Six Months Pregnant — Then My Husband Went Mad

After five years of marriage, I still hadn’t gotten pregnant. My mother-in-law cursed me every day, calling me a useless hen that couldn’t lay eggs.

My husband said his family had carried on the bloodline for five generations, and it couldn’t end with him. He forced me to undergo a series of complicated medical treatments.

Everything went smoothly, and soon I found out I was pregnant.

Just when I was happily preparing for the baby, I overheard a conversation between him and his friend.

"That idiot Claire Bennett still doesn’t know the baby she’s carrying is mine and Isabella’s."

…

My hand froze on the doorknob.

Inside, Ethan Walker’s voice was cold and cruel.

"She thinks those were just routine pre-pregnancy tests. In reality, I used Isabella’s eggs and my sperm for IVF, then implanted the successful embryo into her uterus."

"In four months, Isabella and I will have our baby."

"Damn, Ethan, that’s some next-level thinking."

"I had no choice. Isabella’s the principal dancer in the troupe—if she got pregnant, her career would be over. How could I let her face that?"

"You’ve always been devoted, man—still hung up on Isabella Reed, the beauty queen, all these years."

The so-called beauty queen looked at him with teary-eyed admiration. "That’s why I gave up my career in the United States and came back to be with him."

"Ethan treats me so well. I want to give him a baby, but pregnancy would ruin my figure—my belly would get ugly. I’m afraid he wouldn’t love me anymore."

"You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved. How could I stop loving you?"

"Then why did you marry Claire Bennett?"

"Back then, you insisted on going abroad, so I married her out of spite. But I swore I’d never let another woman bear my child. Claire always thought it was her problem she couldn’t get pregnant, but she’d never imagine I got a vasectomy before we were even married."

Ethan’s voice was full of smug pride.

"Ethan, you’re so good to me!"

"Now, with Claire carrying your baby, you don’t have to worry about losing your figure—you can shine on stage all you want."

"I knew you loved me the most."

She leaned in and kissed my husband without a care.

The friend’s voice grew worried. "I heard Claire had a liver transplant years ago. If you make her have this baby, won’t it… kill her and the child?"

"I asked the doctor—livers can regenerate. Her body can handle pregnancy. When the time comes, I’ll have the best OB-GYN deliver the baby. Nothing will go wrong."

"She’ll need to stay home to care for the baby afterward anyway—why would I let her die on the operating table?"

Those heartless words hit me like a sledgehammer. I stood frozen, my whole body turning cold.

I fled the company in a daze.

Back in my car, I couldn’t stop trembling, tears pouring down my face.

It had all been Ethan Walker’s elaborate deception.

I thought he was sparing me from the pressure of having a baby, that he’d given up our DINK lifestyle out of love.

But it was nothing more than a trap for the woman he truly loved.

The day I found out I was pregnant, the always-distant and aloof Ethan Walker had uncharacteristically spun me around in public, his joy infecting everyone around us.

Now I knew—his happiness came from the fact that he and the woman he loved were having a child together.

And me?

I was nothing but a vessel.

Biting my lip until I tasted blood, I pulled out my phone, dialed a number, and forced back my sobs as I said, "Put all joint projects with Ethan Walker on hold."

Ethan and I had been high school classmates.