Frozen Heart, Revenge of the Pregnant Wife

Which is more lethalDa high fever while seven months pregnant, or a meat locker set to thirty below?

When he locked me in that freezer for the sake of that woman, the poisoned vows in my digital recorder were hissing like a snake.

Is a termination even considered a surgery?

Your prenatal report will show the fetus is deformed.

"This is the only Lockwood heir. Even if it dies, I will have it preserved as a specimen."

I touched my bleeding thigh and smiled.

The 178 fertility shots I endured in my abdomen, the itchy scars on my collarbone from years of purging for his business dinnersDit turns out they were all waiting for this day.

"Lucian Lockwood, do you even know that you are sterile?"

When the sapphire cufflink on his chest fell into the flames, and when white roses bloomed on the tombstone, I finally understood my father's words.

"Some debts must be collected using marriage as the bait and a life as the price."

01

On a summer night during my seventh month of pregnancy, the evening wind slammed into the glass walls with a hundred-degree heat.

I burst into Lucian's office with an urgent file, only to find the central air conditioning puffing out warm air at eighty-five degrees.

My silk shirt clung to my back, and my pregnant belly felt heavy enough to snap my spine. I tugged at my collar, gasping for air. "Why isn't the cooling on?"

The new assistant, Vivienne, suddenly clutched her stomach, her face turning pale as she winced.

"Ms. Sutton, I have a cold constitution. The doctor said I shouldn't be exposed to cold drafts"

My fingertips touched the desk. It was so hot it felt numb.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the asphalt was practically melting, yet she was wrapped in a knit cardigan.

"Move." I walked straight toward the temperature control panel. Just as I was about to hit the cooling button, my wrist was grabbed.

"Sutton!" Vivienne's eyes turned red instantly, tears falling like broken pearls. "I just had a procedure yesterday. I really can't handle the cold"

I shook off her hand and let out a cold laugh. "Is a forced termination even considered a surgery?"

Last Wednesday at two in the morning, I saw her with my own eyes in a VIP lounge, drinking and smoking. Her social media post of an iced cocktail was still captioned with "a little tipsy for a good night's sleep."

Amid the hum of the air conditioner starting up, Vivienne's crying suddenly spiked, sounding like nails scraping against glass.

I stared at her trembling shoulders. I suddenly remembered three days ago in the breakroom when the cleaning lady said she saw Vivienne stirring something into my restorative broth.

That night at ten, Lucian kicked open the bedroom door, reeking of alcohol.

The light from the crystal chandelier reflected in his bloodshot eyes like poisoned icicles.

"Sutton, because of those seventeen minutes of cold air you forced on her, Vivienne is in the emergency room with a massive hemorrhage!"

He pinched my chin, his grip so strong it felt like he might crush my jaw. "Can you really not tolerate her existence?"

I touched the back of my neck, which was burning. The thermometer read 101.7 degrees. The fetal movement was getting weaker, like a small hand feebly tapping.

"Lucian, your wife has a fever of nearly 102. If you keep stifling me, the baby will lose oxygen. Why don't you send me to the hospital to join her?"

He suddenly let go, his knuckles turning white as he rubbed his brow. "I was just panicked."

When I turned to go to the bathroom, I caught a glimpse of his phone screen lighting up. A message from Vivienne read:

"Lucian, she's definitely faking it. Don't believe her."

At three in the morning, I woke up in a bone-chilling cold.

Before me were stainless steel shelves of pale, frozen meat. I was wearing nothing but a silk nightgown.

The thermometer in the cold storage pointed to thirty below. My breath instantly turned into an icy mist.

Through the frosted glass door, I could see Lucian wrapping a mink shawl around Vivienne's shoulders.

"Didn't you say you were hot?" His voice came through the ice, laced with a cruel smirk. "I'm letting you cool off properly."

Vivienne leaned into his arms, her voice sounding sweet and fragile.

"Lucian, isn't this too harsh? Sutton is still pregnant"

Yet, her fingers were tracing circles on his chest, the rhinestones on her nails flashing blindingly.

I pulled out the recording pen hidden under my pillow. When I pressed play, Vivienne's voice from the breakroom yesterday played clearly.

"Don't worry, Mr. Lockwood. I've already bribed the head nurse. I'll make sure there's a 'small issue' with Sutton's prenatal report. Then you can say her health is failing and the company shares need to be transferred to your name for safekeeping"

The laughter outside the glass door stopped abruptly.

I watched their suddenly stiff silhouettes and slowly curled my lips into a smile.

The private investigator I hired three months ago didn't let me down. The luxury beach villa Lucian bought for Vivienne using company funds was actually registered in my mother's name.

Before my mother passed away, she had specifically placed that deed in my father's private safe.

02

When Lucian kicked through the glass door and rushed in, I was using lipstick to write his name on a slab of frozen pork.

The crimson words meandered across the pale meat like a bleeding snake.

"Sutton!" He grabbed my collar and threw me onto the floor. Ice shards dug into my palms. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Beads of blood dripped onto the icy floor, instantly freezing into tiny red garnets.

I propped myself up on my frozen knees. The fetal movement suddenly became violent, as if a small hand was pounding against my internal organs.

Cold sweat trickled down my forehead, turning into ice droplets at the tip of my chin.

"Lucian." I pulled my collar open to reveal the scar on my collarbone. The crescent-shaped mark looked pale and sickly in the cold.

"Three years ago, you wanted that Southeast Asian contract for the Lockwood Group. You made me go drink with the CEO. I ended up in the ER with an allergic reaction. You only came to see me after the contract was signed, remember?"

