Discarded After the Twins: A Billionaire's Revenge

1: 1

I delivered twins by C-section, and on the day I was discharged, a battered moving van pulled up in front of me.

My husband Xavier Simmons's little hometown sweetheart said, See? I told you she'd never notice the reservation at the recovery center had been changed.

I asked what that was supposed to mean.

"Come on, I made a bet with Xav. If you didn't catch that someone else's name was on the recovery center booking, he loses, and the family van and the suite both go to me!"

Nellie Fox climbed into the family van, smug as anything.

I was shaking with anger. "Xavier, then what about me?"

Xavier pulled the door open for her, doting, then turned to me. "A bet's a bet. So I booked you a moving van."

"And Nell lost her baby. She really does need to recover properly."

"You take the van home first. It's roomy enough, you can even lie down back there."

Before I could answer, he drove off with Nellie, the van sweeping away down the street.

The moving-van driver took one look at me and the babies and startled.

"I thought this was a freight run. Didn't expect to be hauling people."

I watched the direction the family van had disappeared, and all at once this marriage felt like nothing worth keeping.

"Sir, take me to the law firm, please."

I'm not staying at that recovery center. And Xavier, I don't want you either.

The driver kept glancing at me in the rearview mirror, and finally he couldn't hold it in.

"Miss, you just gave birth. How is there not a single person here with you?"

"You can't get chilled or jostled right after delivery. Where's your family? They've got some nerve!"

I said nothing, awkwardly shifting to make the babies more comfortable.

The incision still ached faintly, and my body kept going weak in waves.

I took out my phone, thinking I'd play something soft to soothe the babies.

The screen lit up, and Nellie's new post popped up.

In the photo she was reclined comfortably against the van's leather seat, a soft cashmere blanket over her, the little tray table beside her covered with imported snacks and dainty cushions.

Xavier's hand, wearing the watch I'd given him, rested steady on the wheel, caught in the frame too.

The caption read: "Lost the love of my life, but still treated with such care."

Below it, Xavier's buddies lined up to like it.

The comments were all comfort and sympathy.

"Don't be sad, Nell, at least you have our Xav."

"Rest up and take care of yourself. Our hearts ache for you."

The pain hit my chest out of nowhere, and I nearly couldn't breathe.

This van was the one Xavier had made a point of taking me to the dealership to order, right when I'd found out I was carrying twins.

I still remembered him with his arm around my shoulders, thrilled:

"Look, babe, all this space."

"Once we take the two little ones out, we'll fit the car seats and the stroller with room to spare."

"When they're bigger they can even play back here."

But once Nellie showed up with that belly, everything changed.

The specialist appointment I'd finally managed to get for my prenatal checkup, she said she wanted to see a top doctor to set her mind at ease, and Xavier decided on his own to hand it over to her.

The prenatal classes we'd agreed to take together, the day before they started, he went to the coast with Nellie because she was in a bad mood, and I was the only one in the whole class sitting there alone.

Diapers, tiny clothes, diaper cream, a crib, the hospital bag Nellie said she didn't know how to choose, so without a word Xavier had the whole set of things carted over to her apartment.

I was so furious I had a huge fight with him, but he always had a reason.

"Nia, she's all alone, no one to lean on, and pregnant on top of it. It's only right that we look out for her a little more."

"Nia, she's emotionally unstable. The doctor said it could affect the baby. Just bear with it."

"Nia, no one's more gracious than you, right?"

Right up to the day I gave birth, one call from Nellie and he didn't even wait for my answer. He turned and left, didn't even sign the surgical consent form.

In the end I signed it myself.

Before the anesthesia took hold, I had only one thought.

Xavier, we're done.

"We're here, miss."

The driver's voice pulled me back out of the memory.

Holding the babies, I walked into the city's most famous law firm looking like a mess.

The young woman at the front desk saw me and went blank with shock, then hurried over.

"Hello, do you have an appointment?"

"I'm here to see Melvin Delgado. Please tell him it's Alice Henson."

She led me to a seating area off to the side and poured me a cup of hot water.

"Lawyer Delgado is in a meeting. Please wait a moment."

I'd just sat down when Xavier's call came through.

"You home yet? I sent the postpartum nurse to look after Nell. She just got out of the hospital, she can't be without someone."

"I found you a new night nurse, but they said she can't get there until this afternoon, so just tough it out on your own for now. You're my wife. Think of it as sharing the load for me, okay?"

Sharing the load for him?

Sharing the burden of him looking after another woman?

My voice was calm. "Xavier, let's get divorced."

2: 2

There was a pause on the other end of the line, and then a soft laugh.

"You're talking nonsense again, Nia. Six years together, and you'd really throw that away?"

"I know it was hard on you, carrying the babies and giving birth. But Nell just lost her child. Have some compassion. You know I owe her."

Before he could finish, Nellie's syrupy voice came through the receiver.

"Xav, who is it...?"

Xavier covered the mouthpiece, his tone turning gentle.

"It's nothing. Just a telemarketer."

And with that, he hung up in a rush, without so much as a word of explanation to me.

Sitting on the couch in the waiting room, every part of me ached.

