He Moved His Assistant Home

After the IVF procedure worked, I finally got pregnant and flew back from overseas, hoping to surprise my husband, Rob Balmer, with the news I'd been waiting so long for.

A friend tipped me off that while I'd been abroad, Rob had taken on a new personal assistant — the clingy, temperamental type who always had to have her way.

At first, I didn't think much of it. In the old days, all I had to do was frown, and Rob would have anyone who got on my nerves shown the door.

But when I got home, I found out the code to the front gate had been changed. I tried our wedding anniversary date again — and that's when the door swung open.

Some woman was leaning against the doorway in my silk pajamas, all drama and attitude, her brows arched like she owned the place.

"Look what the cat dragged in — some beggar showing up at the Balmer estate! Scram! Or I'll set the dogs on you!"

I was so furious I almost laughed. "Go get Rob. I want to ask him just what kind of stray he's been letting into this house."

And I had one more question: Did he still want the heir — the Balmer family's only shot at continuing nine generations of single sons— the one I was carrying right now?

The Tibetan mastiff by the door, emboldened by its mistress, snarled at me a few times.

Lily rolled her eyes.

"And who the hell are you? Rob isn't someone you can just demand to see."

She sized me up with a sneer.

"What is property management even doing, letting someone dressed like a street vendor into this neighborhood?"

My skin is highly sensitive — regular fabrics break me out in rashes within minutes. Rob had specially ordered custom-made clothes from Italian mills just for me. Never in a million years did I think I'd be looked down on for not wearing designer labels.

I almost laughed. After all these years, this was the first time I'd ever been blocked from seeing Rob.

I reached for my phone to call him and give him a piece of my mind — only to realize, to my horror, that the battery had died.

So I just held out my hand and coldly demanded Lily hand over her phone.

"If you set him back on something important, you know what happens."

Lily flinched at my glare. In that split second, I snatched the phone from her.

I dialed the number I knew by heart. Just as I was about to tear into him, Rob's low, tender laugh cut me off.

"Two minutes without a reply and you're already calling? Miss me that much? I'm in a meeting. I'll be home when it's done."

I gripped the phone tighter, my voice stuck in my throat. That kind of intimate tone — if I didn't know I was holding Lily's phone, I'd have thought it was meant for me.

The next second, Lily snatched the phone back triumphantly and cooed into it in a syrupy voice.

"Then hurry back. I want you to cook for me!"

She even put it on speaker.

Hearing the two of them flirt back and forth, I barely held back my fury.

"Rob Balmer. You get back here. Now."

Rob paused, a note of confusion in his voice.

"Lily? Is someone else there with you?"

Lily shot me a dirty look.

"Just some crazy woman. I'll get rid of her in a minute."

Rob said casually, "Yeah. Don't make a scene. We've got a bid coming up — bad press right now wouldn't look good."

Hearing his indifferent tone, I felt like I'd been doused in ice water. He'd flown out to see me just last month — and now, he couldn't even recognize my voice.

I couldn't hold it in anymore. My voice rose.

"Rob! What about me? What about your child?!"

The air went cold. When Rob spoke again, his voice was laced with frost.

"You've got some nerve, running a con like this on me."

His tone turned to ice.

"That kid is definitely not mine. Lily, get rid of her however you see fit."

He still hadn't recognized my voice.