Forced to Sign a Birth Contract, I Smashed the Shrine

The wedding car stopped in front of the Gilbert family chapel, and through the veil I could see all of Peter Gilbert's family.

He held my hand tightly. Cora, don't be afraid. All these people just means my parents think highly of you.

In front of the chapel, before the ceremony had even started, my mother-in-law, Ada Dickerson, handed me paper and a pen.

"Sign it. If you're marrying into the Gilberts, you need to know your place."

It said that if I didn't give birth to a son within a year of the marriage,

the three houses and five shops from my dowry would have to be signed away.

But Peter clearly suffered from low sperm count. Getting pregnant at all would be difficult, let alone having a son.

Sensing how I felt, Peter unfolded the paper and pushed the pen into my hand. "Cora, it's just a signature. We're all family."

Hearing him keep pushing, I said furiously, "Is the Gilbert family dying out? Not only are you eyeing my womb, you're scheming after my houses too?"

1.

"Cora Fox, why are you being so nasty? What do you mean, scheming?"

Ada was furious. She sat in the carved armchair and glared straight at me.

"Once you marry into the Gilbert family, you're one of us, and your things naturally belong to the Gilbert family."

The onlookers murmured back and forth.

"Peter, look at the fine wife you married. She just has to make Mom angry on such a happy day."

The one speaking was Chloe Abbott, Peter's eldest brother's wife.

While she rubbed Ada's back to calm her, she pulled rank as the senior sister-in-law and tried to talk me down.

"Cora, maybe you don't know, but this is a Gilbert family custom. I signed it too when I got married."

"Mom is thinking of you and Peter. It's just a signature. It's a safeguard."

Looking at that face full of calculation, I spat hard.

"A safeguard? A safeguard for whom? For your worthless son?"

The first clause of the agreement said that if I didn't give birth to a son within a year,

the three houses and the two shops in the best locations from my dowry

all had to be transferred unconditionally into her son's name.

"YouyouCora Fox, I'm your elder sister-in-law. Jayden is the eldest legitimate son of the Gilbert family."

"It's your good fortune that he wants your things."

Looking at that greedy, insatiable face, I said coldly, "No ability is no ability. You're robbing people in the open and still dressing it up so grandly?"

"You Gilberts really are shameless, every single one of you."

Smack. Ada slammed her hand hard on the table.

"Peter, look at the wife you married."

With just that one sentence, Peter gripped my hand tightly and tried to make me sign the paper that carved up my premarital assets.

I took aim at his foot, lifted my heel, and stomped down hard.

He yelped in pain and jumped, and I pointed at the paper and demanded of Ada and Chloe,

"Since this is a Gilbert family tradition passed down through the generations, where's the paper you two signed when you married in?"

"Bring it out. Let me see what you two used to give this bunch of useless Gilbert men a safeguard."

Ada was stunned. She never expected this daughter-in-lawso respectful to her before the wedding,

who bought her jewelry every time they metwould defy her in front of so many people.

"Didn't you sign one? Bring it out!"

I stepped up to Chloe, who looked at Ada with a wronged expression. "Mom, look at her."

Ada glared at me viciously.

"Don't glare at me. The bride price your Gilbert family paid for herI'm the one who helped cover it."

Two years ago, Peter's eldest brother got married.

The bride price was 388,000 dollars, but the Gilbert family could only scrape together 88,000.

The remaining 300,000 came from me.

"Where's the paper you signed? Bring it out! Stop putting on a big act when you've got nothing to show."

Chloe's face went pale.

She muttered, "I gave birth to Jayden, so the agreement was void long ago."

She stroked the giant baby beside her who could only babble, her face full of glory.

"That's right. Chloe gave birth to the Gilbert family's eldest grandson, so of course the agreement is void."

I looked at Ada's sour, sarcastic face.

"Whether it's void, or you never signed at allyou two know best."

I ripped off the veil and slammed the paper down hard on the table.

"Whoever wants to sign it can sign it. Either way, I, Cora Fox, am not signing."

"Cora, aren't you going too far? We haven't even had the ceremony yethow could you take off your veil?"

Peter Gilbert, his face pale after I stepped on him, demanded of me.

"Because I felt like it!"

I threw the bridal veil on the ground and pointed at the contract.

"Peter, get this eyesore out of here now, or else"

"Or else what?"

Ada Dickerson was so angry she stood up from her chair.

"Cora Fox, I'm still here. It's not your place to run the Gilbert family yet."

As she spoke, she shot a look at the men standing beside her.

Peter's brother Asher and a man I didn't recognize walked toward me.

