently driving the air from my lungs.

"Shut up! You bring the cops down on us, you're dead!" the kidnapper snapped.

The thick wooden club arced down. I instinctively curled into a fetal position, wrapping both arms over my belly.

The wood cracked against my spine with a sickening snap, splintering under the brutal force. Black spots swarmed my vision. A layer of cold, clammy sweat instantly drenched my clothes.

Through my blurred vision, the glowing text kept scrolling in the air:

[Hell yes! Teach that gold digger a lesson. That's what she gets for trying to trap a billionaire with a pregnancy!

Lola was his first love anyway. Acting all innocent while trying to lock him down with her bastard kidits actually nauseating!]

[NGL, watching her get beat down is satisfying, but Lola definitely didn't order this. Our Lola is too pure. She's literally begging Harrison to go back for Maeve right now!]

[Whatever, who cares if Lola ordered it? Shes his childhood sweetheart. Maeve is just some irrelevant side character who tried to steal his heart. She deserves to be beaten to death!]

[Exactly! Maeve is technically his wife, but he didn't even hesitate to ditch her when Lola asked him to. Just shows how utterly repulsive Maeve really is!]

[Proof that Maeve doesn't even hold a candle to Lola. They are the ultimate endgame. I'm obsessed. I need them to get together officially right now.]

The glowing words burned into my retinas. My chest cavity caved in, lungs collapsing as if the oxygen had been vacuumed from the room. My teeth clamped down on my bottom lip until the metallic taste of copper flooded my tongue.

I had thought marriage and a baby would slowly erase Lola from his system. I had thought time would eventually root him to us.

Instead, he didn't even flinch before leaving us to rot.

My trembling fingers dug deeper into my abdomen, trying to physically shield the only thing I had left.

Then, it hit.

A sharp, violent cramp ripped through my lower stomach. It felt as though something was being brutally torn from my uterus. My shaking hand reached between my thighs.

My fingers came back slick. Wet. Crimson.

"My baby"

The bleeding didn't stop. It trickled down my legs, pooling into a thick, dark puddle against the cold dirt floor.

The kidnapper stared at the blood. The color drained from his face.

"Shit. Am I gonna catch a murder charge? Lola never said this bitch was pregnant!" He dropped the splintered club. He scrambled backward, his eyes wide with panic.

"This ain't on me! I was just hired for a job! You want someone to haunt, go after Lola. This ain't my fault!"

Tires squealed outside. The roar of an engine quickly faded into the distance.

Silence crashed down on the abandoned mountain. No cell service. No help. Just me and the blood soaking into the earth.

"Baby hold on mommy's going to get you out of here"

My legs wouldn't move. That brutal strike to my spine had completely paralyzed my lower half. I dug my bloody fingernails into the dirt. I bit down on my gums until they bled.

Inch by agonizing inch, I dragged my dead, broken weight across the gravel, crawling toward the highway.

Chapter 2

Every inch of progress shredded the skin off my knees and palms against the jagged asphalt. The pain didn't register.

A single, primitive instinct hijacked my brain: Get to the road. Find someone. Save my baby.

But my fight for survival was nothing but premium entertainment to the floating text.

[LMAO do you see her? Maeve wriggling on the ground like an actual maggot. I'm screaming!]

[Gross. Who is this Maeve trying to perform for? Does she think she's some Hollywood tragedy queen? She barely got tapped.

You'd think she had a fractured spine and was a paraplegic from the way she's acting. The absolute desperation for attention is pathetic.]

[Obviously she's just playing the victim to guilt-trip him. Doing the absolute most just to compete for his affection. Total pick-me behavior.]

[And this is exactly why she's just a side character. Manipulative and zero morals. Not like our precious Lolaso sweet, soft, and genuine. Even Im in love with her, let alone Harrison!]

The glowing comments didn't know the truth. My legs were dead. To make her staged kidnapping look authentic, Lola had chosen an abandoned warehouse district miles from civilization. There wasn't a single soul in sight.

I bit down on my lip, dragging my lifeless lower half forward. Just as my muscles gave out, the moonlight caught the metallic gleam of a luxury SUV parked off the shoulder. Harrisons license plate. A jagged spike of adrenaline pierced through my exhaustion.

I clawed my way over the dirt and gravel, leaving a dark smear of blood in my wake.

"Harrison! The baby" The words died in my throat.

Through the tinted glass, bathed in the soft glow of the dashboard, Harrison and Lola sat with their fingers tightly interlaced. Their faces were inches apart. The tension between them was thick, heavy, pulling them into a kiss.

His eyes held a frantic, breathless kind of electricity I had never seen before.

Not when he asked me out. Not when we dated. Not when he proposed. Not even as we stood at the altar.

For seven years, his gaze had always been a flat, unreadable calm. Everyone used to tell me that was just who Harrison wasa stoic, career-driven man who wouldn't blink even if the sky caved in. A good, stable man.

I swallowed that lie. For seven whole years.

He treated me perfectly. Like a textbook algorithm programmed to be the ideal husband. If it rained, he was outside my office building with an umbrella. If I woke up, there was a hot breakfast waiting on my nightstand.

On dates, he opened every door, carried my bags, and adjusted his long strides to match mine. He checked every box. He passed every test.

But there was never any fire. I convinced myself he was just emotionally muted.

Now, staring through that glass, the truth slammed into my chest like a freight train.

He wasn't incapable of passion. He could be nervous. He could be frantic. He could be consumed by desire.

Just not for me.

Bile rose in my throat. I swallowed it down, ignoring the violent shaking in my hands, and slammed my bloody palm against the reinforced glass.

"Harrison! Please! Save our baby!"

Harrison hadn't even flinched yet, but the glowing text multiplied rapidly, swarming my vision.

[WTF is Maeve's problem? Stop ruining the moment!]

[Can she just drop dead already? The tension was literally perfect! I've been waiting for chapters for them to finally kiss and this bitch ruins it.

