My Boyfriend’s Childhood Sweetheart Demands a Title

My husband's childhood sweetheart got blackout drunk one night and was taken advantage of. When she reappeared, she was pregnantjust like me.
The day I gave birth, Blake handed me divorce papers.
Sophia is planning her comeback, he said, his voice flat. She needs a clean slatea husband, a father for her child. A scandal like this would destroy her career.
I signed the papers, my body weak, my spirit numb. I had done this before.
In my first life, I refused to step aside. I went live on social media, clutching my infant daughter, and exposed the A-list actress Sophia Marlowe for the homewrecker she was.
The public backlash was swift and brutal. She was vilified online, lost every endorsement, and was hounded by lawsuits demanding astronomical sums. The pressure drove her to jump from a skyscraper.
When Blake found out, he arranged her funeral with chilling composure. But his grief festered into a quiet, burning hatred for me. He stood by while Sophia's rabid fans harassed me on the street, and later, when they set our house on fire, he did nothing. I saw him lock the door from the outside, trapping me and our child in the inferno. In that final, terrifying moment, I understood. He wanted me dead.
I blinked, and I was back. Back in this sterile hospital room, the ink on the divorce papers still fresh.

1
My daughter, Annie, was born prematurely and whisked away to the NICU. And that's when Blake Marriott, my husband, chose to serve me.
"You know how it is," he said, avoiding my eyes. "Sophia was at the top of her game before this. Ten months out of the spotlight has already cost her. If news breaks that shes an unmarried mother, the media will crucify her."
I had just clawed my way back from the edge of death. The slightest movement sent a searing pain through my stitches. But if fate had returned me to this day, it meant I had a choice.
"Fine, I'll sign," I said, my voice steady. "But you'll put my name on the birth certificate first. And I want a settlement."
Blake had clearly prepared a speech to counter my expected tears and hysterics. My calm acceptance caught him off guard, and a wave of relief washed over his face.
"Of course. A million dollars. Is that enough?"
A man worth billions, and he offered me a million. I dug my nails into the thin hospital sheet, knowing it was pointless to ask for more. I just nodded.
He handled the paperwork. Once I confirmed everything was in order, I signed my name, severing our lives. Divorce agreement in hand, Blake left without a second glance, not even a flicker of curiosity about the daughter he had just officially acknowledged.
The room next door was filled with laughter and celebration. My own room was silent. I had no parents, no family, and now, no husband.
Two days later, Annie was released from the NICU. I bundled both of us up against the cold, ready to go home. On the way, a call came from his secretary.
"Miss Quinn, please remember to share the company's official press release."
I wasn't even legally divorced, yet I was already stripped of the title "Mrs. Marriott." To protect Sophia's reputation, Blake had fabricated a story about our marriage ending due to an amicable split. Id agreed without a fight, but my phone was dying. I'd deal with it at home.
The moment I stepped into the villa, I called for the maid to close the windows against the draft. Silence. I carried Annie toward the nursery and heard whispers from the kitchen.
"The nerve of her, bringing that little bastard back here."
"Mr. Marriott is too soft. She should be grateful he's not suing her, and now she's trying to get his money with someone else's kid?"
A cold sweat prickled my back beneath my thick coat. Amicable split? What had they told everyone?
"What are you talking about?" I demanded, pushing the kitchen door open.
The maids, who once called me "Ma'am" with feigned respect, now stared at me with open contempt. The head housekeeper, Mrs. Gable, a woman with a perpetually sour face, spat on the floor near my feet.
"Who's gossiping? It's all over the news. Marriott Enterprises released a statement. Everyone knows you cheated."
My heart hammered against my ribs. I rushed to my room, plugged in my phone, and pulled up Twitter. The top trending topic was #MarriottDivorce.
The official statement read: "Due to Ms. Lia Quinn's infidelity during their marriage, Mr. Blake Marriott has filed for divorce. The dissolution is effective immediately."
A roar filled my head, a pain sharp enough to make me dizzy. To legitimize Sophia's position, Blake had utterly destroyed my name.
I was about to type a frantic rebuttal when my phone buzzed, nearly startling a sleeping Annie. I answered. A police officer's excited voice came through the line.