"Cora Fox, on such a joyous day, you just have to make everyone miserable."

"You think the Gilbert family is as ill-mannered as you?"

"The Gilbert family has its own rules."

The words had barely left his mouth when two men pinned me down hard.

"If you sign, the ceremony goes ahead as planned, and this marriage can still happen."

Ada's face was vicious, and every word, in and out, reeked of doing me a favor.

"And if I don't sign?"

"Don't sign? If you don't sign, don't even think about setting foot in the Gilbert house today."

Peter looked at me, his eyes full of displeasure. "Cora, it's just signing a document. Do you really have to embarrass my mother today?"

"My mother put so much care into this wedding, our whole family is looking forward to you joining us, and you're going to be this ungrateful?"

I'm ungrateful?

I paid for the wedding hotel. The bridal car fleet came from my own company.

All his family did was set up a shabby table at the family chapel.

And now somehow I'm the ungrateful one.

"Cora, give it a year. If the two of us both try harder, we'll have a child by then."

Looking at that face of his that I found so repulsive.

I said flatly, "Peter, are you blind? Why don't you open your eyes and read what the second clause says?"

He glanced at it. "Cora, Jayden is the eldest son of our Gilbert family. When he turns ten, giving him one house is no big deal."

Hearing that light, careless tone of his, I smiled coldly.

"You have more houses than you could ever usewhat's wrong with giving one to our Jayden? And if you really can't have a son, Jayden will take care of you in your old age."

Chloe Abbott proudly stroked the face of the five-year-old giant baby who could only babble.

"No thanks, I'm not interested. My houses will never go to him, and I don't need his care."

"Besides, are you sure that a giant baby like this, who's five and still can't talk and only babbles, is going to take care of me someday?"

"YouCora Fox, what are you spouting? Our Jayden is just a late bloomer."

Chloe flushed red, pointing at me and cursing.

"He'd better behe'd better not really be a giant baby who can only babble."

Smack. My left cheek burned, stinging.

I was stunned.

Peter glared at me viciously.

"Cora Fox, how can you be so vicious? Jayden is only five. I won't let you insult him like that."

Looking at this man I had loved for five years.

On our wedding day, forcing me to sign a childbearing contract.

Splitting off my house, and now even raising a hand against me.

I stared straight at him.

There wasn't a trace of love in his eyes as he looked at me.

Instead, there was only more disgust.

Fine. If that's how it is.

Then I don't need to agonize over it anymore.

"Peter, that's more like it. A woman who's marrying out with no family of her own to back her upwe can't let her act so high and mighty."

Ada Dickerson looked at Peter Gilbert with satisfaction.

"Sign it, Cora. Sign it, and I'll still marry you."

Looking at that condescending face of his.

"No. I won't sign, and I don't care to."

He stared at me, eyes wide with surprise. "Cora Fox, are you crazy? It's just signing your name. It's not going to kill you."

"Either way, once you marry in, the houses and shops belong to our family."

"Jayden is my nephew, he's not an outsider."

"Ivy is my sister, she's not an outsider either."

Ada had it all worked out: since I couldn't bear a son, I'd have to hand houses and shops over to Jayden.

Ivy is her daughter, and to make her marriage look respectable, I'd have to give up houses and shops as her dowry.

In the end, the Gilbert family wasn't marrying methey were marrying my womb and my properties.

"Peter Gilbert, get this straight, will you? Those houses and shops are all my premarital property."

Before I could finish, Ada cut me off.

"Don't try that. In the Gilbert family, once you marry in, everything you have is ours."

I looked at her coldly. "Don't even think about it. I had a prenuptial asset agreement notarized long before the wedding. You won't get a single penny."

Ada's face changed. She turned on Peter. "What is this?"

Peter looked at her, meek and stammering. "Mom, I didn't know. But once she marries in, everything will still belong to the Gilbert family."

So it turned out he'd gone to all that trouble to get close to me, playing the loving couple for five years.

All of it just for the houses and cars in my hands.

"Not a chance. The notarized agreement spells it out in black and white. Even if you seize it, you won't get anything."

"And what's more, I will not be marrying into your Gilbert family."

In an instant, Peter stared at me in shock. "What do you mean? Cora Fox, with all these people watching, you want to call off the wedding?"

Afraid I'd bolt, the two men holding me down gripped even harder.

"I'm not calling off the weddingI've just seen clearly. Seen clearly what kind of thing you are, and what kind of thing your Gilbert family is."

The people present whispered among themselves.

"This girl really is a tough one. What's the harm in signing an agreement?"

