He spoke lightly, but rain–like punches pounded Margaret, sending nearby equipment clattering to the floor.
Pliers tore her skin, pain radiating as blood beads oozed out. She curled up in agony, but no one stopped until Charles called it off.
Victor watched Margaret beaten to the ground, clapping his hands in delight, his mood much improved.
“Serves you right! You never cared about me. All you know is making money. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have to lose face in front of my classmates.”
Margaret forced herself to look up, meeting Charles’s utter indifference in his eyes. He didn’t care whether she lived or died.
Darkness swallowed her as she finally surrendered, closing her eyes in despair.
Margaret awoke after what felt like eternity, her body burning with pain yet completely immobilized.
“Multiple soft tissue injuries, two fractured ribs, and severe internal organ damage. You’ll need extended rest,” the doctor recited mechanically upon seeing her conscious.
Margaret was absentmindedly gazing toward the door.
Barbara spoke up: “Charles, I truly didn’t expect Victor to fight his classmates defending me. I’ll have a serious talk with him after we get home.”
“Not your fault.”
Charles‘ gentle tone created an illusion that his earlier icy demeanor never existed.
“The boy simply adores you.”
“If only I’d brought him to school today…” Her voice trailed off with a hint of resignation as she crouched down, pa- tiently coaxing Victor. “Sweetheart, listen. I know how much you love Auntie Barbara, but she’s your real mother. We don’t tell lies about that in front of friends, do we?”
Victor puckered his lips pitifully, his voice still wobbly from crying: “Sorry Auntie Qingqing… But I really want you as my mommy. I don’t like Mommy. Not one bit. Victor doesn’t want her…”
Barbara reached out to hold him, trying to soothe him, but couldn’t stop his endless complaints: “Every time I want her, she’s either on a plane, in a car, or stuck in meetings. She’s just a work machine! Never cooks for me like other
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moms, never takes me out, watches shows with me, or goes to amusement parks…”
“They all say I’m motherless…”
Overwhelmed, Charles Jr. burst into loud sobs.
“I don’t want her anymore. Aunt Barbara, be my mom?”
Margaret’s knuckles turned white, fists clenched on the bedsheet.
This was the child she’d abandoned her comfortable life for–the child she’d give her life to fight for.
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She remembered when Jin Rivera was just born, the Lewis family was still a small clan on par with the Rivera family.
The doctor told her the child had a congenital heart defect, and treatment would pose a significant financial burden.
The Rivera family had a renowned cardiologist relative. She pleaded on her knees at the Rivera estate for three days and nights, but Mr. Rivera told her not to disturb them unless absolutely necessary.
Even Charles threatened to give up.
Margaret didn’t know what “absolutely necessary” meant—she only knew this was the child she carried for ten months, and her influence remained insufficient.
Later, she drowned herself in work, grinding through each day with gritted teeth.
Three years later, Lewis Corporation went public, and that doctor personally came to the house to perform Jin’s
surgery.
Since childhood, Charles had frail health. To nurse him back, Margaret poured resources into founding the nation’s top private hospital, where top specialists were constantly at his beck and call.
Yet the child she’d shielded with her life was now pushing her into a bottomless pit.
Agony tore through Margaret’s very soul. Tears flooded her eyes as she drew several deep breaths to steady herself.
Then her phone rang–a work call from her assistant. Nearing the end, he added, “President, your husband’s signed di- vorce papers have been filed. They’ll be final once the cooling–off period ends. Should I retrieve them?”
“No need.”
Margaret’s icy tone rasped through suppressed tears.
Everyone assumed she was threatening Charles with divorce.
The call ended, the hospital door swung open from outside, and Charles strode in with his usual composure, still proud as a peacock.
“What do you mean ‘no need“?”
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He asked casually.