Can the author just kill off this side character already?!]

[Fr. Maeve is doing this on purpose. She knows he has a soft spot for kids, so she's weaponizing her pregnancy for sympathy. Such toxic behavior.

With a mother like that, the kid is probably gonna be a sociopath anyway!]

The sheer toxicity of the curses choked the air out of my lungs. I just wanted my baby to live. Was that a crime?

The heavy thud of the SUV door opening cut through my spiraling thoughts. Harrison stepped out. His perfectly sculpted brows pulled into a sharp, deep crease. A flash of utter irritation crossed his features.

Chapter 3

"What are you doing here?" Then, his eyes dropped to the blood soaking my legs. He froze. "You"

Just as his hand twitched, instinctively reaching out toward me, Lola leaned her head out of the passenger window. She feigned innocent confusion.

"Maeve? Nobody came to save you how did you escape the kidnappers?" She tilted her head, her voice dripping with artificial realization.

"Unless you staged this whole thing yourself?" She let out a soft sigh.

"I guess that makes sense. If you hired them, they'd obviously just let you walk away." She gave me a pitying look. "But Maeve, even if your little kidnapping stunt didn't work out, there's no need to fake a miscarriage just to get Harrison's attention."

Harrisons expression instantly turned lethal.

"Maeve. You actually dared to play me?!"

Seeing Harrison's fury ignite, the floating text practically danced in the air:

[Yessss! Harrison finally sees right through this toxic bitch! Time for him to protect his real girl! I've been so sick of her using her huge belly to act morally superior!]

[Exactly! Our Lola is a genius. Pinning the kidnapping on Maeve ruins her relationship with Harrison AND makes sure he won't believe a word she says. Without his help, that baby is 100% gone!]

[Lola thinks so fast. Coming up with a win-win strategy like that? That's true female lead behavior. She's his perfect match!]

[Once this baby is gone, theres nothing stopping Harrison and Lola. I cant wait for their wedding and their own kids. Just thinking about it is giving me cavities!]

A phantom grip crushed my windpipe. I couldn't breathe. But I didn't have time to fall apart. I clutched my bleeding stomach and looked up at Harrison from the dirt, shaking my head frantically.

"No that's not true. I didn't stage anything. The blood it's real." My voice cracked into a desperate sob.

"Harrison, please. Save our baby! I'll do anything you"

"Still lying!" Before I could finish, Harrisons hand shot out. His fingers dug brutally into my jawline, dragging my upper body off the gravel and forcing me to look at him. His eyes were dead, looking at me like I was absolute trash.

His voice held zero warmth.

"Maeve, I was completely blind about you. I can't believe you'd stoop so low as to fake a kidnapping out of pure jealousy, and drag Lola into it!"

He released my jaw, letting me slump back toward the dirt. "Get up right now. Bow to Lola and apologize."

The glowing text flared up again:

[Omg, Harrison is such an alpha! Ultimate boyfriend material. I want to marry a man like him!]

[Love a male lead who doesn't take anyone's bullshit and acts decisively.]

[Maybe now Maeve finally gets who holds the 1 spot in his heart and will just give up?]

If apologizing would save my baby, I would do it.

I planted my bloody hands on the asphalt. I tried to push myself up. A blinding, white-hot agony ripped through my lower back and uterus, like a dozen rusted steel needles driving straight into my spine. My arms gave out.

I collapsed back into the dirt, barely able to keep myself propped up on my knees.

The floating text immediately turned vicious:

[Gross. Who is Maeve performing for? She thinks she's some Hollywood tragedy queen. She barely got tapped.

You'd think she had a fractured spine and was going to be a paraplegic from the way she's acting.]

[That's why she's the villain. Thick-skinned and entirely shameless. She does something this vile and won't even stand up to apologize. The ego on her!]

[@Author, can we just kill this bitch off already? Looking at her gives me a physical gag reflex.]

The absolute malice in those words physically sickened me. But Lola, standing safely behind Harrisons broad shoulders, wore a smirk more venomous than any comment.

Sensing my eyes on her, she flashed me a look of pure, unadulterated contempt. Then, her face smoothed into a mask of total innocence. She gently tugged on Harrisons sleeve, her voice soft and forgiving.

"Harrison, it's okay. Let's just let it go."

Chapter 4

"It looks like Maeve isn't exactly willing," Lola said softly. "I'm younger, so making her apologize to me is probably too humiliating for her.

It's fine, Harrison. They're just rumors anyway." She looked up at him, her eyes wide. "As long as you believe me, nothing else matters."

As soon as Lola spoke, the glowing text surged, deeply moved by her absolute grace.

[Ahhhh, our Lola is a literal angel on earth! She's way too pure. Repaying evil with kindness and actually putting herself in Maeve's shoes? THAT is true female lead energy!]

[Facts! Lola is our little ray of sunshine. Not like that filthy maggot crawling in the dirt, doing nothing but being disgusting and trying to ruin the main couple.]

[Ugh, our precious Lola is just too soft-hearted. That's why she's been bullied her whole life, and how Maeve took advantage of her to steal Harrison. My heart breaks for her.]

Staring at the glowing text twisting reality into sickening shapes, I almost laughed. The words 'pure' and 'kind' didn't exist in Lola's DNA.

Years ago, at a rare high school reunion, one of Harrison's old classmates got blackout drunk and let Lola's real history slip. Her viciousness wasn't new. Back then, just because Harrison tutored the head cheerleader a few times, Lola paid off some local dropouts to terrorize the girl. She slipped death threats into her locker.

To her face, Lola played the supportive class president, comforting her while systematically spreading vicious rumors behind her back to isolate her from the entire student body.

In just one month, the bright, outgoing cheerleader with her sights set on a full-ride Ivy League scholarship was driven completely insane. She developed a severe eating disorder and clinical depression, finally forced to drop out amidst the relentless slut-shaming of the entire school.

