Chapter 1

Lately, I didn’t have much of an appetite and had been throwing up everything I ate, so I went to the hospital for a check-up. When the doctor informed me that I was pregnant, I shed tears of joy.

My husband and I had been childhood friends and married after graduating from university, but we hadn't been able to have a child. My husband tried to comfort me and said, "Pregnancy should come naturally. Maybe our baby is waiting for the right moment."

Now, the right moment had finally arrived.

"Ma’am, you're already four months pregnant. The fetus is healthy, but you should still avoid any external impacts."

With a gentle smile, I caressed my slightly protruding belly. It had already been four months.

My periods had always been irregular, and when I gained weight around my waist, I had just thought it was due to me eating too much.

At home, I could hardly hold back my excitement. I cooked a meal and planned to deliver it to my husband, while also personally sharing the good news with him.

Carrying the lunchbox, I walked smoothly through the entrance of the Gates Group.

As I was about to push open the door of my husband’s office, a glamorous woman stopped me.

"What are you doing?"

Her tone was cold, and she scrutinized me unfriendly.

I lifted the lunchbox for her to see and said, "I'm here to deliver lunch to Simon."

In front of others, I didn't like to directly call Simon "my husband."

She sighed in relief and said sarcastically, "Oh, so you're just a servant. I'm Lily, Mr. Gates's chief secretary.

"Give me the lunchbox. You can leave now."

I shook my head. "I'm not a servant. I want to personally deliver the lunch to Mr. Gates. Please let me in."

As soon as I finished speaking, the woman's anger flared. She snatched the lunchbox from my hands.

"Who do you think you are? You’re just a servant and you think you can seduce Mr. Gates?

"You’re dressed so coquettishly as well. I’ll teach you a lesson that you’ll never forget today."

Saying this, she swiftly dragged me into the meeting room, shut the door, and slapped me.

My face instantly swelled, and I fell to the ground.

Before I could react, I was kicked on the head.

‘The baby!’

Ignoring everything else, I curled up and tightly protected my belly.

"I want to see what you're delivering to Mr. Gates."

Lily Wood opened the lunchbox and dumped its contents on my head.

The beef soup that I had spent hours cooking was scalding hot and dripped from my hair onto the floor.

My scalp burned with pain.

But I didn't dare change my position, afraid of harming the baby.

"Oh, there’s also roast chicken. But you can forget about trying to please Mr. Gates with food like this!"

She grabbed my chin roughly, applying pressure to force my mouth open.

"If you like cooking so much, then why don’t you have a taste of your own cooking?"

The roast chicken, dripping with grease, was slammed onto my face.

My eyes and nose were immediately overwhelmed with a burning sensation, and I cried out in pain.

Lily lightly clapped her hands and said with disgust, "So gross and greasy, it almost ruined my new manicure."

Looking down at me with contempt, she continued, "Do you really believe the saying that to win a man's heart, you should first win his stomach?"

"With your status, why do you think you deserve Mr. Gates?"

I tried to explain but was interrupted by a coughing fit from the grease.

The oil had choked me a little, which made it difficult for me to say anything.

At that moment, there was a knock on the meeting room door.

"Lily, what's up with the noise inside?"