Chapter 3: Ethan Finally Chose

Chloe looked down at her newborn daughter.

Then back at Margaret.

And smiled.

A slow.

Dangerous.

Terrifying smile.

"No."

Margaret blinked.

"No?"

Chloe tightened her arms around her child.

"This little girl spent nine months growing inside me."

Her voice trembled with exhaustion.

But not weakness.

"She is not a scandal."

Margaret's expression hardened.

"Chloe—"

"She is not a mistake."

The older woman turned toward her son.

"Ethan."

For years, that single word had always worked.

One command.

One expectation.

One look.

And Ethan obeyed.

Every time.

But this time something was different.

Ethan wasn't looking at his mother.

He was looking at his daughter.

His daughter.

The child he never knew existed.

The child who almost died minutes earlier.

Slowly, he walked toward Chloe's bed.

Toward the baby.

Toward the family he had lost.

For the first time since their divorce, Chloe saw certainty in his eyes.

Not confusion.

Not guilt.

Certainty.

Then Ethan spoke.

"If protecting my daughter costs me everything..."

Margaret froze.

"...then everything is a price I'm willing to pay."

The color drained from her face.

Because for the first time in his life, Ethan Chen had chosen someone over her.

And Margaret Chen was not a woman who accepted defeat.

As she stared at the newborn baby in Chloe's arms, a strange smile slowly appeared on her lips.

A smile that made Ethan's blood run cold.

Because he knew that look.

It meant she already had a plan.

And whatever she intended to do next...

Could destroy all of them.