Lola orchestrated all of it, just to ensure she was the only woman left in Harrison's orbit. The classmate only knew the truth because Lola had paid him off to spread the rumors too. When he heard that cheerleader eventually took her own life to prove her innocence, the guilt broke him. The alcohol finally unsealed his lips.

And now, Lola was executing that exact same playbook on me.

I opened my mouth to expose her. Harrison's glare cut me off like a blade. Then, he turned back to Lola, his eyes softening into absolute adoration.

"Lola, you didn't do anything wrong. You don't need to accommodate her." He shot me a look of pure disgust. "If she's too arrogant to get up and apologize, I'll make her do it."

With that, Harrison loomed over me. His expensive custom leather shoe came down, grinding heavily against the back of my hand as I tried to reach for him. He delivered his final ultimatum with the unquestionable authority of an absolute superior.

"Maeve, since Lola wasn't hurt this time, and for the sake of whatever is left of our marriage, this is your final warning." His voice was a razor. "If I ever find out you dared to touch her again, if anything happens to her, I will make you wish you were dead."

As if the words weren't enough to vent his disgust, his heavy shoe connected with my side again.

The brutal kick sent me rolling across the dirt. Every bone in my body vibrated with blinding, white-hot agony. The heavy, dragging sensation in my lower abdomen intensified to a tearing climax.

"My baby my baby"

But as I lay there, trembling and bleeding from my husband's assault, the glowing text exploded with praise.

[Hell yes! Thats our ruthless alpha lead! Watching this manipulative bitch get beat down is so satisfying!]

[LMAO this is exactly what she gets for trying to steal Lola's man!]

[Honestly, Maeve is so fake. Does she think she's the Princess and the Pea? So fragile!

Harrison just kicked her side a little harder than usual, and she's clutching her stomach whining about a baby. Shut up already!]

Nearby, Lola was struggling to contain her laughter. She quickly suppressed her smirk, plastering on a look of naive confusion to pour gasoline on the fire.

"Wait, Maeve Harrison kicked your side, right? Why are you clutching your stomach and screaming about the pain?"

Chapter 5

Harrison caught her comment, and his expression darkened with pure rage. He glared down at me. "Still acting! You think this pregnancy is your get-out-of-jail-free card? Believe me, I'll"

Harrison's voice warped, sounding like it was submerged underwater. The massive blood loss was dragging me under. The edges of my vision blurred into a dark, fuzzy static.

A cold, absolute certainty slammed into my chest, anchoring me to the bloody asphalt. My baby was dying.

Hot tears spilled over my eyelashes, stinging the open scrapes on my cheeks. I was his legal wife. When I first told him about the pregnancy, his eyes had lit up with what I thought was genuine anticipation. How did we end up in this concrete hell?

My baby. Mommy is useless. I couldn't protect you.

Through the fog, Harrison crouched down. His fingers locked onto my jaw like a steel vice, his face twisted in absolute disgust.

"You will give birth to that child," he ordered, his voice like freezing rain. "But mark my words, the second it's born, we are getting a divorce. I never want to see your toxic face again."

Lola tugged on his sleeve with perfect timing. "Harrison, don't let her ruin your mood. Let's just go. It's too filthy here," she murmured softly.

Harrison wrapped a protective arm around her waist. They walked away, leaving me bleeding in the dirt. He never looked back.

The floating text went wild.

[So satisfying! Watching them crush that manipulative bitch clears my skin. Bet the side character won't dare try stealing the male lead again!]

[Who knows. Cockroaches are hard to kill. Our Lola is just way too soft-hearted. If it were me, I would have floored the gas pedal and run Maeve over.]

[Facts. She's so toxic, her kid was bound to be a psychopath anyway. Losing it is literally community service.

She only got pregnant to trap him. Better it's gone now so she can't weaponize the kid to emotionally blackmail him later!]

The glowing comments had it all wrong. I didn't trap him. He was the one who initiated it.

For our entire seven-year marriage, Harrison had been obsessed with birth control. On our wedding night, he explicitly told me he didn't want kids yet. He didn't want the burden of a family while he was building his corporate empire. I respected that boundary.

Then, one night, he came home reeking of expensive scotch. He bypassed every boundary we had set and pulled me into bed without a second thought. He left in a rush the next morning, and I brushed it off. Two months later, the violent morning sickness hit, and I stared at the two pink lines in shock.

Lying in my own pooling blood, my brain fractured trying to process the whiplash. If he never loved me, why did he give me hope? Why did he give me this baby?

Through the fading remnants of my consciousness, the floating text delivered the brutal truth.

[LMAO, look at Maeve's devastated face. Why is the side character acting like a victim?]

[Fr. She probably still has no idea Harrison never loved her. He only married her because he and Lola got into a massive fight back then.

Lola hired a fake boyfriend to make him jealous, so Harrison retaliated by marrying Maeve just to spite her.]

Chapter 6

[Oh, it gets better. She keeps whining about 'the baby, the baby,' like she actually thinks Harrison gives a damn about her.

He only got her pregnant because he didn't want our Lola to suffer through the pain of childbirth!

He literally had to get blackout drunk just to force himself to sleep with Maeve so she could be Lola's surrogate. Otherwise, she thinks she'd ever get a turn in his bed?]

[That's why side characters are absolute clowns. I can't wait to see her try to use the kid as leverage later and watch Harrison absolutely destroy her.]

Staring at those scrolling glowing words, the final piece of the puzzle violently snapped into place.

Harrison never belonged to me. The wedding. The vows. The late nights.

All of it was for Lola. I wasn't a wife; I was a prop. A pawn deployed to make his real love jealous. Even the life growing inside me was just a grotesque conveniencea biological incubator because he couldn't bear the thought of his precious Lola enduring labor pains.

Harrison, you absolute monster.

If I made it off this mountain alive, I was going to burn his world to ashes.

