Chapter 1 - Divorce Paper

"Your time is only three months left."

"There's a burst blood vessel in your brain, which means you only have three months to live."

Those words nearly took my life. At just two months into my marriage, our family's doctor diagnosed me with only three months left to live.

"As we've said before. You have to choose, Madam," said the doctor sitting in front of me. "Your life, or your baby. But whatever your choice, your life won't be saved."

I'm Belle Kensington, 27 years old. The only daughter of the Kensington family, once reputable in the business world before they fell into poverty.

To save our family's business, my father sold me to a wealthy young Billionaire. A contract marriage, to be precise. But I made a fatal mistake.

I'm pregnant. And my contract husband doesn't like my pregnancy.

And could I be any unluckier? After receiving news of the pregnancy, the illness I had hidden for 10 years worsened. I couldn't let my family know about this.

"Check again, I couldn't possibly be pregnant with his child," I said somewhat angrily. "He only slept with me once. And it's impossible—"

"Madam, Master Mattheo has returned."

My words halted as one of my servants rushed in. Simultaneously, I heard the sound of a car stopping in front of our house.

"Doctor, leave now. Keep this pregnancy a secret from everyone, including Mattheo. Do you understand? He must not know about my illness, let alone my pregnancy!" I pleaded with the doctor, instructing him to hide.

"Very well, Madam," replied the panicked doctor.

From the living room of our mansion, I hurriedly went to the kitchen towards the unused storage room. Yes, that storage room was my chamber. Since marrying Mattheo, he had never allowed me to sleep in the same room as him.

He was too disgusted to admit to his friends that he had a contract marriage with a lowly woman like me.

In that dingy room is where he tortured me. Bringing home different women every day.

Our contract marriage was never acknowledged by him. To him, I was just a tool and a doll to satisfy his desires. I couldn't complain because my father had already sold me to him.

"Belle, come out now!"

From inside my dirty room, I heard his screaming voice calling me. I quickly came out before he got angrier. When I reached the living room, I was surprised to see him returning from his office alone.

'He usually brings a different woman every day.' I thought, seeing him standing alone with his private secretary.

"What's all this about? What kind of crazy person calls a doctor so early in the morning?" Mattheo noticed the medicine package I had hidden behind the sofa pillow and immediately flew into a rage.

"Belle, are you deaf? Answer me, you damn woman!" he shouted. He threw the medicine package at my face in front of all our servants.

"I don't know, my wife is sick," he sneered. He mocked me with a disgusted look. "Wait, don't tell me you're pregnant? You know, right? You're not allowed to get pregnant in this contractual marriage!"

"O-of course, I'm not pregnant!" I replied hastily before he misunderstood. "A-and the medicines... They're not mine. I'm neither sick nor pregnant. Don't worry."

"That's good then. You must be aware of your position. I married you out of pity, you know? I don't want my child to be born from the womb of a cheap woman like you," he shouted, then stormed off.

In front of him, all I could do was pretend to smile. It hurt so much to lie to my husband, even though the doctor said I would die soon.

But that pain was nothing compared to seeing Mattheo return from his office, accompanied by a beautiful young woman, dressed provocatively.

No, that's not the problem. Throughout our marriage, I had become accustomed to his despicable behavior of cheating every day with different women.

But the one he brought with him now was my step-sister, Natalia!

"M-Mattheo..." my voice trailed off, unable to believe what they were doing. "What's going on? Why are you with my sister!?"

**slap!**

He slapped my face with an envelope that fell out of his briefcase. The sheets of paper fell at my feet, instantly making me wide-eyed with what I saw written on them:

'Divorce papers.'

"W-what is this?" I couldn't believe my eyes. "Divorce papers? What does this mean, Mattheo? Didn't we just get married?"

"What a fuss," he complained angrily, throwing a cigarette from his lips at me. "Don't you remember? I married you only for your money. Now that your family is poor, do you think I want to have a lowly wife like you?"

"B-but... You promised! On that day, you promised to love me no matter what! And in return, I gave you all my wealth!" I shouted while crying.

'And because of that, my family went bankrupt! Because I gave all my wealth to you!' I said in my heart, feeling a surge of pain in my chest.

"Shut up and just sign that damn divorce papers!" he yelled loudly. "You should be grateful I'm not kicking you out. Do you think there's a place for you out there? Even after the divorce, I'm still kind enough to let you stay in this house."

Suddenly, he pulled me towards him, dropping me into his embrace. My eyes widened when I realized his lips had landed a kiss on mine. In front of Natalia, my step-sister.

"But of course, you have to pay for it with your body," he whispered between our kisses. "After the divorce, you still have to be my slave. That's the only way you can pay off all your debts to me. Because your family failed to make my company successful!"

After kissing me, Mattheo left with my step-sister. They said something about going to a hotel to sleep together after he forced me to sign these divorce papers. The kiss felt like a sexual assault to me.

"No! You can't chat with my sister! Mattheo! I can still accept you cheating with someone else, but not with my sister!" My screams didn't make him stop walking away.

**thud!**

"Ugh!"

My head suddenly felt excruciatingly painful, almost causing me to faint on the floor. My nose was bleeding my illness had worsened.

Nevertheless, Mattheo's face with his sweet smile was still in my mind. I could still remember how on our wedding day, he was so sweet, promising to make me happy with our future child.

"But why, Mattheo? Why did you change? When I had already lost everything, my wealth, my family. Why did you betray me?" I cried inwardly.

Then, I felt something in my stomach. And I just realized I was pregnant with his child.

What should I do? If Mattheo finds out I'm pregnant with his child, he'll surely kill me!