His pupils constricted.

That scar was from the tube used for induced vomiting. It still itched on rainy days.

Back then, he held my hand and said, "Sutton, once this project is a success, I'll make it up to you."

"And this."

I lifted my nightgown. The stretch marks on my lower abdomen looked like an ugly centipede.

"To conceive this child, I took 178 hormone shots. When my ovarian cyst ruptured, you were with Vivienne taking engagement photos, weren't you?"

A burst of laughter erupted outside the freezer.

Vivienne strutted in on four-inch heels. Her fake lashes were covered in glitter, and the Patek Philippe watch on her wrist was blinding.

That was the anniversary gift Lucian gave me last year. He said a limited edition piece best suited the First Lady of the Lockwood Group.

"Sutton, Lucian was just in a tough spot." She giggled, covering her mouth as her fingernail brushed against the stretch marks on my belly.

"That day, a chandelier almost fell on me. He couldn't just let me die, could he? Besides, your body is just failing you. All those shots and you still might lose it. Maybe it's just fate"

Before she could finish, I swung my hand and slapped her across the face.

The crisp sound echoed in the cold room. The glitter on her face flaked off like fallen stars.

"Strip her," Lucian suddenly spoke, his voice as cold as the freezer's compressor. "Teach her some manners."

As two bodyguards grabbed my arms, the fetal movement suddenly stopped.

I felt a warm, wet liquid trickling down my thigh, slithering through the folds of my nightgown like a cold snake.

The smell of blood mixed with the freezing air. I stared at the sapphire cufflink on Lucian's chest.

That was my father's favorite piece of jewelry. Years ago, he pinned it on Lucian's shirt himself. He said, "Treat my daughter well, and this cufflink will be your token."

"Lucian." My voice was shaking, but it was exceptionally clear. "Do you still remember how Silas Vance taught you to be a man?"

His movements came to a sudden halt.

My father's name acted like a curse, pinning him to the spot.

I watched his Adam's apple bob. I suddenly remembered ten years ago in the university library. He wore a washed-out shirt and held a book written by my father.

"Mr. Vance is my idol," he had told me. "I want to be exactly like him one day."

03

When the ambulance screeched into the private hospital, my consciousness was already fading.

The emergency lights spun above me like a halo of blood. Lucian's voice sounded distant: "Save her! You must save the mother!"

The moment the anesthetic needle entered my spine, I suddenly laughed out loud.

Eight years ago in the college lab, he had also said with bloodshot eyes, "Don't be afraid, Sutton. If the experiment fails, I'll take the blame."

Back then, he was a poor student who relied on scholarships for tuition. He wore a discounted suit I bought him and dominated debate competitions.

When I opened my eyes again, the room smelled of lilies.

Vivienne was peeling an apple. Seeing me wake up, she immediately rushed to the bedside, her eyes swollen like walnuts. "Sutton, you're finally awake! The baby the baby didn't make it"

I looked at the red scratches under her fingernails.

I had given those to her in the freezer.

"Lucian already sent that CEO to prison to get revenge for you," she said, her eyes flickering as she handed me the apple. "He said it was because that man forced you to drink years ago, which ruined your health"

I suddenly ripped out my IV. Beads of blood splattered onto her new Chanel suit like blooming red plums.

"Did you know?" I leaned closer to her ear, my voice like a soft sigh.

"Yesterday in the cold storage, Lucian asked the doctor if the fetus could be preserved as a specimen. He said it was the only Lockwood heir, and even in death, he wanted to watch it"

The apple in Vivienne's hand hit the floor with a dull thud.

I watched her face turn pale and slowly smirked. I was lying to her. Lucian never said that, but I knew what she feared most.

A woman trying to climb the social ladder with a child of questionable origin would be terrified of the concept of a "legitimate heir."

But I already knew the truthDshe wasn't pregnant at all.

The door opened, and Lucian walked in carrying a thermos.

"How do you feel?" He placed the thermos on the nightstand, his tone unusually tender. "The maid made some restorative soup."

I stared at the bowl and laughed.

In the photos the detective sent yesterday, Vivienne was pouring a white powder into the soup container. The lab results showed it was a drug used to terminate pregnancies.

"Lucian," I pointed at Vivienne. "Make her drink this soup."

Vivienne turned white and backed away. "Sutton, I"

"Drink it," Lucian's voice was like ice.

He must have sensed something. The suspicion in his eyes was almost overflowing.

Vivienne cried as she picked up the bowl. Her hand shook, and most of the soup spilled onto the floor.

I watched her panicked state and leisurely pulled out my phone to play a recording.

In the recorder found by the cleaning lady in his office trash, Vivienne's voice was clear.

"Don't worry, Mr. Lockwood. I've already put the medication in the soup. No one will ever know By the way, about those company funds you transferred, remember to move them to the Swiss account"

Vivienne screamed and tried to grab the phone, but she was pinned down by the police who suddenly burst in.

The red stamp on the search warrant was blinding. Lucian watched as the police pulled a forged stock transfer agreement from Vivienne's bag.

It had my forged signature on it. His fingers twitched neurotically.

"Three years ago, you used a fake project to trick my dad into signing papers."

I whispered into his ear, my fingertips brushing the cufflink on his chest.

"Now, it's time to pay it back."

%%%

In an email my father sent from overseas last week, he attached an audit report of Lucian's forged signatures and a record of the transfers he made while embezzling company assets.