One month before the wedding, Ethan Harrison, Vivian Carter’s fiancé, told her he wanted to have a baby through IVF—with none other than her half-sister, Clara Carter.
Just in case things got messy, he even took Clara overseas for half a year, saying they’d only come back when the pregnancy was stable.
He figured Vivian loved him too much to fight it. Thought she'd just swallow it all. But what he didn’t know was, the moment he stepped on that plane, she’d made up her mind—she was done.
When Ethan finally called, Vivian was sprawled lazily in bed, still catching her breath from a night well spent.
“Pick me and Clara up from the airport.”
After half a year of silence, his voice was still that same cold, commanding tone.
Vivian laughed.
The audacity. Seriously? What kind of nerve did this guy even have?
If a marriage certificate wasn’t still up in the air, she’d have blocked him ages ago.
“Sure... mmm,” she replied, a little breathless.
Before she could finish, a strong arm tugged her back in.
Ethan must’ve caught the noise on his end, because his voice dropped, sharp and suspicious. “Vivian, what are you doing?”
“I… I just—”
She didn’t get to finish. The call was cut off.
She turned to glare softly at the man beside her, cheeks tinged pink. “Seriously, again?”
“Not nearly enough,” his husky voice came, as lips trailed down her neck.
Vivian reached up, fingers slipping into his hair, a flicker of clarity in her eyes dimming the red speck at the corner of her eye.
“This apartment—it's in your name now. Plus, here’s five million.”
The man froze mid-movement, bracing himself on one arm as he frowned down at her.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Vivian scanned his perfectly handsome face—so her type it hurt—and rolled over, taking the lead. Her lips caught his in a bruising kiss.
Moments later, she stood up without hesitation, bending to snatch her nightgown off the floor and slip it on quickly.
Her tousled hair trailed over her shoulder as she held out a check, staring down at him with a calm, almost playful smile.
“Exactly what it sounds like.”
His expression darkened. “You’re breaking up with me?”
Vivian raised one skeptical brow, sliding the check into the belt of his robe, finger trailing smugly across the hard lines of his abs.
“Honey, let’s not get all sentimental. We were never a ‘thing’ to begin with.”
Her thumb grazed his lip, a casual flick meant to soothe but heavy with dismissal.
“You didn’t have a place to stay, so I gave you a house. Gave you cash, too. All for six months. I’d say that was a good deal. Now go live your best life.”
His hand clamped onto her wrist, grip tight, anger barely contained behind his eyes that now shimmered with a trace of hurt.
“Give me one good reason.”The clingy Samoyed under the bed, reliable and responsive in bed, never causing a scene when ignored—honestly, as a kept little lover, Vivian Carter couldn’t find a single flaw.
Too bad...
“My fiancé’s back. It’s time for me to go get married.”
She slipped her wrist from his hand, casually hooked his chin with a finger.
“Be good. Don’t call me again, or my future husband’s gonna know.”
Without sparing another glance at the man whose eyes were practically burning holes through her, she grabbed her purse and walked out the door without so much as a backward glance.
Half an hour later, she arrived at the airport.
Soon enough, two figures stepped out of arrivals.
Ethan Harrison wore a dark gray suit, still tall and handsome, though the past six months had left him looking a little worn.
Next to him stood a woman with a modest baby bump.
Her wonderful half-sister, Clara Carter.
“So she really got pregnant, huh?”
Vivian laughed dryly, even though her insides were doing somersaults.
Clara bit her lip, stayed quiet, that fragile, pitiful look plastered all over her face.
Ethan instinctively stepped in front of her, shielding her. “It’s been hard for Clara. She’s five months in. Don’t even think about doing something crazy.”
Wow. Vivian actually laughed out loud.
A month before their wedding, he ran off to make a baby with her half-sister, and now he had the nerve to warn her?
“And what if I do want to cause trouble?”
“Vivian, don’t be vicious. You’ll regret it.”
That harsh tone stung more than she wanted to admit.
They’d grown up together, sharing more than a decade of memories. Once upon a time, Ethan wasn’t like this.
He taught her how to ride a bike, helped her fly kites, always had her back.
The year her mom passed, her dad brought Lin Yun and Clara into their home, calling them ‘family’ and saying they should all love each other.
That’s when she realized—her father had kept a mistress and even had a daughter nearly her age.
She couldn’t take it. She broke down and demanded answers, only to be locked up by her dad, bullied by Lin Yun, and drenched in freezing water by Clara in the dead of winter. She barely survived the fever that followed.
Ethan knew all of it. He used to stand up for her against her father.
But everything changed when Clara became his classmate at college.
Even when Clara made that outrageous suggestion right before Ethan and Vivian’s wedding, he actually agreed to it.
Well, after six months, Vivian had already let it all go.
Even if Ethan and Clara had only used IVF, she had no interest in such a man anymore.
Marrying him was just her way of claiming what her mother left behind. Once that was sorted, she was filing for divorce.
But before she could even bring up the marriage, Ethan cut in:
“And... Clara’s grandma isn’t doing well right now. We can’t afford to stress her out. Let’s postpone the wedding again, okay?”
