Chapter 9

After years of a loving relationship, Max and I rarely argued, and violence was completely out of the question. The idea of him cheating on me was unfathomable, just as I couldn't accept the notion that he would lay a hand on me.

I stared at him in utter disbelief. "Seriously, Max? You've resorted to hitting your own wife?"

Max's expression remained cold, with just a faint trace of remorse. "She's my mother, she's an elder. And you actually hit her? Are you completely innocent in all of this?"

My mother-in-law sat on the ground, applauding approvingly. "Well done, Max! Mom knew she didn't raise you in vain! Max, finish off this little tramp! She must have contracted some filthy disease from fooling around with men outside, and now she's given birth to some kind of monster!"

Hearing my mother-in-law's malicious words about my innocent child, rage surged through me. I lunged towards her, ready to strike. "My child is not a monster! Shut your mouth! You—"

But before I could grab hold of my mother-in-law's hair, Max grabbed my arm forcefully and yanked me away.

In the next second, he shoved me out forcefully.

Before I could even react, I crashed into the edge of a cabinet, hitting my head. Darkness momentarily clouded my vision as I collapsed onto the floor.

A stream of liquid trickled down my forehead, dropping onto the floor.

As I touched it, I realized my hand was covered in blood.

Max's face contorted with anger as he gave me a warning glare. "Jen, have you caused enough trouble?"

"Me causing trouble?" Frustration surged through me as I marched towards him, gripping his shoulders and shouting, "That's our baby! Not some freak monster! Max, don't you want to know why our child is deformed? She's your own flesh and blood!"

"Is all this drama really necessary?" Max glanced at me skeptically, his gaze icy and cutting, as if he had transformed into a completely different person, leaving me feeling estranged.

Before I could respond, he sneered, "My mom has a point. I'm perfectly healthy. I think you know very well why our baby is deformed."

"What do you mean?" I asked, my eyes red from tears.

Max smirked sarcastically. "Jen, why force me to expose your dirty secrets?"

"Dirty secrets?" I laughed bitterly, tears streaming uncontrollably down my face. I wiped them away, sniffing, and confronted him, "Max, what dirty secrets have I ever had?"

Max's eyes narrowed, a cold smile playing on his lips. "My mom is right. Our family is clean and innocent. How could we have a deformed child? Unless you've been fooling around with some random guy outside?"

I could hardly believe these words were coming from Max's mouth!

Watching Max's disdainful expression, my whole body trembled. He suspected my faithfulness!

He actually believed my mother-in-law's nonsense!

Despite his own infidelity, he accused me of being unfaithful!

I got pregnant shortly after our first night together, and he insulted me by suggesting I had been seeing other men?

Ridiculous!

I was trembling with anger, using both hands to push myself up from the ground and march towards him.

Raising my hand, I slapped him forcefully across the face and demanded, "Max, stop pretending. I want to know who you were with the night before I gave birth."

He paused, squinting at me. "How did you find out?"

"Are you admitting it?" I asked coldly.

"You checked on me?" Max's pupils contracted, his gaze turning sinister, a malice I had never seen before.

"I'm asking if you're admitting it?!" I scoffed, tears streaming down my face uncontrollably.

Looking at Max's indifferent face, I suddenly felt foolish. Despite my talk of divorce, I had still subconsciously hoped for his repentance.

Like they do on TV dramas, even if he lied and said some other woman seduced him, claiming he made a mistake like any other man, unable to resist physical urges while I was pregnant... It would've been an easy excuse, wouldn't it? After all, we had been together for so many years. How could he just turn heartless without a second thought?

Yet, in reality, Max looked at me with indifference, offering no explanation.

A nameless anger surged within me. I grabbed his collar, tears flowing, and hoarsely questioned, "Max, why are you doing this to me?"

Max stood still, unwavering in his gaze at me, until he couldn't take it anymore and shoved me to the ground.

He laughed, but it was chilling, nothing like the cheerful and positive demeanor he once had. It was as if a dormant demon had suddenly emerged from Max's body, grinning menacingly at me, revealing its ugliest and most vicious side, mocking my blindness, and mistaking Max for someone worthy of my trust.

It suddenly struck me the night I brought Max home to meet my parents. In his study, my dad asked me, "Jen, do you really know Max?"

As it turns out, I didn't.

Max took a deep breath and asked, "You're quite the actress, Jen. I underestimated you. You've been hiding it for so long, what's your big move? Huh?"

Quite the actress?

Tears streamed down my face. I despised myself now. Apart from tears, all I had left was weakness!

Max scoffed, a disdainful smirk on his face. "You're not as harmless and innocent as you seem on the surface, are you?"

That's when my mother-in-law burst into the room, grabbing my hair and violently attacking me. She punched and kicked me, slapping me repeatedly, and calling me names.

She said, "You're out there fooling around with men, yet you have the nerve to accuse my son of being with other women? My son, who is young, handsome, and successful. So what if he has a little fun? What man doesn't stray? A man who doesn't stray is just incompetent! You, you little whore, don't know your place. All he has to do is come home, isn't that enough?"

God knows I didn't have any male friends. Besides Max, I only interacted with colleagues at work. Where did she come up with these accusations?

"If you're not happy, then get out of here and go die somewhere!" she spat.

Enraged, I fought back against my mother-in-law, but she was strong and powerful. I was no match for her and quickly lost ground. She beat me until I was bruised and swollen, ripping out clumps of my hair.

And there was Max, sitting on the side, watching me coldly as his mother kicked me out of the house, telling me to leave, preferably to die outside.

As the door slammed shut, all I saw was Max's icy gaze.

The loud bang of the closing door echoed in the hallway, and the cold light of the sensor lamp cast a grim shadow over me.

I sat on the ground, unmoving, feeling like all of this was just a nightmare. A surreal, haunting nightmare.

Every time Max and I argued, he would try to make amends by apologizing and promising to do better. He often said that if he ever upset me again, he would be a jerk.

Honestly, for a brief moment, I entertained a foolish idea: Max would come after me, begging for forgiveness and saying, "I'm sorry, babe, please forgive me. I couldn't handle the fact that we lost our baby, just like you," and then he would hold me tightly and take me home.

But once I realized how ridiculous this notion was, I snapped myself out of it!

"Jen, are you being naive? Why are you still daydreaming about that unfaithful, hypocritical, and cruel man changing? Do you have any dignity?" I reprimanded myself internally.