“She’s going into labor!”
“I’m having my baby! For real this time!”
“Hahaha… finally! My little girl is finally coming into the world!”
While most women screamed and cried their way into the delivery room, Victoria Thoreau was grinning like a goofball.
She'd been married for nine years and popped out seven sons. Seven.
This baby? She was a miracle—conceived through all kinds of cutting-edge fertility treatments. A daughter at last.
After this, she was officially retiring her uterus. No more kids.
Just three hours later, headlines everywhere were shouting the big news: Alexander Grant, the real estate mogul, had welcomed a baby girl.
The man was so over the moon, he straight up donated 500 million to the hospital.
He even handed every staff member in the maternity ward over a million each—in cold, hard cash. Even the cleaning lady walked out wearing a gold chain as thick as a finger.
But while the whole hospital was buzzing with joy, Room 144 had a totally different vibe.
Grace Gardner, lying on her hospital bed, wore a twisted, cold smile.
And when her eyes landed on the newborn beside her, that smile turned almost murderous.
She reached out, her fingers wrapping around the baby’s tiny neck, laughing like she’d lost it.
“Hahaha… Oh, Victoria, you’ve always one-upped me. But did you ever imagine this? Your precious baby girl? About to die at my hands. And you and your perfect Alexander will end up raising my daughter like she’s royalty… Hahaha…”
“Waaah! *cough cough* waaaah—”
The newborn choked and turned purple, gasping for air.
Andrew Collins, standing nearby, rushed over to pry Grace’s hand away.
“Grace! Babe! We just wanted a shot at the big life, not murder!”
Grace took a few deep breaths, her crazy slowly fading.
“You’re right. If this ever comes to light, we can just blame the hospital—say they mixed up the babies or something.
But if I actually kill this brat... even if we’ve got all the money in the world—what’s the point if I'm not alive to spend it?”"Honey, go handle the discharge paper right now and find somewhere out of the way to dump that damn brat. My sister just gave birth to a baby girl a few days ago—we’ll raise her instead. That way, no one will ever know."
"Okay! Babe, but since Victoria’s always treated you like a best friend, maybe you should go tell her yourself before we leave the hospital."
"Yeah, good idea. I’ll use that chance to see my daughter too."
...
Twenty years later.
Police station.
"Sophia Bennett, Olivia Grant, your brawl case is closed. Call your parents so they can come sign the papers and pick you up. Then you're good to go."
Olivia shot an icy glare at Sophia before storming out to call her dad.
Sophia, still perched miserably on the cold bench, gave the officer—whose whole presence screamed ‘by the book’—her best puppy-dog eyes and asked, "Officer, uh... I’m married now. Can my husband pick me up instead?"
Back in her school days, it was always Mom or Dad coming to either the principal’s office or the station. But she was a grad student now. Honestly, she couldn’t face dragging her parents into this one again.
The cop raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You're married? Got a marriage certificate to prove it?"
He was just going through the motions—no way a 20-year-old girl was showing up with a marriage license.
But then Sophia nonchalantly pulled out a little red booklet from her backpack.
Sure enough, her name was right there on the marriage license.
And the husband's name—James Porter?
Wait, the James Porter? The guy whose name alone could shake the whole of Huadu?
Well, no matter who he was. The officer had rules to follow.
"Alright, have your husband come and sign you out."
"Thank you so much, officer!"
Sophia immediately pulled out her phone and dialed the number of the man she’d legally married six months ago... even though they had never actually met.
At that moment, James Porter was deep in a meeting.
He saw an unknown number pop up on his screen and hit ‘decline’ without thinking.
Then, a message popped in right after.
[Hey Mr. Porter—uhh, hi hubby? Honestly not sure what to call you since this is a little awkward. I’m Sophia Bennett, your wife
as per the paperwork
. So... I got into a bit of a scuffle at school and ended up at the police station. If you’re free, could you maybe come sign me out? Thanks!]