The C-section incision hurt. My chest hurt from my milk coming in. There wasn't a single spot on me that didn't hurt.

Except my heart. That, it seemed, had stopped being able to hurt at all.

"Alice Henson?"

Melvin Delgado pushed open the door in his suit, and something startled and pained flickered across his steady eyes.

He crossed the room in a few quick strides and took the baby from my arms.

"Let's talk in the lounge off my office."

Soon I was lying down in the private lounge inside Melvin's office.

Both babies had been settled in the arms of a woman at the firm who'd had children of her own, and they slept peacefully.

Melvin heard me out, then mapped out the evidence and paperwork we'd need with quick precision. After a long moment, he handed me a document.

"Are you sure? Once you decide to divorce, there's no going back."

I looked at that steadiness in him, the kind that put a person at ease, and nodded firmly.

"I'm sure."

Melvin had been my debate partner in college, always first in the whole law program.

We'd fought through countless competitions together.

After graduation, I married Xavier and he joined a top firm, and our paths never crossed again.

Just then my phone rang.

It was my mother.

I answered, and her scolding poured out before I could get a word in.

"Alice, have you lost your mind? Xav says you want to divorce him?"

"Don't go acting up and making a scene just because you had a baby. Whatever's wrong between a husband and wife, can't you two talk it out properly?"

I was shaking with anger, and with it, my chest began to swell and ache again.

"Mom, I just gave birth. Why don't you ask first whether I'm even okay?"

"You... what could possibly be wrong with you?" There was a guilty note in her voice. "Hasn't Xav arranged everything for you?"

"Nia, listen to me. Your brother needs to buy a house for the wedding, and he was twenty thousand short on the down payment. Xav wired over twenty thousand without a second thought. A son-in-law that generous and considerate, you couldn't find one if you searched the world over with a lantern!"

"Don't sit in the middle of your good fortune and fail to see it, and go ruining a good life for yourself!"

I hung up on her and gave a bitter little laugh.

Twenty thousand. That was all it took to buy out the thin scrap of feeling my mother had for me.

The ache of my swelling chest grew sharper.

In a daze, I found myself remembering the past, mine and Xavier's.

From campus to the wedding dress, six years in all.

He really had been good to me, so good that everyone envied us, and I'd believed we would make it to the end too.

But once Nellie appeared, everything changed.

It wasn't that I'd never suspected.

I'd once cornered him in the study, eyes red, and demanded:

"Xavier, that baby in Nellie's belly, is it yours or not?"

That night, he told me, very earnestly, about his history with Nellie.

They were from the same hometown, had grown up together as children. One year the wiring in the old house caught fire while he was napping, and Nellie was the one who ran in despite the danger, shouting him awake, saving his life.

"Nia, I owe her my life. She's pregnant now, dumped by that scumbag. I can't just leave her to fend for herself."

That day I'd even felt guilty for my own suspicions. Looking back now, the debt of gratitude was probably just an excuse.

There were so many ways to repay a life debt. Why did it always have to be me who gave way?

3: 3

My phone started buzzing like mad.

I found I'd been dragged into a group chat with people I didn't know.

The group was called Xav's Crew.

I scrolled up through the messages. The earliest one was from Nellie.

A selfie of her lying in the top suite at the postpartum recovery center, an expensive mask on her face, a delicate bowl of bird's nest soup on the nightstand.

She flashed a peace sign at the camera, beaming.

The caption read Thanks for coming to see me, boys, and thanks on Xav's behalf to his wife for being so generous. Love you all~

Below the photo, Xavier's buddies piled on with jokes and flattery.

Look at our Xav, husband of the year in the making! Other men's wives can step aside!

Exactly. What wife? Is any wife as important as our Nell?

Just some washed-out housewife who can pop out kids.

Xav the man!

The chat was one long chorus of laughter and agreement, and the filth in it was more than I could stand to look at.

I handed my phone to Melvin and asked quietly.

Melvin, could this count as evidence that he's putting me through emotional abuse?

When we left the firm, Melvin insisted on driving me home, but I turned him down.

Some roads you have to walk alone.

Back home, the babies were crying to be fed, so I pushed through the pain and boiled water, sterilized the bottles, mixed the formula.

I fed one until he was full, then went to soothe the other.

By the time everything had settled, it was already afternoon.

The doorbell rang.

It was the temporary night nurse Xavier had found for me.

The moment she came in and saw two babies in the apartment, her face filled with distaste.

It's just you? Two babies? That's not easy to handle.

My heart sank.

Xavier didn't tell you?

He only said to come look after a new mother. He never said one nurse, two babies! Let's get this straight. I'll only lend a hand during the day. Nights are not my problem, and no amount of extra pay will change that.

I was too worn out to argue. Given the situation, I told myself an extra pair of hands was better than nothing, so I let it go for the moment.

But I soon found out I was wrong.

This night nurse did everything in the laziest way possible.

She changed the babies' diapers without even wiping them clean.

She mixed the formula either too hot or too cold.

Most of the time she just sat there on her phone, scrolling short videos, howling with laughter loud enough to wake a baby who'd just fallen asleep, and then complaining about how hard the babies were.

