Forced to Adopt His Affair Baby

My husband, Ethan Foster, was photographed at a maternity center.

Every media outlet was speculating about who the mother of the Foster Group CEO's illegitimate child could be.

I just stared at my phone with a blank expression and turned it off.

Ethan spoke in a flat tone:

Right now is a critical time for Stella's career. She can't afford any scandals.

"So?" I looked up at him, my gaze steady.

"So tomorrow, you need to show up at the maternity center and claim that child as yours. After a while, Stella will take the baby back."

Listening to Ethan's commanding tone, I smiled bitterly.

So even now, all he cared about was Stella Quinn's career.

Seeing my silence, Ethan did what he always didhe handed me a check.

"Fill in whatever amount you want. But you must claim this child as yours."

I froze for two seconds.

Instead of taking the check, I went to the bedroom and pulled out a document I'd prepared long ago and handed it to him.

Before I could say a word, Ethan flipped to the last page without hesitation and signed it.

He had no idea that what I'd given him was a divorce agreement.

After signing, Ethan stood up, his expression somewhat uncomfortable.

"I'm worried about Stella. I won't be staying home tonight."

I smiled bitterly to myself.

Of course.

In his heart, Stella Quinn always came first.

Even the rare times he came home were only to deal with Stella's problems.

Noticing my dazed expression, Ethan continued his instructions:

"I'll send a driver to pick you up tomorrow morning. Remember not to let any reporters notice."

He finished speaking and, like countless other nights over the years, left me with nothing but his retreating figure.

Clutching the signed agreement, I suddenly felt a pang of reluctance.

Just as Ethan was about to leave, I called out to him.

"Don't you... want to see what's actually in the agreement?"

Ethan turned around, his expression slightly mocking:

"Isn't it just about money?"

The moment those words left his mouth, tears I'd been holding back spilled from my eyes.

So this was who I was in his eyes.

Ethan sighed and reached out to pat my head.

"Emma, I've told you beforewe're husband and wife. What's mine is yours."

"If you're not satisfied with the check amount, I don't mind if you want other things."

"But tomorrow, you must appear in front of those reporters. Understand?"

I watched the concern for another woman in his eyes and nodded bitterly.

Ethan looked satisfied.

I wanted to say something more, but he spoke first.

"Send another copy of that agreement to my assistant. He'll transfer the money to your account."

"As for tonight, just get a good night's sleep and wait for the driver tomorrow."

Before leaving, he instructed the housekeeper to pack some things I'd need at the maternity center.

After all, if you're going to put on a show, you have to do it properly.

I'd have to stay there for several days to convince reporters to stop suspecting Stella.

When the roar of his car engine started outside, I was still standing dazed in the living room.

Ethan and I hadn't spoken this closely in a very long time.

I should have hugged him just now.

But then I remembered the last timebecause Ethan's clothes had picked up my perfume scent, Stella had thrown a fit.

To appease her, Ethan secretly took Stella abroad for vacation and had his assistant send her countless jewelry pieces.

To keep reporters from suspecting Stella, I didn't leave the house for an entire month until the two of them returned from their trip.

I turned around, my gaze falling on the divorce agreement on the table.

I felt nothing but relief.

This marriage should have ended long ago.

After I discovered Ethan's first affair with his new secretary, Linda Rogers, I went crazy.

I not only sent photos of the two of them to reportersmaking "Foster Group CEO's Affair" trend on social media for an entire week and causing the stock price to plummetI even notified Linda's parents in their remote village.

At the time, Linda had just graduated from college. Unable to handle her parents' abuse and the public's accusations, she attempted suicide by cutting her wrists.

Although she was saved in the end, Ethan still exploded at me in fury.

"Emma, she's so younghow could you hurt her in such a vicious way? I was the one who forced her into this relationship. If you're angry, take it out on me."

I looked at the protective look in his eyes for that girl and thought about the provocative photos Linda had sent me. My anger only intensified.

"Fine. Since you forced her, I'll just call the police. I'll tell everyone that the great CEO of Foster Group used his power to rape his own"

Before I could finish, Ethan slapped me across the face.

That was the first time he'd ever laid a hand on me.

But I could already see the tragedy this marriage would become.

From then on, I stopped questioning his affairs.

But Ethan still worried I'd treat his other women the way I'd treated Linda, so after each affair, he'd proactively have his assistant send me bags, jewelry, or checks.