"Ms. Quinn? We've got a confession from the trafficker. He confirmed you were one of the children abducted from Lakeview!"
My heart, shattered by Blake, suddenly leaped with a wild, desperate hope.
"We're working with the Lakeview PD to cross-reference families who reported missing children," he continued. "You'll need to come here for a DNA test within the next three days!"
Tears streamed down my face. I was abducted at five and had never known a single day of true peace. I thought marrying Blake was a new beginning, but it was just a different kind of hell. But now now I had a chance to find my real parents. My daughter would have a family that loved her.
After hanging up, I quickly packed a small bag, then went to the nursery for a few of Annie's things. My hand was on the doorknob when the front door swung open.
"Lia. What do you think you're doing in there?"

2
Blake stood in the doorway, his brow furrowed in annoyance.
"I was just getting some clothes for the baby."
"That room is for Sophia's child now," he said coldly. "If you need things for yours, buy them yourself."
Every tiny outfit, every soft blanket in that room, I had chosen with so much love. And he was giving it all to Sophia's childa child that wasn't even his. A wave of despair washed over me, but I was too tired to fight.
Just as I turned to leave, Mrs. Gable grabbed my arm, her grip surprisingly strong. "Mr. Marriott wants us at the recovery center to look after Miss Marlowe."
The sudden movement pulled at my C-section scar, and I cried out in pain. "Blake, I just gave birth! I need to recover, too!"
He didn't even turn around. "Which means you have experience." He waved a dismissive hand. "Don't be dramatic. You've been doing manual labor your whole life. You're tough. You don't need a pampered recovery."
With that, he slid into his Maybach. I was shoved into a nondescript van and driven to a luxury postpartum care facility.
When we arrived, Sophia was propped up in bed, surrounded by a legion of nurses. She saw me and made a show of trying to sit up. "Lia, you're here! Oh, you must be exhausted from the delivery"
Blake gently pressed her back against the pillows. He shot me a contemptuous look. "She could run a marathon on a broken leg. This is nothing for her." He turned his focus back to me. "Lia, if you take good care of Sophia, I'll add another million to your settlement. That's a good deal, isn't it?"
Another million. It was tempting.
I bit my lip. "I can't. My baby is at home. There's no one to watch her."
A flicker of hesitation crossed his face, but Sophia immediately clutched his hand. "Blake, darling, if she doesn't want to, just let her go home. I don't want to cause any trouble for you."
Her feigned concern worked like a charm. Blake squeezed her hand reassuringly, then glared at me. "It's an honor for you to serve Sophia. You're a penniless orphan. You brought nothing to our marriage, couldn't even manage to play the part of a decent wife. The least you can do now is make yourself useful. Taking care of Sophia is the most value you'll ever provide."
His words, honed by months of casual cruelty, cut deep. He paid no mind to my ashen face as he ordered Mrs. Gable to return to the villa. But I knew she despised me for "marrying up." She would never take proper care of Annie.
Blake silenced my protests and ordered me to feed Sophia her meal. The door clicked shut behind me. I was trapped. Exhausted and starving, I spooned the soup. As it neared her lips, she jerked back with a theatrical shriek. "Ah! It's scalding!"
In a flash, Blake snatched the bowl and hurled it at me. Hot, greasy chicken broth soaked my clothes.
"What is your problem?" he roared. "If you've burned her, you're not eating for the rest of the day!"
Sophia collapsed against him, fat tears rolling down her cheeks. "Blake, don't be angry. I'm sure she didn't mean to"
"Don't call her your sister-in-law," he snapped. "I'm taking her to finalize the divorce tomorrow."
I stood there, drenched and humiliated, with no one to offer a single word of comfort.
The next day, as promised, he took me to the courthouse. We were officially divorced. Outside, he walked straight to his car. "I'm going to buy Sophia the new handbag she wanted. You can find your own way back."
His face darkened. "And Lia? You have thirty minutes to be back at that center. You know what will happen if you're not."
The Maybach sped away. I immediately hailed a cab, not to the center, but to the villa.
As I rushed through the gates, I heard a baby's faint cry coming from the small security hut by the driveway. That was where the guard lived!
