The first clip: Seraphina’s third arrival, where she stroked her belly directly in front of the lens and sneered, "So, Alaina, do you still want to try anything?"—her tone dripping with venomous provocation.

The second clip: the visual of Seraphina calling me right after I had reviewed the file folder. She was laughing into the phone, asking me if I was surprised, while her bodyguards stood by watching the entire display.

Every ounce of her fragile, pitiful facade was thoroughly shattered to pieces by the recordings.

Olivia posted a single sentence in the group: “Listen for yourselves, see for yourselves, and judge for yourselves.”

Within two hours, the winds within the high society circle completely reversed direction.

Mrs. Miller was the first to share the audio clips directly to her own social feed, captioning it: “Some individuals truly cannot be judged by their covers.”

Chloe offered a formal apology within the group: “I didn't understand the full scope of the situation before and harbored a complete misunderstanding toward Lana. I am truly sorry.”

Evelyn was even more blunt: “An individual like this actually possesses the audacity to publish a long essay playing the victim? Utterly revolting.”

By evening, the tide on public social media platforms began to turn as well.

Someone edited the audio clips into snippets and uploaded them, causing the view counts to skyrocket exponentially.

A fresh trending tag—"Mistress Backbites Original Spouse"—rapidly supplanted the previous hot searches.

The comments section of Seraphina’s essay shifted from a polarized debate into a landslide of public condemnation.

“So you were the one who actively instigated the provocation all along.”

“Carrying another woman's husband's child and possessing the audacity to storm the original wife's home to threaten her? Where is your shame?”

“Her mother is even more stomach-churning—abandoning her own biological daughter for twenty years, only to return and rob her of her husband?”

Seraphina deleted her essay.

But it was already far too late.

Screenshots were already flying across every corner of the internet.

At eleven o'clock that night, my doorbell rang.

I opened the door.

Seraphina stood at the threshold.

There were no bodyguards, no Madeline; she was entirely alone.

Her eyes were swollen into the shape of peaches.

Her makeup was completely ruined.

"Alaina!"

She lunged inside, violently grabbing me by the collar.

"Why do you have to do this to me!"

Her grip was remarkably tight.

Her hands were shaking.

"You’ve already won! You exposed my mother's schemes! You’ve completely destroyed my reputation! What more do you possibly want?!"

I firmly peeled her fingers away from my clothes.

"Seraphina, when you dialed my number for the very first time, did you ever stop to consider that today would come?"

"When you walked into my home and sat in my chair, did you ever consider today?"

"When you stroked your belly to flaunt your pregnancy right in front of my face, did you ever consider today?"

She took a step back.

"Those things... those things were orchestrated by my mother. She told me that was the only way to force you to step down."

"So just because your mother told you to do it, it suddenly doesn't count?"

"You are an adult; you possess your own hands, your own feet, and your own mind. You actively chose to align yourself with another woman's husband, and you chose to bring your provocations to the original wife's face."

"And now you stand here and tell me your mother made you do it?"

She was completely choked, unable to utter a single syllable.

Tears spilled down her face in continuous streams.

"Alaina, I am begging you. Just let me go."

"I will leave. I will take the child and leave Washington permanently, and I will never show my face before you again."

"Can we please just do that?"

I stared at her.

This twenty-three-year-old girl.

Wearing a heavily crumpled dress, her face completely stained with tears, one hand desperately shielding her belly.

If this were any other scenario, I might have softened.

But my mind flashed back to three years ago.

Lying on that operating table.

Massive hemorrhaging.

The doctors telling my family to prepare for the absolute worst.

Ethan waiting out in the hallway for six agonizing hours.

When he finally came out, he whispered, “Lana, I’ll make it up to you for the rest of my life.”

And his definition of making it up to me was allowing another woman to carry his child.

"It's too late."

I turned around to head up the stairs.

"The person you should be begging isn't me."

"It’s your mother."