Looking at the room full of jewelry and handbags, and the enormous balance in my account, I found this marriage so pathetically laughable.

Now, it was time to end it.

I sent the final page of the agreement's terms to Ethan's assistant.

"The husband agrees to transfer 30% of current assets to the wife."

Although the assistant was surprised that Ethan would be so generous this time, thinking about the comments regarding the illegitimate child trending online, he understood.

Stella Quinn was the woman who'd been with Ethan the longest, so he would definitely do everything possible to protect her reputationeven if it meant using me.

"Mrs. Foster, rest assured. I'll transfer the funds to your account as soon as possible."

When I went upstairs, I saw the housekeeper Sophia packing loose dresses into a suitcase.

"Sophia, let me do it."

I took out the clothes she'd packed, one by one.

Since I'd decided to leave, I wouldn't take anything from this place.

Seeing what I was doing, Sophia couldn't help but sigh.

"Ma'am, why do this to yourself? As long as you don't agree, the master can't exactly drag you there by force."

"That woman is shameless to begin with. Having an illegitimate child and still wanting a good reputation."

"If you keep indulging her like this, I'm afraid in the future she'll..."

She didn't finish, but I could guess what she meant.

Nothing more than showing up with the child to force her way into the family and demand official recognition.

The position of Mrs. Foster? She could have it.

Seeing my silence, Sophia sighed even more heavily.

"Ma'am, you're just too softhearted."

"The tactics those legitimate wives in this circle useevery single one of them is fiercer than yours."

"No matter how capable those mistresses are, none have dared to openly give birth to an illegitimate child like this one."

I knew she genuinely cared about me, but none of this mattered anymore.

From the beginning, what I valued was Ethan's sincerity. Now that he'd given it to someone else, what was the point of trying to get it back?

Before Sophia could speak again, I pressed several pieces of jewelry I'd deliberately saved into her hands.

She tried to refuse several times, but I firmly insisted she take them.

Over the years, she'd practiced cooking in her spare time to help restore my health and made medicinal meals for me.

I truly wanted to thank her.

After urging Sophia to rest, I put several important documents in my bag.

Once dawn broke, I could leave.

However, the next second, my phone suddenly received several messages.

"Emma, even if you help me this time, I won't be grateful."

"Ethan said this child is only staying with you for a few days. In the end, he'll come back to me."

"Let me tell youdon't even think about stealing my son."

Stella wasn't like Linda from beforeshe didn't understand the meaning of knowing when to stop.

I sneered as I typed a reply.

"An illegitimate child? I'd feel dirty even holding him."

Right after I sent it, several more messages came through.

"So what if he's illegitimate? He'll be Ethan's only son in the future."

"Emma, even if you're Mrs. Foster, all you can do this lifetime is watch my son inherit the Foster Group."

Stella seemed triggered by the words "illegitimate child" and stopped hiding her ambitions.

When I saw the last few lines of text, my entire body froze in place.

"Emma, you don't know this, do you?"

"The car that hit you back then wasn't from Foster Group's competitors at allit was from rivals who were following me."

"Ethan knew those people would crash the car, but he still made you switch vehicles with me."

"He never wanted your child. He didn't even want you."

"Didn't even want you..."

I stared at the densely packed words on the screen, feeling a chill spread through my entire body. Even my hands began trembling uncontrollably.

Thunder rumbled outside the window, as if dragging me back into that desperate, rainy night.

The smell of blood and gasoline mixed with rainwater flooding into the car.

The driver was barely alive, his consciousness fading.

And I was trapped in the back seat, enduring the excruciating pain radiating from my abdomen.

"My baby... someone please save my baby..."

I pulled out my phone to call Ethan, but felt the crashed car begin to slide slowly.

Before I could react, the next second the entire car plummeted rapidly.

"Ethan, save me!"

My scream was drowned out the instant the car hit the water.

When I woke again, Ethan was sitting beside me, his eyes bloodshot.

"Emma, I'm sorry. I failed to protect you."

My throat was too damaged from swallowing water to make a sound, but he understood my eyes.

Ethan's eyes were filled with heartache as he shook his head.

I felt the stillness of my abdomen and closed my eyes in despair. A tear slipped into my hair, followed by broken sobs.

