Chapter 1 Betrayal

• Athena Sinclair found herself in the throes of labor in the obstetrics and gynecology wing of Premier Hospital in Juneau. She gritted her teeth against the waves of pain in her abdomen. Her palms were clammy as she clung to the railing beside the delivery bed, and her knuckles turned white with strain.
• Witnessing her distress, the assisting doctor softly comforted her, "Don't be afraid. The baby will be here before you know it. Just a little longer, and it will all be over."
• Athena nodded, but her eyes were slightly red with reluctance. It was because the baby would be taken away after birth.
• Despite her best efforts to guard against it, she couldn't help but feel a deep emotional bond with the child she had carried for ten long months, watching it grow within her with each passing day. Her heart was twisted painfully at this moment.
• "I'm sorry. I'm sorry..." Athena's eyes welled up with tears.
• It wasn't that she didn't want the child, but she couldn't keep it. After all, Athena was just a surrogate.
• After delivering the child and receiving the payment, she could not have any connection with the baby.
• As another wave of pain hit her, Athena's vision darkened, and deep regret flooded her heart.
• She no longer desired the money. All she wanted was the child, only the child...
• But no one heard her silent plea. The doctor administered anesthesia, causing her consciousness to slip away until she was engulfed by darkness.
• An hour later, Athena woke up to find herself lying on the hospital bed. She was alone, and there was a check on the bedside table with a sum of one million written on it.
• Athena felt like a piece of her heart had been torn out. Her hands instinctively touched her now deflated belly. Tears streamed down her face.
• There would never be a playful little one moving around in her belly in the future.
• She hadn't even had a chance to see the child.
• The thought of possibly never meeting her child made her tears flow even more uncontrollably.
• Before she could utter a word, the hospital room door swung open.
• Athena turned to see Amara Sinclair strutting in high heels and looking proud and confident.
• Momentarily flustered, Athena attempted to sit up, but a searing pain shot through her abdomen, a stark reminder of her recent childbirth. Her movements faltered, and she fell back onto the bed. Her complexion turned pale.
• Amara Sinclair stood by the bed, gazing at Athena mockingly. "Athena, it's really you!"
• Surprised and angry, Athena's eyes reflected disgust and resentment.
• Unfazed, Amara smiled triumphantly, "Richard and I are planning to get engaged, so I came for a pre-marital check-up... I didn't expect to run into you here! Athena, oh Athena, look at you now! Selling your body for money, giving birth to another man's child."
• "Shut up!"
• Overwhelmed by anger, Athena grabbed something from the table and hurled it at Amara. She despised the woman before her so intensely that she used all her strength.
• Unfortunately, the movement triggered her wound, causing her vision to turn black from pain momentarily.
• Amara effortlessly dodged the attack and smiled even more smugly. "Are you getting angry now? What if I tell you that a year ago, I was the one who removed your mother's oxygen mask and pocketed the money father planned to give for medical expenses... I even informed Richard about your surrogacy behind your back. Wouldn't that make your blood boil?"
• Athena couldn't believe what she was hearing. Having already endured the loss of her child, the revelations from the past pushed her to the edge of sanity, her emotions spiraling out of control, bordering on hysteria.
• "Why, Amara? What have I ever done to you? Why are you treating me like this, you heartless woman... You won't get away with this! You will pay for this!"
• Amara appeared pleased with her actions. Her expression turned solemn as she said, "Why did I do this? It's because I want to destroy you! You may not have wronged me, but your presence is a hindrance…"
• "We are both Sinclair, yet you were always the favored one, living a life of privilege while I was mocked as the illegitimate child. After suffering all those injustices, of course, I want revenge. And now, I have succeeded... Dad, the Sinclair family's wealth, and even Richard is mine now. And you? You are nothing but the abandoned child of the Sinclair family! Hahaha!"
• Amara's triumphant jeers echoed in Athena's ears like razor-sharp blades, reopening the still-fresh wounds of her heart.
• She recalled a year ago...
• Her mother was recuperating well only to fall critically ill suddenly. Athena had pleaded with her father to save her mother but was met with icy rejection.
• To add insult to injury, she discovered her childhood sweetheart and fiancé, Richard Dunham, had been involved with Amara all along.
• Heartbroken and desperate to save her mother, she had no choice but to resort to surrogacy. Little did she realize it was all orchestrated by Amara from the outset.
• Since that day, she was banished from her own home.
• Athena vividly remembered the day her father looked at her coldly and said, "Once you're out, don't you dare lay claim to the Sinclair name. Spare us the humiliation."
• Furthermore, her then fiancé looked at her with disgust and hurled accusations, "Athena, how could you stoop so low?"
• The weight of these memories bore down on Athena's already fragile spirit.
• Her lips drained of color while a maelstrom of pain and resentment swirled within her until, at last... she surrendered to the consuming darkness.