Now all she had left for me was revulsion.

"I've already had your name removed from the Henson family registry. From this moment on, you have nothing to do with us!"

"I will never give you the chance to hurt my daughter or my grandchild!"

Watching me stand there, stunned, Nora cradled her stomach with a slow, deliberate hand. "Don't tell me you didn't know, sis? I'm pregnant. Three months along."

Carter stood in the doorway, his expression unreadable.

So that was why he was marrying her.

"Congratulations, Mr. Gilbert."

Before the words had fully left my mouth, Leila's hand swung at me again.

"Flirting with Carter right in front of us? Do you think we're dead?!"

But this time, I didn't let her land it.

I caught her wrist and held it. Squeezed until she cried out.

Nora scrambled into Carter's arms, trembling like a frightened kitten. "Carter, is it because I took the drug development project from her? Is that why she's lashing out?"

"Please, sis, if that's what this is about, just let Mom go. I'll give you back the spot."

Then her eyes locked onto mine, glinting with challenge.

I almost laughed.

They had no idea.

That drug development project was mine. I'd initiated it. The only reason I'd handed it to Henson Pharmaceuticals was to elevate their standing in Southgate City.

But I didn't feel like giving anymore.

Carter's face went white with fury. He seized my hand in a crushing grip.

"Amanda, are you done making a scene?!"

"One of them is the sister whose life you stole for twenty years."

"The other is the mother who raised you. Do you really have to be this aggressive?"

His grip was iron-tight.

And suddenly I remembered the day he proposed. He'd held my hand just like this, fingers locked around mine.

Breathing hard. Eyes full of conviction.

Promising that if we both made it home alive, he'd give me a lifetime of happiness.

I never once doubted his love. But love shifts like wind.

Everything he'd given me, he could just as easily give to Nora.

Carter's brow furrowed, and his voice dropped to something dangerous.

"Apologize to Nora and her mother."

"Or I'll make sure you never work in Crestfield again."

He used to defend me just like that. Blindly. Fiercely. Without asking questions.

Now the same ruthlessness was aimed squarely at me.