That night, I went to feed the babies. I opened the fridge, and everything in me froze.

The colostrum I'd pumped and stored in milk bags was all gone!

The fridge was empty.

Where's the breast milk I stored? I rushed out to confront her.

She was cracking sunflower seeds and watching TV, and didn't so much as lift her eyelids.

Oh, that stuff? I poured it out.

What? I couldn't believe my ears.

She didn't miss a beat.

That yellowish gunk? One look and you can tell it's gone off, full of bacteria! Feed it to the babies and they'll get sick. I did you a favor.

You I was shaking all over with rage. I pointed at the door. Get out, now! You're not staying here!

My face startled her for a second, then she threw a fit.

What gives you the right to throw me out? Mr. Simmons hired me!

Besides, I'm Nellie Fox's distant aunt. She just lost her baby, and here you are bullying her family. Mr. Simmons won't let you get away with it!

Only then did it hit me. She was actually Nellie's relative!

Xavier! Well done!

Just then, both babies broke into wailing from the bedroom.

My stomach lurched. I stopped bothering with her and rushed into the bedroom.

I unwrapped the swaddles and my heart clenched.

Huge patches of red rash had broken out over both babies' skin, and it was spreading fast, alarming to see.

Their faces were flushed dark red, their little bodies twisting and struggling against the itch and the pain.

An acute allergic reaction!

I scooped up the babies and demanded loudly What did you do to my children?

4: 4

Only after I pressed her did she stammer out the truth.

That evening, when she bathed the babies, she hadn't used the baby wash I'd bought. She'd used a homemade herbal body wash.

"This Nellie made a point of telling me. She said all those chemical things from the city are bad."

"So I figured something from back home would be gentler on their skin, and clear out the newborn heat too!"

Nellie Fox. Again, Nellie Fox.

I didn't have time for anything else. I bundled both babies up in the middle of the night and rushed straight to the ER.

The running and jolting tore my C-section incision open, blood seeping through, but I couldn't feel any of it.

Nothing could match the pain in my heart right then.

Xavier didn't show up.

He only came at me over the phone.

"Alice, can't you give me one moment's peace?"

"The night nurse called and said you threw her out for no reason, and now you've gone and made the babies sick?"

My heart was in knots, but my voice stayed calm.

"Xavier, the new night nurse you hired. She's Nellie's aunt?"

The other end went silent in an instant.

So he had known.

Then his voice came back through the receiver, sharp with wounded temper.

"That's because you're always suspicious of Nellie! She was only trying to help!"

"Trying to help?" I let out a cold laugh. "Then why didn't Nellie want her own aunt looking after them? Why did she have to push out the woman I chose from over thirty candidates?"

I hung up on him.

I spent the whole night going through it at the hospital, exams for the babies, prescriptions, then sitting in the observation room until dawn.

I didn't sleep a minute.

A nurse cleaned up my torn incision as best she could, and asked, gently, where my family was.

I shook my head. "I don't have any family."

When I got home holding the babies and opened the door, a stranger's perfume hit me in the face.

The living room was a wreck, the couch buried under snack wrappers and boba cups.

My wedding photo with Xavier had been taken down from the wall and tossed into a corner.

The nursery I'd set up with my own hands stood open, everything inside in disarray.

The learning toys I'd ordered from overseas had been ripped apart, the wreckage scattered across the floor.

From the master bedroom came Nellie's coy laughter.

I pushed the door open.

Nellie was lying on the bed in my robe, on a video call with that pack of Xavier's buddies.

When she saw me, a flicker of smugness and challenge crossed her eyes, and she drawled out,

"Oh, you're back?"

Xavier came out of the guest room. He saw how pale I was and looked a little guilty, but his tone was full of righteousness.

"Weren't you the one making a fuss about wanting to stay at the postpartum center?"

"Nellie felt so awful about it she moved out of the center in the middle of the night to make room for you."

"I figured the place was sitting empty anyway, so I let her stay a few days to recover. I'll drive you over to the center in a bit."

I looked at him with no desire to say a single word.

When I stayed silent, he must have felt he'd gone too far, because his tone softened.

"Nia, I know it's been hard on you. Raising the babies isn't easy."

"But Nellie she's just been through so much. Let's cut her some slack, all right?"

"Just do it for me."

I looked at this man I'd loved for six years, and suddenly he felt like a complete stranger.

"No need, Xavier. We're done."

Then I turned, holding the babies, and walked out without another glance at him.

"Nia! Alice Henson! Stop right there!"

He started to come after me, but Nellie grabbed him and held on.

"Xav, my stomach hurts"

I heard the two of them tangled up behind me, and I didn't look back.

Once I was past the front gate of the complex, I pulled out my phone and sent Melvin a message.

Activate Plan B. Freeze every liquid asset under his company and his name.

Melvin replied instantly: Got it.

Less than ten minutes later, Xavier called, beside himself.

"Alice, have you lost your mind? What did you do to my accounts?"

"The company's signing a thirty-million contract this afternoon. Now I can't even pay the deposit. Are you trying to ruin me?"