Episode 2

Rachel rushed out of the hospital and made her way to her mother's house as fast as she could.

When she stepped inside, she was confronted with a shocking sight.

Her stepfather had her mother pinned against the wall, shouting, "Don’t forget that I was the one who took care of Rachel after you lost your husband! I raised her, and now you’re teaming up with her to tell your husband to take back the house and the money he gave me?"

Rachel's expression twisted in anger as she quickly moved to push her stepfather away from her mother.

"Get your hands off my mother!"

Filled with anxiety and rage, Rachel shouted at him.

Her stepfather, seeing the girl he had raised standing up to him, only grew angrier and yelled back, "You ungrateful brat! I raised you for ten years! Now that you’ve married a rich guy, you think you can just ruin my life? You’ve already messed up my marriage with your mother, and now you want to destroy my income and your brother’s too?"

Rachel's mother had once been married to her stepfather.

He had a son named Richard, and Rachel was her mother's daughter. After they got married, they had another son and daughter together.

But because of the constant abuse her mother suffered, Rachel helped her mother get a divorce.

Her stepfather took Richard with him, while Rachel and her mother kept the other two kids.

When Rachel married into the Brown family, they gifted her a lot of valuable things, including three houses and four stores, but her stepfather took half of it.

He had a gambling problem and had lost a lot of money over the years.

"Mom, are you okay?"

Ignoring her stepfather's accusations, Rachel turned her attention to her mother, worry etched on her face.

Her mother was bruised and tear-streaked, panic evident in her voice as she clutched Rachel. "Rachel, what’s happening? The men in black not only wrecked my shop and locked up your brother and sister, but they also stopped Evans' job and refused to cover your oldest brother's school fees. They threatened that if we don’t give back the store, property, and cash, your siblings will rot in jail forever. Rachel, what did you do with Lucas? We can't offord to offend them."

Rachel's eyes filled with tears, and she didn’t try to hide it. With a shaky voice, she replied, "Mom, Lucas cheated on me and got his mistress pregnant. She was waiting for me at our house and pretended to fall, losing the baby. Now, Lucas wants me to leave with nothing."

"What kind of sense does that make? Why should you just walk away empty-handed?" Rachel's mother nearly collapsed, shouting, "What about his stepmother? Didn’t she say anything?"

Rachel struggled to explain, "He told me that his godmother is dead. Just before I got here, I called the butler to check on things, and he said she had a brake failure."

"Brake failure?" Rachel's mother gasped in shock.

"I’m going to sign the divorce papers, but he wants me to return all the money we took out. I can’t possibly come up with that much. And if I have to pay back the house and the shop, where will you live? How will I support my younger siblings?"

Evan finally grasped the situation and jumped up, yelling, "You foolish girl! I don’t care what’s happening with you and Lucas. I can’t stop working. I can’t pay back the money the Brown family lent me. If I do... I swear I’ll make you regret it..."

Rachel completely lost it when she heard this and shouted at him furiously, "Lucas, are you even human? Your kids are at the police station! And now Lucas and Amstrong family want to deal with us, but all you care about is not giving back the money the Browns gave you!"

After her outburst, Evan's tough demeanor faded, and he replied bitterly, "I don’t care. I can’t just give up my store and my house..."

With that, he turned and walked out of the house.

Rachel's mom slapped her thigh and started crying hard.

Rachel couldn’t hold back her tears and tried to comfort her, saying, "Mom, please don’t cry. I’ll find a way to save my brother and sister. I messed up with Lucas, but I’ll beg him... I’ll definitely ask him to let us go..."

But would begging really make him forgive them?

After calming her mom down, Rachel headed to the hospital to find Lucas.

Violet had just woken up and realized her baby was gone, and she could never have another child since she lost her womb in the process. She was crying uncontrollably.

Lucas was trying to soothe her.

Rachel felt a deep sadness as she watched this through the window.

She had been married to Lucas for six years, holding the title of Mrs. Brown, but she had only experienced his kindness during the first two years of their marriage.

She knew he didn’t deserve her love anymore, but her emotions were all over the place.

Soon, Violet fell asleep.

The assistant at the door went in and told Lucas that Rachel was there.

"You still have the guts to show up?" Violet’s mom was also in the room. She rushed out first, ready to hit Rachel again.

Lucas followed her out.

His usually gentle face turned icy when he saw Rachel.

"Don’t come to see me again. Violet will be upset if she sees you."

Rachel clenched her fists, holding back her sorrow, and asked, "How can I send the divorce papers if I am not allow to see you?"

Lucas replied seriously, "You can send the divorce papers to my lawyer."

Rachel nervously bit her lower lip, hesitating for a moment before she spoke up. "I’m willing to sign the divorce papers, but I can’t return everything the Brown family gave me. The betrothal gifts were all given in my parents' names, so I want to..."

Lucas cut her off with a mocking laugh. "If you hadn’t pushed Violet away, I might have considered giving you some compensation. If you’re looking for someone to blame, look in the mirror for hurting Violet. You should return the gifts from the Brown family just like you accepted them..."

Rachel realized that no matter how much she tried to explain, he wouldn’t believe that she hadn’t harmed Violet. Plus, she wasn’t about to take his things, so she shouted, "What I mean is, I can pay you with cash. The three houses and four stores from the Brown family can be replaced with cash, and that money will count as what I owe you..."

Violet’s mother scoffed at her words.

"Those three houses and four stores are worth over twenty million in cash. Do you even know your family’s financial situation? How do you plan to pay that back?"

It was true; she was in a tough spot now. She had just started working as a home decoration designer, but she believed she could pay it back eventually.

After thinking it over, she asked calmly, "So what do you want me to do?"

She was unsure of what they wwnt her to do.

Lucas glanced at Violet’s mother, making it clear that she would decide everything.

The old woman rolled her eyes, thought for a moment, and then looked at Rachel with disdain.

"I want you to have your womb removed, and then you and the Amstrong family will be even... If not, I’ll make sure your Carter family suffers and know no peace."

Rachel was shocked by such a cruel demand. Trembling, she turned to Lucas in horror. "You... you agree with her too?"

Have her remove her own womb? That was utterly ruthless.