The roar of his SUVs engine faded into the dead silence of the woods. The world abruptly tilted on its axis. The rough asphalt rushed up to meet my face, and the dark swallowed me whole.

When I opened my eyes, the sterile scent of bleach and iodine hit the back of my throat. I was staring at a stark white hospital ceiling.

My mother-in-law, Eleanor, sat beside my bed. Her usually immaculate posture was slumped, her designer silk blouse wrinkled, and her eyes bloodshot.

"Maeve it's my fault. I failed at raising my son, and you're the one paying the price."

I later learned a passing long-haul trucker had spotted me bleeding out on the side of the highway and called 911, pulling me back from the brink of death.

Memory slammed back into my skull. My hand shot down to my stomach under the thin hospital blanket. It was flat. Empty.

"Mom" The word scraped out of my dry throat like sandpaper. "My baby?"

Eleanors breath hitched. A fresh tear slipped down her cheek. She hesitated for a long, agonizing second before exhaling a shaky breath. "Maeve the baby didn't make it."

I didn't scream. I didn't thrash against the IV lines. The sheer betrayal from Harrison and those floating words had completely hollowed out my chest cavity, scraping away any capacity for tears. I was eerily, mechanically calm.

It was as if she were talking about a stranger's tragedy.

"I see." I stared blankly at the ceiling tiles. "It's for the best. At least they won't have to suffer in this world."

My absolute detachment only broke Eleanor further. She grabbed my hand, squeezing my cold fingers tight.

"Maeve, I know what happened. I know what he did. I'm going to drag that bastard in here and make him beg on his knees!"

A tiny flicker of warmth cut through the ice in my veins. Eleanor had always been more of a mother to me than an in-law. Back in my junior year of college, my parents had been killed instantly in a horrific car crash.

When Harrison and I got together, Eleanor didn't see my orphan background as a weakness to exploit. Instead, her heart broke for me. She didn't just secure a massive, irrevocable trust fund for me in the prenuptial agreement; she also arranged a top-tier private butler team for the estate, absolutely refusing to let me lift a single finger for household chores.

Whenever Harrison and I fought, she was always in my corner. Three years ago, Harrison stayed out late entertaining a client and ignored my texts. I couldn't sleep, sick with worry. When Eleanor found out, she flew into a rage and immediately changed the security codes on the estate gates, locking him out.

She didn't let him back on the property until he linked his live location-sharing to my phone and swore to check in immediately if there were any delays. She truly was my second mother.

Eleanor pulled out her phone and dialed Harrison's private number, ready to tear him apart. The line clicked open.

But it wasn't Harrison's deep voice.

It was a soft, sharp, utterly venomous giggle. I recognized that sound instantly.

Chapter 7

It was Lola. She didn't even bother hiding the smug sneer in her voice.

"Oh, Maeve. I just knew you'd go running to mommy, crying and begging her to pressure Harrison into coming back for you. That's exactly why I took his phone. Told him I'd keep it safe."

A sickly sweet pause. "Aren't you just dying to know where he is right now? What he's doing?"

My phone buzzed. A photo loaded on the screen.

It was Harrison, crouched in the dirt on the side of a road. It had just rained, turning the ground into thick, brown sludge. This was a man with severe OCD. A man who demanded his custom shirts be steam-cleaned three times to ensure they were spotless, who sanitized his hands four times after washing vegetables.

Yet there he was, his tailored slacks ruined, half-kneeling in the mud, digging frantically through the muck with his bare hands.

"How about that?" Lola laughed. "I just told him I accidentally dropped my earring outside, and he bolted. He literally ran out like a madman to find it.

I couldn't even stop him. Tell me, Maeve, have you ever gotten that kind of treatment in your entire pathetic life?"

"You really think that bastard in your belly makes you special? Let me spell it out for you. If I asked him to strangle that fetus himself, he would do it. Without hesitating."

My mother-in-law snatched the phone, her chest heaving, ready to rip Lola apart. The line went dead.

The glowing text immediately erupted in relentless mockery:

[LMAO, I knew this toxic bitch was up to no good! Running to his mommy to pressure him. Lola is always ten steps ahead!]

[Look at that old hag's face! She looks like she just swallowed a bucket of green paint. Hope she doesn't drop dead from a heart attack.]

[Honestly, if she dies, it's her own fault. As Harrison's mom, she should be supporting his true love. Instead, she's backing this irrelevant side character. I swear Maeve must have cast some voodoo hex on her.]

[Did you guys catch Maeve's poker face? Acting like everyone owes her money. So what if she lost the baby? Putting on this fake 'ice queen' act is just pathetic.]

Maybe my brain had finally hit its limit. Or maybe the trauma had just completely burned out my nervous system. Staring at the glowing curses, I felt nothing. No anger.

No tears. Just a hollow, echoing silence.

The baby. Harrison. None of it mattered anymore.

I mentally severed the ties, one by one.

My dead-eyed stare only shattered my mother-in-law's composure further.

"Oh, sweetie," she whispered, her voice cracking. "I know you're hurting. I know you're completely frozen right now. But listen to me."

"Whether you walk away from this family or not, I swear on my life, I will get justice for you. I will make them pay." She pulled out her own phone and dialed Harrison's executive assistant at the corporate headquarters.

"Get your CEO on the line," she ordered, her tone shifting to absolute, glacial authority. "Tell Harrison if he still wants to call me his mother, he has exactly five minutes to call me back."

Sixty seconds later, her phone rang.

"Mom? What's going on?" Harrison sounded out of breath.

My mother-in-law let out a harsh, bitter scoff. "You have the nerve to ask me that? Because of you and that little tramp, Maeve lost the baby! She is lying in a hospital bed right now.

I don't care what you're doing. Drop it. You get your ass to this ward.

Right. Now."

The silence on the line lasted barely a second before Harrison's cold sneer echoed through the speaker.

