Chapter 29: The Perfect Wife
The next morning, sunlight streamed through the mansion’s spotless floor-to-ceiling windows.
Evelyn stood expressionless at the kitchen counter, carefully ladling the meticulously prepared fish soup into a thermos. Beside it were several delicate side dishes and a bottle of expensive imported nutritional supplements.
“My dear, you are so good.”
Damian’s voice came from behind, and a pair of arms circled her waist. He rested his chin on her shoulder, greedily inhaling the scent of her hair, acting as if they were still the loving, harmonious couple they once were.
“I knew it. Deep down, you’re still the kind Evelyn I know.”
Evelyn’s body stiffened for a moment; the familiar wave of nausea surged in her stomach. She forced herself to relax and even turned her head slightly to press a cold kiss on his cheek.
“It’s what I should do,” her voice was as light as a feather. “After all, Miss Sienna... is in the hospital because of me.”
“No, baby, that’s not your fault.”
Damian turned her around, holding her face in his hands. “You just loved me too much and were blinded by jealousy. Now, you’re making amends with action, and that is the grace expected of Mrs. Green.”
“Once the company goes public, the media will love this image of you: generous, virtuous, and kind.”
He laid out the “sins” she had committed and the “role” she needed to play, as if bestowing upon her an opportunity for redemption.
“I understand, Damian,” Evelyn said.
She picked up the heavy meal carrier. Damian considerately opened the door for her, the picture of a perfect husband seeing his wife off.
“Don’t be late,” he sealed the gesture with a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll wait for you tonight.”
Evelyn forced a smile. The moment she turned away, the expression vanished completely, leaving only a frozen indifference.
...
In the Central Hospital’s VIP ward, there was no scent of disinfectant, only the fragrance of expensive flowers.
Sienna reclined against the headboard, dressed in a silk robe, idly scrolling through a tablet. When she saw Evelyn push the door open, she raised an eyebrow in challenge, her eyes sizing up Evelyn like she was an on-demand servant.
Evelyn said nothing, arranging the thermos and supplements on the bedside table.
“Well, look who actually showed up?” Sienna chuckled, her tone dripping with ridicule. “Damian told me yesterday that you’d be coming to take care of me. I thought you were just putting on a show for him.”
“What, is Mrs. Green finally willing to lower yourself to wait on a ‘sick’ person like me?”
She extended a hand painted with bright red nail polish and lazily pointed at the bedside table. “I don’t have much strength. You feed me.”
The command was light, yet heavy with a thousand pounds of humiliation.
Evelyn twisted open the thermos lid, spooned out a scoop of warm fish soup, and brought it to Sienna’s lips. Sienna opened her mouth smugly, but just as the spoon was about to touch her lips, her elbow suddenly gave an “accidental” bump—
“Ah!”
The hot soup instantly spilled, most of it splashing onto the back of Evelyn’s hand! A piercing, searing pain shot through, and Evelyn quickly withdrew her hand. The skin immediately swelled and turned red before her eyes.
“What are you doing!” Sienna shrieked. “Evelyn, how malicious you are! Are you trying to scald me to death?!”
She didn't give Evelyn a chance to react, snatching the phone from the headboard and quickly dialing Damian’s number, deliberately putting it on speaker.
“Damian! Wuwu... hurry and come! Evelyn... she deliberately splashed hot soup on me! She tried to ruin my face!”
There was silence on the other end for two seconds before Damian’s impatient voice clearly rang out, “Sienna, I’m in a very important meeting. Can you cut it out?”
“But she...”
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The only response was the phone’s icy dial tone. Sienna’s expression instantly froze. The feigned fragility and terror were ripped away, revealing a hideous mixture of shock and fury beneath.
She violently slammed the phone onto the soft duvet and glared fiercely at Evelyn.
“It’s you! You must have told him something, didn't you? You bitch! You think you can pretend to appease me, then stab me in the back and destroy my relationship with Damian?”
Evelyn looked down at the rapidly reddening back of her hand. The pain made her mind remarkably clear. She slowly raised her head, meeting Sienna's angry gaze.
“Destroy your relationship? Miss Sienna, I should be asking you that.”
Evelyn let out a cold laugh, as if remembering something. “But you once said that the unloved one is the third party, so...”
“I just don’t understand, how could you be so ruthless just to frame me?” She took a step forward. “No matter how much you hate me, or how much you want to drive me away from Damian... how could you use your own baby as a betting chip? That was a life! To set me up, you actually... you actually terminated your and Damian’s child with your own hands!”
Sienna’s pupils sharply constricted. She clearly hadn't expected Evelyn to say something like that.
After a few seconds of shock, she suddenly burst into a piercing laugh.
“A baby?” She stopped laughing, her eyes full of scorn and disdain, as if looking at the world’s biggest fool. “Evelyn, you truly are hopelessly stupid. You think I would actually carry Damian’s child?”
She admitted it. Just like that, easily and triumphantly, she confessed.
“That’s right, there was never any baby. The pregnancy and the miscarriage were all fake.”
Sienna slowly got off the bed, closing the distance between them step by step. “But you’re not wrong, that non-existent child did successfully turn you into the disgraced dog you are now.”
She leaned close to Evelyn’s ear. “But don’t worry, Damian and I will soon have our real child. And when that happens, I, Sienna, will be the one to give birth to him, as Mrs. Green.”