Part 2Wasted Love for a Tycoon

I locked myself in the room, pulling out every IV line, disconnecting every monitor.

I dug my nails into the unhealed incision, scratching and tearing until the world around me began to blur.

In the encroaching darkness, I was back at the moment my family disowned me for choosing him.

Back then, Donovan worked three jobs in a torrential downpour just to scrape together the money for my surgery.

He knelt outside the clinic, soaked to the bone, and gave me a goofy grin.

“Don’t be scared, Kiki. As long as I’m here, not even the grim reaper can take you.”

Later, we lived in a moldy basement apartment. There was no heating in the winter, and he would tuck my frozen feet into his coat.

“Kiki, when I’m rich, I swear I’ll carry you back to your family’s doorstep in triumph. No one will ever dare look down on you again.”

And then, supporting each other, we made those promises come true…

I woke to the ringing of my phone. It was my sister.

“Kiki! Is Donovan insane? How could he bring his mistress to our parents’ house to provoke them?”

My hands trembled as I opened the photo she sent.

In the picture, Donovan was holding Lila’s hand, their fingers intertwined to form a heart in front of my parents’ home.

The headline was a splash of acid in my eyes: 【DEVOTED CEO AND NEW FLAME GET BLESSING FROM EX-WIFE’S FAMILY】

The comment section was a war zone.

Shaking, I called him to demand an explanation.

His voice was cold, detached.

“Lila thought she saw a clue about her cat near your parents’ house, so I took her to have a look. The media loves to exaggerate. If you can’t stand it, why don’t you call your family and have them issue a clarification?”

I forced my body, still raw and unstitched, into a taxi and went to the hotel address from his phone’s location.

In a daze, I remembered when he first became successful. A real estate tycoon’s daughter and a finance heiress had both publicly declared their love for him.

The entire city’s elite circle was betting on which powerful family this boy from the wrong side of the tracks would marry into.

But instead, he bought up every billboard in the city, displaying a single photo of me with a scrolling message:

“Kiki is my only wife. For this life and the next.”

After that day, everyone knew Donovan as the man who was crazy about his wife.

Which made today’s public betrayal all the more absurd, all the more cruel.

I pushed open the hotel room door to a scene of chaos.

Donovan was kneeling by the sofa, gently massaging Lila’s ankle.

He didn’t even turn around when he heard the door open.

“You’re here,” he said, his voice low. “Go get Lila a glass of warm water. She had a scare and still hasn’t recovered.”

Lila slowly turned, revealing the fresh love bites on her collarbone. She stuck her tongue out at me.

“Sorry, sis. I never thought Donovan would actually leave you and the baby for my cat. I tried to talk him out of it, but he was just so worried about me. What could I do?”

She blinked her big, innocent eyes, then gasped.

“Oh, dear. I think we were in such a rush, we forgot to use protection. Donovan hates those things anyway. But don’t worry, sis, I’ll take the pill. I would never try to tie him down with a baby, like some people.”

A wave of violent nausea surged through me.

I doubled over, gagging.

Donovan’s reaction was almost instinctual. He rushed to my side.

“Kiki? What’s wrong? Did your stitches tear? I’ll have the driver take you to the hospital right now!”

I summoned every ounce of my strength and shoved him away.

“Don’t touch me! You make me sick!”

He stumbled back, his expression darkening. He turned to Lila, who was watching the scene with amusement, and snapped.

“What are you still doing here? Get out!”

Lila flinched, her eyes immediately welling with tears.

Donovan couldn’t help himself. He strode over, planted a quick kiss on her forehead, and whispered soothingly,

“Be a good girl. Go on now. I’ll still come see you tonight, okay?”

Lila’s tears vanished, replaced by a triumphant smile. As she left, she casually tossed an empty condom wrapper onto the coffee table, shooting me a provocative glance.

Donovan turned back to me, his face once again a mask of concern.

“Kiki, are you feeling better?”

“I understand you’re upset. Your emotions are sensitive after giving birth. So, if you want a divorce, we can discuss the terms. Everything is on the table, except for the child.”

I dug my nails into my palm until the pain overshadowed the nausea.

“I’m not divorcing you, Donovan.”

I don’t know what I was clinging to.

Maybe it was the bitterness of eight years of my youth being thrown away. Maybe it was the desperate belief that my newborn child couldn’t grow up without a father.

I grabbed a fruit knife from the table and held it to my own throat.

“Donovan, if you dare to leave me, I dare to die right here in front of you!”

For the first time, real panic flashed in his eyes. He swore he would send Lila away, that he would cut off all contact with her.

See? He still cared about me, didn’t he?

And as long as he cared, maybe everything could go back to the way it was.

I just didn’t realize that this momentary surrender was just the prelude to a much greater humiliation.