"Mom, I know you like Maeve, but you don't need to help her stage these pathetic little acts. No matter how much she plays the victim, I'm not buying it. Once that kid is born, I am divorcing her."

My mother-in-laws face flushed dark red. She gasped for air, absolutely infuriated by his sheer audacity. Without another word, her manicured finger slammed the screen. She forwarded the photo of him digging in the mud and the audio recording of Lolas taunt directly to his phone.

Chapter 8

On the other end of the line, Harrison didn't even click accept on the file transfer. He delivered his verdict without a fraction of a second of hesitation.

"Mom, you're older. I don't blame you for falling for Photoshop and audio deepfakes." He paused, his tone shifting to ice.

"Maeve is right there with you, isn't she? Hand her the phone. We need to talk."

Eleanor opened her mouth to tear into him again, but I gave her a curt nod and slipped the phone from her trembling hand. "Make it quick."

Harrison seemed taken aback by the dead, flat calm in my voice. He paused before dropping his tone into a glacial warning.

"Maeve, you need to drop this pathetic obsession. Deepfaking photos to manipulate my mother and dragging my family into your drama is only making me despise you more.

If I catch wind of you spreading one more malicious rumor about Lola, I swear on my entire corporate empire, there won't be a single hospital in this country willing to admit you."

Without waiting for a response, the line went dead.

Eleanor snatched the phone back and hurled it against the hospital wall. The screen shattered upon impact. She clutched her chest, gasping for air.

"He's out of his damn mind! That ungrateful bastard is trying to give me a heart attack! Deepfakes? Does he really think I'm some senile old fool who can't tell reality from a lie?!"

Unlike Eleanor's fury, the glowing text was practically throwing a parade.

[Old hag doesn't understand what it means to be chosen! Lola and Harrison's love is unbreakable. A little stunt like this won't even leave a scratch on them.]

[Facts. So what if the kid is gone? Even if Maeve literally died, our male lead wouldn't blink. That's the power of their soulmate bond!]

[Honestly, the old bat is just jealous she's losing her son to Lola. She's literally trying to compete with the female lead for his attention. Peak toxic boy-mom energy.]

[Poor Harrison. Dealing with this toxic family dynamic must be exhausting for him!]

The sheer delusion in those floating words almost pulled a laugh from my throat. These spectators were absolutely starving, eager to swallow any garbage thrown their way. To idolize a pair of psychopaths like Harrison and Lola as the epitome of true love was entirely unhinged. I gave my head a slight shake, physically dismissing the glowing text from my line of sight.

Eleanor misinterpreted my silence for devastation. She grabbed my hand, her grip tight.

"Maeve, he's just confused right now. Lola has him completely blinded. He does care about you, deep down"

He cares about me?

A bitter, razor-sharp smirk tugged at the corner of my mouth. If he cared, he wouldn't have handed me over to the kidnappers the second Lola's name was mentioned. If he cared, he wouldn't have ground his custom leather shoe into my hand while I bled out our child in the dirt. My mind locked onto the revelation from the glowing text.

In his past timeline, he slaughtered me and the baby just to clear the path for Lola. From the very beginning, I was never a wife. I was a stepping stone.

"Eleanor." I met her tear-filled eyes. "I'm filing for divorce."

I had spent seven years terrified of those words. I thought saying them out loud would shatter me. I've thought it through completely. Since his heart never belonged to me, there is absolutely no reason for me to keep digging through the trash for scraps.

I will have my legal team extract every single cent of my marital assets and corporate equity. Perhaps because my chest was already hollowed out, the declaration slipped past my lips with absolute, weightless ease.

The shift from 'Mom' to 'Eleanor' acted like a physical blow. She froze, stunned that I had already severed the emotional tie. We had lived as a family for seven years. But I saw the reality with crystal clarity.

A counterfeit is a counterfeit. I could stay for ten, twenty, or a hundred years, and his devotion would always be an empty performance. Only Lola possessed the key to his actual pulse.

My blunt declaration seemed to short-circuit the floating text.

[Wait, why is Maeve asking for a divorce? I don't remember this in the plot?]

[Yeah, isn't she supposed to be the villain? Isn't her whole purpose to scheme against the female lead and fight for the man? Why is she just walking away?]

Chapter 9

[Maybe her trajectory changed since the male lead chose Lola after being reborn? But divorce? Yeah right. She's definitely bluffing to play the victim and manipulate his mommy into pressuring him.]

[Honestly, Maeve is so dramatic! She lost a fetus, get over it. Pulling this 'playing hard to get' stunt like Harrison actually gives a damn about her is hilarious.]

The glowing words were as vicious as ever, but they barely registered. The baby was gone. Whatever naive devotion I had for Harrison was buried in the dirt with it. Did he ever love me?

How did he really view our marriage? I didn't care anymore. I had wasted too many years on a ghost. I wasn't going to spend the rest of my life rotting in this toxic cycle.

Seeing the absolute, freezing resolve in my eyes, Eleanor swallowed the rest of her pleas. A long, heavy sigh escaped her lips.

"Alright," she said softly, her voice firming into steel. "I'll handle the divorce." She reached out, her manicured fingers gently brushing my cold cheek.

"And as for the people who took you, and Lola I will make sure they pay for every drop of blood you shed."

Over the next few weeks, visitors constantly cycled through my room. Harrison never showed up once. I wasn't surprised.

Now that I was hospitalized and no longer managing his life, he didn't need to perform his fake affection. He was exactly where he wanted to be.

Then, during a routine bandage change, I overheard two nurses gossiping outside my door.

"Mr. Ford is literally the ultimate husband. I heard his wife got kidnapped, and even though she didn't have a single scratch on her, he directly mobilized his private helicopter to fly her to the VIP suite of a top-tier private hospital.

He even booked the entire floor and had a world-class medical team on standby 24/7. It's incredibly romantic!"

"Right? If she even slightly furrows her brows, he's immediately at her bedside asking if she needs anything. It's so sweet! Absolute dream man!"

