“That’s rich,” I shot back. “Coming from the man draining his wife while his mistress rests like a queen.”

He crossed the distance in two strides.

His hand snapped around my jaw, fingers pressing hard enough to bruise.

“Watch your mouth,” he warned.

“Or what?” I whispered, fury burning through fear. “You’ll humiliate me again? Strip whatever dignity I have left?”

His lips curved into a cruel, amused smile.

“You’re breathing,” he said softly. “Be grateful.”

“You already have her,” I snapped. “You got the heir you wanted. So why am I still chained to this chair?”

The irony nearly crushed me.

She lay in another room—guarded, pampered, surrounded by doctors and silk sheets—while I bled for her survival. For her child.

While my own baby stayed hidden, clinging to me in silence.

I said nothing.

I couldn’t.

He would weaponize it. He would turn my child into leverage, the same way he turned love into ownership.

So I swallowed the truth and stared at the ceiling, letting the sterile lights blur as I refused to cry.