Without a word, I crouched down and cleaned the mess from the floor.
"Connor, Grandpa will only sign over the shares if I get pregnant."
I dropped the bomb quietly.
Connor glared at me with pure hatred. "In your dreams."
"Other than Jade, I will never have a child with any woman."
He'd said this to me no fewer than nine times.
I already knew he wouldn't agree, which was why I had to force him. Today was my ovulation window.
But he was cruel to the end. Before leaving the house, he sent his assistant to force-feed me emergency contraceptive pills.
His handsome face didn't carry the slightest trace of affection.
"Samantha, you have to atone for the mistakes you made in the past."
The medicine was extremely bitter. It stuck in my throat, triggering my gag reflex, but I swallowed it under his watch.
The moment he was gone, I rushed to a corner where he couldn't see. I jammed my fingers down my throat, retching violently until I threw up everything—the pills, bile, the sour water from my stomach.
To ensure he wouldn't have to share a bed with me again, Connor called Jade to the house.
With his leg injured, she became his personal nurse.
The two of them were inseparable, sickeningly sweet. When I was present, they ramped up the intimacy just to spite me.
I cannot eat spicy food. Yet Connor ordered the nanny to cook only the heavy, chili-laden dishes that he and Jade preferred. I was left with nothing but a bowl of plain white rice.
Connor had a severe obsession with cleanliness. His intimate apparel had to be hand-washed, and he forbade the nanny from touching them. He specifically named me for the task.
In the past, I would have done it gladly.
Even though it was foolish, it was a service I had been willing to provide.
But to humiliate me further, he threw Jade's lace underwear into the pile for me to wash as well.
He installed Jade in the master bedroom—the room that belonged to me and him—and banished me to the guest room next door.
Every night, I tossed and turned, listening to the sounds of their pleasure filtering through the wall.
To quell his anger, I endured it all without a word.
I hid under my blanket and cried in secret until sleep finally took me.
Just a little longer, I told myself. As long as I get pregnant, everything will be fine.
I clung to that hope like a lifeline. It was all that kept me standing.