I threw the door open. My Annie was lying on a filthy, cluttered cot. Her formula and my carefully packed diaper bag were sitting untouched right next to her. Her face was pale, her cries weak and breathless. She hadn't been fed or changed since yesterday.
Forgetting Mrs. Gable, forgetting everything but my child, I scooped her up, changed her, and mixed a bottle. After she finished and let out a tiny burp, she gave me a sweet, milky smile. My eyes burned, and a tear splashed onto her blanket.
Sophia's child had a dozen nannies. Mine was left to starve.
"It's okay, Annie," I whispered. "Mommy's going to get you out of here."
Suddenly, there was a violent banging on the door. I opened it, and Blake's hand cracked across my face.
"Lia! How dare you bring this scum into my house!"

3
I clutched Annie tightly as Blake shoved me back into the villa. Sophia followed, wrapped in cashmere and flanked by her nurses.
The house was a disaster. Sprawled across the living room floor were several thuggish-looking men, sleeping off a heavy night of drinking. The air was thick with the stench of stale beer and cigarettes. More men were passed out in the bedrooms and the study. On our master bed, five people were tangled together, some of them completely naked.
Panic seized me. "This wasn't me! I haven't even been inside the house!"
Mrs. Gable emerged from the chaos, her voice choked with fake sorrow. "Mr. Marriott, sir last night, dozens of them just barged in. They said Miss Lia gave them the key and told them to make themselves at home" Her voice broke. "They said the baby was being a nuisance and and they threw her in the security hut."
My whole body trembled. "I don't know them! I was at the recovery center all day yesterday. How could I have given them a key?"
"That's right, darling," Sophia chimed in, tugging on Blake's sleeve. "She was taking such good care of me. Blake, why don't we just wake one of them up and ask?"
The hard lines of Blake's face softened at her touch. He gestured for a guard to rouse the nearest man.
"Who let you in here?" Blake demanded.
The man blinked, his eyes bleary. "Some chick Lia, she called herself. Gave us a key, said the place was empty and to have a party Hey! Another round!"
Dangling from his fingers was my keychain. My keychain, with the little teddy bear charm I'd had for years. I instinctively felt my pocket. It was empty.
"No, my keys were stolen! It wasn't me!"
"Still lying?" Blake's voice was dangerously low. "Sophia was so worried about you, she insisted on coming home. And this is the disgusting scene I find. You planned to have an orgy in my house!"
His patience snapped. He ordered Mrs. Gable to lock me in the security hut. As the door closed, I could hear Sophia's saccharine voice. "Blake, don't be so hard on her. She was just having a little fun."
"She needs to be taught a lesson," he replied. "This house is filthy. We'll go to one of my other properties."
The main gate clicked shut, and through the glass of the hut, I saw their convoy pull away. Sophia, nestled securely in the center of her entourage, shot me a triumphant smirk.
Later that night, after I finally soothed a wailing Annie to sleep, the single bulb in the hut flickered and died. Probably a bad fuse. I used my phone's dim light to book a train ticket.
Just then, I heard the lock turning. The door creaked open, and Sophia's silhouette appeared in the moonlight. Without Blake, her sweet facade melted away, replaced by a look of pure venom.
"A million dollars for a divorce? You've got more nerve than I thought, Lia."
I instinctively pulled Annie closer, backing away, but the tiny room offered no escape.
"Sophia, I've done nothing to you. Why are you so determined to destroy me?"
"Nothing?" she hissed. "If it weren't for you, I would be Mrs. Marriott!"
I frowned. She was right, in a way. An orphan like me had no business marrying into a family like the Marriotts. A year ago, I'd saved his grandfather from a sudden heart attack. As a reward, the old man, on his deathbed, had forced Blake to marry me. Blake had complied, but it was a marriage in name only. No wedding, just a one-line corporate announcement. He treated me like an object for his frustrations, and within a month, I was pregnant. I thought a child would bring us closer, give me the family I'd always craved. But his grandfather passed away a week before I gave birth, leaving me completely unprotected.
So, this was it. She believed I had stolen her place.