Their voices weren't loud, but the words echoed perfectly in my sterile room. So, we were in the exact same hospital. Harrison was spending every waking second doting on Lola, yet couldn't spare a five-minute elevator ride to check on the woman he legally married. But then again, in his mind, the title of 'wife' only ever belonged to her.

A dry, cynical smirk tugged at my lips. I tuned out the chatter and went back to my physical therapy stretches.

I spent over half a month in that ward. Thanks to Eleanor's relentless care, my body healed enough to regain standard mobility. I had her process my discharge papers. While Harrison was still busy playing devoted servant to Lola, I caught a cab straight back to the estate.

Just last week, Eleanor had her ruthless legal team draft the divorce papers. Knowing her methods, forcing Harrison's signature was only a matter of time. Since the extraction was imminent, I needed to pack my things and vacate the premises immediately.

I pushed open the heavy mahogany door to the master bedroom. I froze.

The sleek, minimalist neutral tones we had lived in for seven years had been completely eradicated. The walls were painted a nauseating bubblegum pink. The custom imported duvet and pillows were replaced with glaring pink Hello Kitty prints.

Lolas signature aesthetic.

A sharp, humorless laugh scraped out of my throat. During my absence, the mistress of the house had already officially moved in. As for my belongings? I found them shoved haphazardly into cheap cardboard boxes in the adjacent storage room.

I was silently shoving my clothes into a suitcase when a thick envelope slipped out from between the pages of an old notebook.

Printed on that heavy, watermarked paper was the prenuptial agreement I once thought carried the weight of a mountain, along with the ironclad "infidelity penalty clause" he had signed the night he proposedstipulating he would forfeit every single cent of his assets if he betrayed me.

[Maeve, be with me. I will give you a lifetime of happiness.]

Chapter 10

That document didn't contain any overly sentimental confessions or poetic vows. Just that single, ironclad promise attached to his signature.

I still remembered the day I said yes. He was always so low-key and stoic, yet at our high school homecoming football game, he actually bribed the announcer to broadcast over the stadium speakersthree timesthat I was the best girlfriend in the world. He wanted the whole universe to know.

Back then, I thought I had hit the absolute jackpot, landing Harrison, the untouchable golden boy of our campus. But the truth was a bitter pill. He didn't do it because he loved me. He didn't do it because I was special. He did it to send Lola a messageto prove he didn't need her, to make her jealous.

Now that Lola was back, his heart naturally snapped right back to her side. That hollow promise was exactly that: hollow.

I took a deep breath. Without a second thought, I swept every single gift Harrison had given me over the years, along with that worthless document, straight into the trash can. Once my suitcase was zipped shut, I looked back at the house I had called home for seven years. I shook my head, physically shaking off the memories, grabbed the handle of my luggage, and walked toward the front door.

But as I reached the massive iron gates of the estate, I noticed the security guard had been swapped out. He spotted me immediately. Before I could even raise my hand to greet him, he went into full tactical mode. He grabbed his baton from the guardhouse and blocked the exit, his hand hovering over his radio.

"Who the hell are you? You think you can just break into the Ford estate and walk out with stolen goods?"

I realized he was a new hire. He didn't recognize me.

"You're misunderstanding," I explained quickly. "I'm not a thief. My name is Maeve. I am currently Harrison's wife. I just came back to pack my own luggage. If you don't believe me, call the senior guard from the previous shift. We've known each other for years."

"No need to check." A sharp, arrogant female voice sliced through the air from the driveway. "She's a thief. I am the only Mrs. Ford. I've never seen this woman in my life."

I looked up. It was Lola.

The moment the guard saw her, his posture snapped perfectly straight. "Mrs. Ford! Welcome back, ma'am!"

Mrs. Ford?

My jaw tightened. During the weeks I was bleeding out and recovering in the hospital, Lola had fully usurped my title right inside my own home.

Seeing the utter disbelief on my face, Lola smirked. "What's wrong? Speechless now that you're caught red-handed?" She shot a glare at the guard. "Chase, what are you waiting for? Apprehend her!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Before I could get another word out, Chase lunged forward. He ripped the suitcase from my grip and violently shoved me onto the pavement. I instinctively tried to struggle, but his heavy baton came crashing down directly onto my newly healed lower back.

As I collapsed, humiliated and writhing in pain against the concrete, the glowing text exploded into a frenzy:

[Hell yes! Taking without asking is stealing! Look at how much she packed. You'd think she was trying to empty out the entire Ford estate. Maeve's got sticky fingers!]

[Facts! Every single thing in that suitcase belongs to the Fords. If the male lead wasn't sugar-daddying her, she wouldn't have a dime for those designer clothes!]

[Ahhhh! Our Lola is brilliant! She's so brave and smart, protecting her man's assets! That's absolute wifey energy right there. Maeve is literally a peasant compared to her!]

The sheer delusion of those floating words sent a hot spike of fury into my chest. I glared up at Lola, my teeth bared.

"Call the cops. Do it, Lola. This is straight-up slander and assault, and I will have you arrested!"

I reached into my pocket for my phone.

"Have who arrested?" A freezing, low voice echoed from the driveway.

Harrison suddenly strode through the gates. He shoved Chase out of the way and rushed straight toward me. A brief wave of relief washed over me. I naively thought, for a split second, that I was finally going to get out of this nightmare.

Chapter 11

Before I could hit dial, Harrisons hand shot out. His fingers clamped around my throat like a steel vise, cutting off my air supply. His face was a mask of absolute frost.

"Trying to call the cops on Lola? I knew it was you!"

"I was willing to let it slide that you hired those thugs to kidnap her. But you actually had the nerve to call the police first? To pin your own dirty work on her? The precinct just called me!" His grip tightened. "Maeve, are you that insanely jealous? You won't stop until she's physically destroyed?!"