"We're all family here, no need to draw such fine lines."

"Looks like the boss's wife was rightthis woman won't back down easily."

"If it's time for hard measures, then use them. In front of the ancestors, who's got time to waste words on her?"

"Any more delay and we'll miss the auspicious hour. She hasn't even come through the doorwe can't indulge a nasty habit like this."

Ada's face darkened.

She glared at Peter, pushing him to give me an ultimatum.

"Cora, sign it. There are so many people watching."

"If you sign, I'll take everything you said as words spoken in anger."

"The wedding goes ahead, and you're still the one I love most."

The thought that behind all his fake affection was nothing but calculation.

A wave of nausea rose in my chest.

"I won't sign, and I won't go through with this marriage."

"Peter Gilbert, while I can still talk to you nicely, have your people let me go."

"Otherwise, this is a consequence you can't bear."

As if he'd just heard the biggest joke in the world.

He pointed at the pack of relatives eyeing me like predators, and at the two burly men behind me.

His face was full of smugness.

"Cora, that's a line I should be saying to you!"

He crouched down and held the contract out in front of me.

"Sign it, and I'll marry you, and from now on we'll live a good life together."

"But if you don't sign, and you keep talking back to my mother, don't blame me for playing rough."

I met those eyes, so full of scheming.

I said coldly, "Playing rough? What could you possibly do to me?"

As if she'd already known I wouldn't obey, Ada Dickerson settled back into her armchair.

"Peter, with all these people watching, we can't let this woman drag the whole Gilbert name through the mud."

Those words were like a signal.

Peter Gilbert forced my hand down onto the paper to sign my name.

I fought with everything I had, and the thin sheet crumpled to shreds.

"Cora Fox, you insist on being difficult. Do you really think that just because the contract is torn, you won't have to sign?"

He took a stack from Chloe Abbott.

"There are so many here. One of them, you're going to sign."

Chloe crouched down and helped him pin me in place.

I struggled as hard as I could, and they couldn't manage it at all.

"Mom, this isn't working. She's too strongthere's no way to get it signed."

Chloe's makeup was ruined too, and she carried the paper full of torn spots over to Ada to complain.

"Then what do we do? Can't the whole great Gilbert family handle one woman?"

Ada planted her hands on her hips, her eyes darting around and around.

"Chloe, go get the seal. If she won't sign, have her stamp it."

Chloe made a show of searching for a while.

"Mom, the seal's gone. Maybe we should try another way."

With the auspicious hour drawing closer, Ada was growing very impatient.

"Mom, if the seal's gone, we can use blood. It's all bright red anyway."

"And besides, she talked back to you today in front of the ancestors and all these relatives, so she really ought to pay some kind of price."

Ada's eyes lit up, and the corner of her mouth curled into a grin.

"What are you standing there for? Your wife is right. If we don't teach her a lesson today, once she's in the door she'll be riding on my neck for good."

Peter hesitated.

I'd thought he still had some scrap of conscience left.

But when Ivy Gilbert handed over that gleaming knife

He took it at once.

A flash of light shot past my eyes.

"Cora, I'm begging you. Just sign it properly, all right?"

"Didn't you say long ago that money is just a thing outside yourself? You're still young, you still have your company, you're capableit's only a few houses and shops."

He pointed to Jayden Gilbert behind him, who could only drool.

"Jayden is my nephew, and Ivy is my sister. None of them are outsiders."

Looking at him standing there holding that knife, his face so full of hypocrisy

I spat hard.

"I won't sign it. Peter, if you still have any conscience, stop now, while there's still time."

He let out a soft sigh.

He seized my right hand in an iron grip, raised the knife, and brought it down hard on my thumb.

A sharp, piercing pain shot through me.

A stream of warmth flowed out, and I couldn't stop it.

Chloe brought the paper over, and Peter pressed my hand down hard onto the signature line.

"Mom, it's stamped, look."

Ada looked over the contract, now stamped with my bloody fingerprint.

Just as she was about to nod in satisfaction, Chloe stomped hard on my right hand.

"Peter, to keep her from denying it later, make her sign a few more copies."

Soon the blood from my right hand dripped down into a pool.

Once they had the contract they'd been so desperate for,

the two of them holding me down let go.

Drained, I dragged myself forward.

I glared at Peter and asked, one word at a time, "You really don't regret this?"

He fell silent, about to say something to talk me around.

Just then, I heard a familiar voice.

It was Paula, come to save me.

Sure enough, I turned my head and saw that bold streak of red.

I grabbed the stool beside me and hurled it hard at the altar table next to Ada.