"But you have what you wanted now," I pleaded. "Why can't you just leave us alone?"
"No!" she shrieked, her voice cracking. "If you hadn't married him, I never would have gone to that bar! I never would have gotten drunk, and I never would have ended up with this this bastard child! This is all your fault, Lia! And I'm going to make you pay!"
She grabbed the guard's heavy-duty flashlight from a nearby table and lunged at me. I dodged, but the next second, she let out a piercing scream, slammed herself into the corner of the metal cot, and crumpled to the floor.
The door burst open. It was Blake.
"Lia! Are you insane?"

4
Blood trickled from a gash on Sophia's forehead as she collapsed weakly into his arms.
"Blake I was just worried about her, staying in here. I wanted to see if she was okay," she sobbed. "But she she called me a whore and said she was going to kill me"
Blake pressed a hand to her wound, his eyes blazing with fury as he looked at me. "Lia! Sophia has been nothing but patient with you. Why do you keep pushing her?" He cradled her face. "She has a career to get back to! Are you trying to ruin her?"
His rage terrified Annie, who began to scream. I tried to soothe her, my voice trembling. "Blake, are you really going to believe every word she says?"
"Unlike you, she doesn't have a history of lying and cheating!" he spat.
He swept Sophia into his arms and yelled for Mrs. Gable to grab me. "You're coming to the hospital. If that cut leaves a scar on her face, I swear I'll break yours."
In the hospital corridor, Mrs. Gable couldn't be bothered to watch me and wandered off to make a phone call. Annie wouldn't stop crying; the whole ordeal had terrified her. A kind-faced, elegant woman emerged from a nearby room. Seeing my distress, she offered me a pack of diapers.
"She probably needs a change," she said with a gentle smile.
I was flooded with gratitude. A complete stranger showed more concern for my daughter than her own father.
After changing Annie, I saw Mrs. Gable was still on the phone. This was my chance. I clutched my baby and made a break for the fire escape. But as I rounded the corner, I ran straight into Blake, who was escorting a bandaged Sophia down the hall.
He saw the direction I was heading, and his face contorted with rage. Another slap, hard enough to make my head spin.
"You bitch! I should have taken your phone!"
Mrs. Gable scurried back. Before I could regain my balance, Sophia, her forehead now dramatically taped, began to wail for all the corridor to hear.
"Lia, please! Before you and Blake were divorced, we were just friends! How could you go online and call me a homewrecker? If you're going to spread such awful lies about me, I might as well just die!"
Blake grabbed her arm to steady her. At his subtle nod, Mrs. Gable lunged and snatched Annie from my arms.
"Give me back my daughter!" I screamed, clawing at her.
Blake's hand closed around my throat, squeezing until my vision swam with black spots. Just as I was about to pass out, he released me.
"Get online. Go live," he hissed, his face inches from mine. "Tell everyone you were the one who cheated. Tell them Sophia and I are innocent." His voice dropped to a terrifying whisper. "Or you will never see your child again."
I gasped for air, my eyes fixed on my daughter. On Sophia's signal, Mrs. Gable was pressing a handkerchief over Annie's tiny face.
She was trying to suffocate her.
Annie's cries grew muffled, then faded. Blake didn't even look. He didn't care. He truly did not see that baby as his own.
Terror, cold and absolute, washed over me. I collapsed to my knees. "Okay! I'll do it! Just please don't hurt her!"
Later that day, I sat in front of a camera, holding my baby, and recited the script theyd prepared.
"My name is Lia Quinn, Blake Marriott's ex-wife," I sobbed, tears streaming down my face. "We divorced because I was unfaithful. Ms. Sophia Marlowe is an innocent party in all of this. I made up the rumors about them. I was shameless, jealous, and cruel"
When the live stream ended, Blake handed me a new phone. "You were smart to cooperate. This has a new number. Sophia will use it to contact you."
He paused, a cruel smirk on his lips. "Sophia has a kind heart. She's worried you won't be able to find work, so she's offered you a position. As a maid in our home."
I took the phone, my expression blank, and got into the staff van.
At the first gas station, while the driver was distracted, I tossed the phone, clutched my daughter, and ran straight for the train station.

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