He Abandoned Me While I Was Pregnant

Anastasia's heart lurched as she slipped the agreement and her signed instructions under a stack of papers. Her lawyer had a copy, but she couldn't bear another confrontation before she got out.

When his fingers brushed the stack, her heart slammed against her ribs. Then Nicolas's phone rang, yanking his attention away and giving her one precious second of relief.

Standing close by, she could hear Phoenix Garza's voice clearly through the line. “Please—don't break anything! Those flowers are imported. They cost a fortune, and I can't afford to replace them! I'll leave the city. I won't interfere with Nicolas's marriage... Just please don't push me— Ah!”

A series of crashes followed Phoenix's startled cry, and the line cut off with a burst of static.

Nicolas shot to his feet, his expression turning to ice as he rounded on Anastasia. “I promised I wouldn't see Phoenix again. So why are you pushing her to the edge? Why did you send people to drive her out of her shop?”

“You rushed upstairs the second you got home—just to pull something so deceitful!”

The accusation knocked the breath out of Anastasia. She shook her head, trying to explain. “I didn't—”

But Nicolas cut her off, already turning his back on her, taking Phoenix's side just like he had three years ago.

Tears slid down Anastasia's cheeks, cold and unrelenting. She wiped them away, pulled the postnuptial agreement and her signed instructions from the pile, and snapped a photo to send to her lawyer.

[Uriah, can you verify whether this agreement is still valid?]

[If it is, please start the process as soon as possible.]

Minutes later, a reply lit up her screen: [Ms. Warren, we have strong grounds to enforce the financial terms. I'll file the divorce petition, arrange formal service, and request temporary control of the house and restrictions on moving the disputed funds. A judge must approve those orders. The final divorce will take longer, but we can start protecting you now.]

With the confirmation in hand, Anastasia felt a quiet sense of closure.

Then a phone rang—unexpected, muffled—from the desk drawer. Her brows knitted together as she opened the hidden compartment and found a phone she'd never seen before.

Curiosity got the better of her. She answered. An unfamiliar middle-aged man's voice came through:

“Professor Miller, I'm really sorry, but I can't keep renting you the apartment near the university. My mother has fallen ill, and I need to sell the property to cover her medical bills.”

“The lease expires this week. I've been sending notices to this phone and your rental email for two months. You authorized our movers to return everything to your home but never confirmed a pickup date. The boxes are on their way now.”

A bad feeling settled in Anastasia's gut.

Just as she feared, the items the caller mentioned arrived soon after.

Hands trembling, Anastasia opened box after box.

Six of them. Packed with photos of Phoenix, personal keepsakes, and even a small piece of clothing with unmistakable signs of a man's use...

Nausea slammed into her. She bolted to the bathroom and heaved over the sink.

Disgust rolled through her.

The entire ‘return to family’ had been a sham.

Three years ago, Nicolas had rented that apartment near the university for secret meetings with Phoenix—and he'd kept the lease ever since.

For three years, he'd pretended to stay overnight for work, using it as an excuse to visit and indulge in Phoenix's presence.

To keep it hidden, he'd even stashed a spare phone in his study.

If she hadn't been sorting through papers today, she might never have uncovered his secret.

Collapsing onto the bathroom floor, Anastasia sobbed, finally releasing years of pent-up humiliation and grief.

Charlie, the housekeeper, rushed in, confused by the scene, and tried to comfort her. But Anastasia, overwhelmed, could only point at the boxes:

“Burn them. Burn every last one—in the backyard!”

The emotional spiral sent sharp cramps searing through her abdomen.

While Charlie handled the task, Anastasia went pale. Fumbling for her phone in a panic, she instinctively called Nicolas:

“Honey, my stomach hurts. Please come back...”

His cold voice cut her off:

“Anastasia, you're truly heartless. Do you even understand that Phoenix was pushed down the stairs by the people you sent? She's unconscious in the hospital.”

“She needs care, and yet you're trying to use the baby as a lure to get me back?”

Cold and shaken, Anastasia felt her heart shatter.

She hadn't orchestrated this. But Nicolas didn't bother to investigate. He put blind trust in Phoenix's story.

As she tried to explain, she realized the call had already ended.

Her grip tightened on the phone. Tears fell freely, blurring her vision as they splashed onto the screen.

Before she lost consciousness, she collapsed onto the cold bathroom floor. Charlie rushed to her side; in the distance, ambulance sirens wailed.

As Charlie told the dispatcher she was pregnant, Anastasia tried to hold on. She couldn't know whether her baby was safe. Then everything went dark.