Chapter 4

The next day, Holt's patent presentation arrived as scheduled.

He and Vivienne stood on stage, impeccably dressed and exuding confidence. I could only find it laughable.

The drug research bought with my life had ultimately become his patent.

He and Vivienne would get promotions and riches, winning countless awards, while I became a frozen corpse, eternally asleep.

How was that fair?

Watching their loving display on stage, I couldn't help but laugh bitterly.

It was all my fault. I had always known Vivienne held a special place in Holt's heart.

They were childhood sweethearts, but Vivienne had decisively dumped him in their senior year to pursue advanced pharmaceutical studies abroad with a brilliant senior classmate.

After that cliff-edge breakup, Holt met me.

My father was a high-ranking official at the research institute. I fell in love with Holt at first sight when he just joined, and chased after him relentlessly.

In the end, my thoughtfulness and gentleness won him over, and we got married.

But that year, Vivienne returned to the country.

Holt no longer clung to me every moment, and he rarely stayed at the research institute. He even went against everyone's wishes to bring Vivienne into the institute.

On my birthday, during a heavy downpour, he wanted to go pick up Vivienne who was stranded in the rain. I stopped him.

His eyes showed impatience: "How many times do I have to tell you? Vivienne is my sister! It was raining and she didn't have an umbrella. Did you expect me to just watch her get soaked and catch a cold?"

"But I'm your wife!" I clung desperately to the hem of his shirt, my eyes welling up with tears.

Holt, please reject her.

If you'd just stay here, stay home with me, I'd believe that you only love me, that you have no feelings for your childhood sweetheart Vivienne.

Our eyes met, but he avoided my grasp.

"You know she needs me."

"Jade, be a good girl. I'll be back soon."

But that night, thunder crashed and lightning flashed.

I curled up in the cold bed, waiting the entire night.

He never came back as promised.

A few days later, I found out I was pregnant. Before I could tell Holt, I accidentally saw their flirtatious text messages.

[Holt, if I hadn't gone abroad, if I hadn't given you up to someone else, would you have been mine forever?]

[Silly girl. I've always been yours. Marrying Jade was just a task. You know what her father means for me... Just hang in there a little longer, okay?]

Holt, so everything was because my dad could help your career?

Leveraging my father's status as a high-ranking son-in-law, you expended countless connections and arranged numerous drinking parties, doing everything in your power to secure a place for the underqualified Vivienne at the research institute.

When I happened to reprimand her once, you flew into a rage, "Vivienne just returned from abroad, can't you teach her properly? What's your problem?"

The first time you ever cursed at me was for another woman.

I thought my pregnancy could reset our relationship to the beginning.

But misfortune struck even faster; both the pregnant me and Vivienne simultaneously contracted a rare disease.

Holt spent his days cooped up in the lab, finally developing a miracle drug.

He gave it to me first thing.

"Jade, drink this. I want you to stay by my side."

I was moved to tears, realizing I had misunderstood him all along - he had always loved me.

But after I drank it, I felt terribly unwell.

Holt showed no concern, "It's just a side effect of the miracle drug. Bear with it." He left right after.

That day, I finally succumbed to the drug's effects, collapsing in a corner of the lab, multiple organ failure setting in, barely clinging to life.

I called him countless times for help, but he hung up on every call. Yet I overheard him walking into the lab and cheerfully reporting to Vivienne:

"Vivienne, it's a good thing we tested it on her first. Now the drug's effects are milder, and I can finally let you use it with peace of mind."

Tears streamed down my face ceaselessly. The first generation of the drug was the most potent. Pharmacists usually start by experimenting on animals.

But humans are different from animals. To adjust the research direction as quickly as possible, human test subjects are necessary to breakthrough bottlenecks.

So, without hesitation, he made me drink the drug, probing my body's reactions.

It turns out, I was nothing more than an experiment in his love for another woman.

I lay in the corner of the lab, unable to make a sound. The two didn't notice me as they shared intimate moments on the other side.

Shortly after, Holt left early due to some business. It was then that Vivienne discovered me collapsed in the corner, still clutching tightly to the pregnancy test results I hadn't had a chance to show Holt.

She understood everything and let out a vicious, cold laugh.

"What, you think you're worthy of bearing Holt's child?"

Suddenly, she gave an evil smirk. "Let me send you to hell."

She force-fed me drugs and disfigured my face.

After I died a bitter death, she stole my latest research data and hid my corpse in the freezer.

She inflicted some non-fatal wounds on herself, crying out loudly. When Holt rushed over at the sound, she frantically threw herself into his arms.

This completely confirmed the "fact" that I had attempted murder and fled with top-secret data.

Suddenly, the assistant's panicked voice interrupted my reminiscing. I looked up to see him bursting into the hall, his face covered in sweat.

It was as if he had a ghost chasing him.

At that moment, he panted breathlessly and stammered:

"Holt, there... there's an error in the identity registration of that frozen corpse!"

"If there's an error, just correct it. What's the rush?" Holt glanced at him coolly, frowning.

Vivienne's grip tightened on her wine glass.

The young assistant stuttered, his expression frantic:

"The DNA test results show that the frozen corpse is... is Jade!"

Everyone at the table was shocked.

I saw that the moment Holt heard that name, the wine glass in his hand instantly shattered on the floor, splintering into pieces.