"She was the one who dragged you into this trap."

"And she is the only one who can pull you back out."

"But looking at her current predicament, I’m afraid she is too busy fighting for her own survival to rescue you."

Seraphina collapsed onto the floor, weeping so hard her entire body shook violently.

Mrs. Higgins stepped forward and escorted her out.

Once the door clicked shut, Mrs. Higgins asked in a hushed tone, "Miss Alaina, she claimed she would leave—do you believe her?"

"I don't."

"As long as Madeline remains here, she will never truly leave."

"Madeline is her ultimate backer, but she is also her cage."

"She fondly believes she possesses the freedom to choose to walk away, but Madeline will never allow it."

Sure enough.

The very next day, Seraphina appeared yet again.

She didn't come looking for me.

She went straight to find Ethan.

She waited outside his corporate headquarters for an entire afternoon.

In front of every single employee in the company.

Flaunting her five-month pregnancy.

Weeping and begging him to take her away.

Chapter 25

By the time Ethan arrived downstairs, a large crowd had already gathered outside the corporate headquarters.

Employees, passersby, and people taking videos with their phones.

Seraphina was crouching near the flowerbed, cradling her stomach with both hands, sobbing hysterically.

Someone nearby was filming the entire scene.

Harvey was pacing back and forth beside her, frantic with worry.

"It’s not my place to interfere, and she won't listen to reason either. Ethan, you need to get down here right now."

Ethan walked up to Seraphina.

He didn't kneel.

He simply stood there, looking down at her.

Seraphina raised her tear-stained face.

"Ethan, please take me away. Leave Washington. We can go anywhere."

"I don't care about a title anymore, I don't care about the house, I don't care about anything."

"I just want to be with you and give birth to our child."

The crowd of onlookers continued to swell.

Whispers began to ripple through the audience.

Ethan remained completely silent.

He crouched down, removed his coat, and draped it over her shoulders.

Then he supported her as she stood up.

"Come upstairs with me first. Don't cause a scene here."

"I’m not going!"

Seraphina violently shoved his hands away.

"You didn't keep a single promise you made to my mother! You promised to place her in executive management, but instead, you helped Alaina expose everything at the summit!"

"You lied to my mother! And you lied to me!"

"You’ve been utilizing us from the very beginning!"

People in the crowd began recording with their phones.

Harvey stepped forward to intervene, but Ethan cut him off with a single sharp glance.

Seraphina’s voice grew louder and more hysterical.

"My mother was right—you and Alaina are in this together! You two partnered up to make fools out of us!"

"You let me get pregnant with your child, and now you’re casting me aside. How exactly are you any different from my biological father?!"

Those words hit the crowd like a stone dropped into a quiet pond.

The murmurs intensified.

Some voiced sympathy.

Some were merely enjoying the drama.

People began openly judging Ethan.

"What a complete prick."

"Having a wife at home and still pulling stunts like this."

"The poor girl."

Ethan's expression heavily darkened.

Right then, a car pulled up to the curb.

The door clicked open, and I stepped out.

The crowd automatically parted to grant me passage.

The moment Seraphina caught sight of me, her hysterical weeping stopped.

Every pair of eyes converged upon me.

I walked up to Seraphina.

I came to a halt.

"Are you finished speaking?"

Her lips quivered, but she uttered no sound.

"You just threw out a massive speech. Claiming he lied to you, utilized you, and is casting you aside."

"Let me ask you a single question."

"When you first found out exactly what leverage your mother was using to blackmail him and force him to stay by your side, what exactly was your reaction?"

She gave no answer.

"When your mother laid it out for you, did you ever possess the decency to say, 'Mom, this is wrong'?"

She lowered her head.

"When your mother ordered you to bring your provocations to my home, did you ever think it was unseemly?"

"When you stood right in front of my face, stroking your belly to flaunt your pregnancy, did you ever stop to think that I once carried his child, and lost it?"