"If you don’t believe me, go ahead and get a doctor to verify it. But are you sure you're ready to hear the truth?"
Stephen froze. For a split second, his face was blank, but then color flooded his cheeks, turning them an angry shade of red. His glare was sharp enough to cut, but he said nothing before spinning on his heel and storming off.
I let out a slow sigh and retreated to my room, where the housemaid had already prepared a bath.
The moment I stepped into the warm water, searing pain shot through my legs like fire licking at my wounds. My breath hitched, my skin burning unbearably.
I jerked back, desperate to escape the sting, but my foot slipped on the wet tiles.
A sharp gasp left my lips as I crashed to the ground, my knees slamming hard against the floor.
Pain shot through me, and within seconds, deep purple bruises bloomed across my skin.
Stephen skipped into the room, his grin dripping with mockery.
"Idiot! How does it feel to soak in a bath of salt water and chili juice? This is my filial piety to you, aren’t you touched?"
He tilted his head, eyes brimming with disdain.
"If you want to enjoy everything that rightfully belonged to my mother, then you must pay the price."
With that, he turned on his heel, not even sparing me another glance. Before leaving, he dismissed the housemaid, ensuring no one would help me up.
I lay sprawled on the floor in disgrace, my body trembling as the water around me darkened to a deep, sinister red. I could only stare, unable to utter a single word.
Back when they took my egg cells, I had bled just as much.
That egg had been fertilized with the sperm of the president of the Davis Group, turned into an IVF embryo, and implanted into Evie Cavendish, who had been born without eggs of her own.
And then, that child, who carried half my blood, was born. A boy.
His name was Stephen Davis. Stephen of the Davis family. Stephen, the son of Mrs. Davis.
Stephen, who despised me with every fiber of his being.
After cleaning myself up, I stepped out of the bathroom, only to find Carlos Davis seated on the sofa, his presence commanding as ever.
If Stephen’s features bore traces of mine, then the cold arrogance radiating from this man before me was unmistakably inherited by him.
Carlos’s gaze swept over the angry red rashes marring my skin. His expression remained indifferent.