Ethan was so panicked by my tears that he didn't know what to do. He gripped my hand and apologized continuously.

"Emma, we'll have another child."

"I swear, from now on, you'll be my only woman."

But I never got pregnant again, and he still never cut ties with Stella.

After that accident, Ethan's ruthless retaliation against his competitors made it easy for me to believe it had been their revenge.

But now I understoodI was just Stella's substitute sacrifice.

Ethan and I had known each other since we were young, and later left our hometown together to build our careers.

Back then, we had no education, no connectionsjust raw courage.

But success never correlates with personal bravery alone.

When our business ventures failed one after another and rainwater flooded into our basement apartment, Ethan's face showed a despair I'd never seen before.

"Emma, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought you out here."

"You've suffered so much with me, and I still couldn't give you a good life."

While moving computers, phones, and other important items to the highest shelf and trying to bail water out of the room, I teased him:

"When Heaven is about to place great responsibility on someone, it first tests their resolve with hardship."

"We haven't suffered that much yet. Have you already lost your fighting spirit?"

"And here I believed you when you said you'd get me a luxury apartment."

Hearing my words and realizing I wasn't blaming him, Ethan laughed and picked me up, spinning me around in the dirty water that reached our ankles.

"I knew itEmma loves me most."

"I swear I'll never let you down."

But later, when we had everything, we'd lost that most genuine feeling.

Ethan never coming home. Ethan constantly surrounded by scandals. Ethan looking at me with cold eyes.

Every change reminded me that my husband was no longer the person who'd promised me his unchanging devotion.

Three years ago, Ethan met Stella at a business dinner.

She'd just entered the entertainment industry, played a few minor roles, and her career was going nowhere.

But after their night together at a hotel, Stella's resources suddenly improved dramatically, with scripts piling up for her to choose from.

Online rumors started that she had a powerful backer, but no one ever photographed the man.

Some in the industry suspected Stella was creating the rumors herself, that she'd landed those roles purely by luck. So they bribed people to eliminate this competitor.

But they didn't expect that I would be the one in that car that dayand I was already over seven months pregnant.

After a sleepless night, at dawn I prepared to leave this home I'd lived in for seven years.

After taking a taxi to the airport, Ethan called, his voice filled with undisguised anxiety.

"Emma, where did you go? Didn't we agree last night that the driver would pick you up?"

"We already agreed"

"Ethan."

My voice was hoarse.

"Three years ago, when you had the driver switch cars, what were you thinking?"

A woman who'd endured hardship with him for ten years. A woman carrying his child in her belly.

How cold-hearted did he have to be to make me get into that car destined to be crashed off the overpass?

"Emma, what are you talking about?"

Ethan's tone was confused. When he heard the airport announcement in the background, his voice unconsciously turned cold.

"Emma, where are you? Are you backing out of claiming Stella's child?"

Listening to the boarding call, I smiled bitterly.

"Where I am doesn't matter. I never agreed to your demand last night."

"But three years ago, shouldn't I have stayed in that freezing river, in that car filled with the smell of blood and water?"

"Instead of being rescued by the search team and ending up in a hospital bed, right, Mr. Foster?"

I heard the sound of a door slamming on his end, followed by Ethan's rapid breathing.

"Emma, did Stella say something to you?"

"Just wait there. I'll come explain everything."

I heard Ethan going downstairs and sighed softly.

"Goodbye, Ethan."

"Emma, wait for me"

Before he could finish, I hung up and blocked his number.

What happened had happened. No matter what explanation or compensation he offered, it no longer mattered.

His ruthlessness back then was real.

My grief at losing our child was real.

So I would never forgive him.

...

The moment Ethan stepped outside, he was surrounded by reporters who'd been waiting.

"Mr. Foster, why were you at the maternity center?"

"Are the online rumors about an illegitimate child true?"

"Does Mrs. Foster agree to let this child return to the Foster family?"

The questions came one after another, but Ethan had no patience to deal with them.

He pushed through the people blocking his way without hesitation, letting them photograph his rough behavior.

After getting in his car, Ethan ordered the driver to head straight to the airport.

But after searching several times, he couldn't find Emma.

Left with no choice, he returned home to ask Sophiathe only person who might know where Emma went.

But before he could speak, he noticed the document on the table.

He picked it up with confusion. On the cover were five clear words: "Divorce Agreement."