I slumped against the concrete, choking on the lack of oxygen. Through the scrolling text, the pieces finally clicked together. The trucker who saved me off the highway had called 911. The police must have traced the kidnappers' burner phones straight back to Lola. They were coming to arrest her. Harrison had it completely backwards, convinced I was framing his precious first love.

"Harrison it's not what you think," I gasped, my fingernails clawing at his wrist. "I just came to get my luggage they"

Lola trotted down the driveway before I could finish. Her eyes locked onto the angry red marks blooming around my windpipe. A sickeningly triumphant smirk flashed across her lips before she instantly morphed into a trembling mess.

"Harrison! What do I do?" she sobbed, grabbing his tailored sleeve. "The police want to take me into custody! I'm so scared. Maeve is being so vicious!"

Harrisons eyes softened as he looked at her, but the fingers around my throat dug in deeper, threatening to crush my trachea.

"Maeve, this is your last chance," he growled, his voice dipping into a lethal register. "You will go to the precinct and confess. You will tell them you fabricated the entire thing and that Lola is innocent." He leaned in closer. "Or else you can kiss that baby of yours goodbye."

A wave of absolute revulsion washed over me, chilling my blood. The glowing text cheered.

[OMG Harrison is so hot! An absolute alpha doing whatever it takes to protect his girl!]

[Maeve is so vile. Trying to get Lola arrested? Thank god he stopped her.]

[Just force her to take the fall and rot in jail. Then she can't interfere with their romance anymore!]

Harrison dropped my neck, only to instantly clamp his hand around my wrist like a shackle. He dragged me across the concrete toward the street.

"You want to involve the cops? Fine. I'll grant your wish!"

He pulled out his phone and hit the emergency dial. "Yes, dispatch? I have an intruder caught in the act of grand larceny at the Ford estate. Send a squad car immediately."

"Harrison, I didn't steal anything!" I gritted out, stumbling as he yanked my arm.

He didn't even blink. He was completely consumed by his need to clear Lolas name. Within five minutes, the wail of sirens pierced the air, and two squad cars screeched to a halt outside the iron gates.

Ignoring my struggles, Harrison shoved me violently toward the officers. "Here is your thief. Take her away."

I gasped in pain as my knees hit the asphalt. An officer immediately grabbed my arms, forcefully twisting them behind my back, and the cold metal of handcuffs clicked around my wrists. As they dragged me toward the cruiser, I shouted, "It wasn't me! You have the wrong person! I just came to pack my own luggage! I'm not"

Before I could finish, Harrison lunged forward. His fingers clamped brutally onto my cheeks, digging into my jawline. He shot a cold glance to the security detail behind him. Two massive bodyguards immediately stepped up, roughly wrenching my pinned arms higher and clamping a heavy, gloved hand over my mouth, suffocating my words.

He turned back to the officers, his voice dripping with absolute certainty. "She is the real culprit you're looking for regarding the kidnapping as well. Everyone here can testify to that."

Seeing the pure, unadulterated hatred blazing in my eyes, Harrison leaned in close until his breath brushed my ear.

"You brought the cops into this. So you better sit quietly in that cell and take the fall for Lola. Because if you don't, I don't care if you're carrying my child right nowthe second it's born, I will strangle it myself."

As I was shoved into the back of the squad car, the floating text went absolutely ballistic with joy:

[Yessss! The annoying side character is finally getting written off! No more looking at her resting bitch face. Time for the main couple's sweet era!]

[Ugh, honestly, jail time is way too good for Maeve. With all the toxic shit she pulled, she deserves to be chopped into pieces and have her ashes dumped in the ocean!]

Chapter 12

[Totally agree! She loves acting like the tragic female lead, making it seem like she's so wronged. Vomit. What a dramatic bitch. She should just be killed off like in the last timeline!]

The glowing text served as a brutal reminder: in his past life, Harrison had slaughtered both me and my baby. My jaw locked so hard my teeth ground together. I thrashed violently against the officers, desperate to rip my hand free and drag my nails across his face, but my arms were pinned tight.

Standing safely out of reach, Harrison watched my struggle like I was the punchline to a pathetic joke. A cold sneer pulled at his lips.

"Even now, you're entirely unrepentant!"

The officers yanked me forward. As I was forcefully dragged toward the cruiser, the oversized coat draped over my shoulders slipped, falling away to the concrete. My hospital-issued shirt clung tightly to my frame.

My stomach was completely, undeniably flat.

Harrisons pupils dilated to pinpricks. The color instantly drained from his face.

"Wait!" His voice cracked, sharp and sudden. "Maeve your your stomach?!"

Absolute disbelief fractured his stoic mask. His hand trembled as he reached out, instinctively trying to press his palm against my abdomen. I violently shoved his arm away.

He stood there frozen, his hand suspended in mid-air, looking completely lost.

"The miscarriage you weren't faking?" he stammered, the words barely making it past his lips. "But how how could the baby"

A dry, razor-sharp laugh scraped out of my throat.

"How could it be gone?" I tilted my head, locking my dead eyes onto his terrified ones. "Harrison, do you seriously not know how my baby died?"

"When the kidnappers beat me until my legs were soaked in my own blood, when I begged you to save our childwhere the hell were you?"

"When I was on my knees in the dirt beside your SUV, begging you to take me to a hospitalwhat were you doing?"

"When I was paralyzed, dragging my broken body inch by agonizing inch across a deserted mountain highway just to find helpwhere were you?!"

"How do you have the absolute audacity to ask me how my baby died?!"

Every word was a physical blow. The arrogant, commanding billionaire from a minute ago completely vanished. Harrison dropped his hands as if my skin burned him. He stumbled back two steps, his head shaking frantically.

"No no, that's not right. I didn't want this." His chest heaved. "You were supposed to be faking how could"

Seeing his absolute devastation, Lola froze. A flicker of pure venom crossed her eyes before she quickly smoothed her features into a mask of hesitant innocence. She stepped closer, gently touching his arm.

"Harrison I know this sounds awful," she murmured. "But medical technology is so advanced now. Do you think maybe Maeve purposely had an abortion just to play the victim?"

The floating text exploded:

[Holy shit! I was wondering why this side character suddenly got the tragic heroine script! So she literally aborted her own kid to play the victim and make Harrison hate Lola?! That is next-level psychotic!]

[Ahhh Maeve is so evil! Even tigers don't eat their cubs. She literally murdered her own baby just to fight for a man? Is she even human?!]

[@Author please kill her off immediately! Looking at her makes me sick. Lock her up forever!]

Staring at the glowing words, I just found it utterly absurd. Me? Harm my own child?

Beside me, Harrisons trembling hand completely stiffened. Lola's poison seeped directly into his brain. The frantic guilt in his eyes vanished, instantly replaced by a surging, bloodshot rage. He lunged forward, his hands slamming heavily onto my shoulders.

"Maeve, you you absolute monster!" His chest vibrated with fury. "That was an unborn child! How could you be so vicious?!"

"Just because you hate Lola, just because you're jealous of her, you murdered my baby just to get back at me?! Is that it?!"

His grip was crushing my collarbone, driving the air from my lungs. Yet, looking at his enraged, grief-stricken face, all I felt was pure, icy irony.

When I had begged him to save us, he chose to look right through me. When Eleanor called to tell him the baby was gone, he chose his own delusions. Now, he needed someone to blame, and he chose me.

The difference between being loved and being a prop was truly worlds apart.

Chapter 13

No matter what garbage Lola spouted, Harrison bought it completely. Her logic could be completely fractured, full of glaring holes, but to him, it was gospel. Meanwhile, every word out of my mouth was a calculated attack. A dry, cynical smirk tugged at the corner of my lips. I dropped my chin, completely abandoning the urge to defend myself. It was useless.

Then, my phone buzzed inside my pocket. Harrison snatched it from me.

Seeing the local hospital's caller ID lighting up the screen, he froze for a split second before a cruel sneer twisted his features.

"Didn't you just say losing the baby was an accident?" He stepped closer, dangling the phone. "Then why is the hospital desperately trying to reach you? Let me guess. You scheduled the abortion yourself, and they're just calling to collect the bill?"

The second the words left his mouth, I reached over and grabbed a steaming paper cup of black coffee left on the guardhouse table. Without a fraction of a second of hesitation, I hurled the boiling liquid directly onto his chest.

The dark stain rapidly bloomed across his ridiculously expensive, custom-tailored white shirt. I locked eyes with him, my gaze dripping with absolute, freezing contempt.

"Harrison, is that really who you think I am?"

Harrison clearly didn't expect me to retaliate. He flinched violently, staring down at the ruined, soaked silk clinging to his chest in pure shock. A second later, he let out a dark, humorless chuckle.

"Aren't you?" He wiped a drop of coffee off his jawline. "I gave you a chance to come clean. Since you're too proud to admit it, I'll just ask the doctor myself!"

His thumb aggressively swiped the answer button on my screen. The line clicked open. A clinical, professional voice drifted through the speaker.

"Ms. Ford? We're just conducting our routine post-operative follow-up. How is your recovery going since the surgery?"

Lola instantly slapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes widening in perfectly rehearsed horror.

"Oh my god post-operative follow-up?" She let out a trembling gasp. "Does that mean Maeve really aborted her own baby on purpose? That is that is terrifying."

She shrank back, hiding behind Harrison's broad shoulders like a frightened child, her manicured fingers weakly clutching the dry edge of his ruined shirt.

The floating text exploded:

[Ahhhhh, I can't take this! Maeve is absolutely psychotic! Look how terrified she made our precious Lola!]

[Our poor baby Lola is practically crying. My heart aches. Why won't this toxic, snake-hearted bitch just drop dead already?]

[Omg look at her hiding behind him, and Harrison protecting her with that fierce look! The chemistry is insane! If only this hideous side character wasn't ruining the aesthetic.]

Watching the glowing text violently twist reality, my pulse didn't even spike. I was completely numb to the delusion. Let them bark. Right now, I just wanted to get out of this toxic wasteland and start breathing clean air again.

But Harrison had zero intention of letting me walk away. Seeing my dead, silent stare, he lunged forward and gripped my upper arm, his voice dropping into a harsh interrogation.

"So this is why you're in such a rush to pack up and leave, Maeve?" He scoffed. "Playing hard to get. Staging this whole tragic victim act just so I'll chase after you."

I let out a heavy, exhausted sigh. I didn't even have the energy to roll my eyes. "I will say this exactly one last time. I did not abort the baby."

Lola instantly deployed her signature, nauseatingly forgiving tone. "Oh, Maeve, if you did it, just admit it. I completely understand." She offered a sickly sweet smile. "If you just sincerely apologize to Harrison, I'm sure he'll forgive you. He might even talk the police out of locking you up. There's no need to suffer just to save your own ego."

Harrisons eyes hardened into glacial ice.

"Look at yourself. Then look at Lola." He sneered. "She hasn't even been married, yet she knows more about being a decent human beingand a motherthan you ever will. Still denying it? Fine. Let's make this crystal clear for everyone."

He hit the speaker button, cranking the volume to the max. He spoke into the receiver with a cold, triumphant smirk.

"Doctor. I am Maeve's husband. Please tell everyone here exactly what kind of surgery my wife just had."

He shot me a look of pure, unadulterated contempt, absolutely convinced he was about to publicly rip my mask off.

Chapter 14

The doctor's response through the speakerphone completely paralyzed him.

"You're the patient's husband, and you don't know?" The doctor's voice clipped, sharp with professional disdain. "She suffered a miscarriage from severe blunt force trauma. We almost lost them both. She was in surgery for ten grueling hours just so we could save her life."

Harrison's entire frame violently jerked, as if he'd just been hit by a physical shockwave