The Delivery I Scheduled, The Love I Ended Chapter 01

The Delivery I Scheduled, The Love I Ended Chapter 01

Three years into our marriage, I decided on a whim to attend my husband’s annual corporate gala.[suddenly decided忠实对应“突发奇想”，显机械]

The woman at the check-in desk asked which employee I was attending with.[reception attendant不自然、公司年会入口更常见：

the receptionist

the woman at the check-in desk

the event staffer]

“My husband is Ethan Vance.”

She froze.

“Mr. Vance’s wife is already inside.”

That was how I learned Ethan had always presented his executive assistant, Serena Cole, as his partner. No one at Vance Development knew I existed.

I entered the ballroom and found Ethan and Serena drinking champagne with their arms linked in an unmistakably intimate toast.[中式本地化痕迹，英语没有固定的couple-style toast]

They stood at the center of the ballroom as though they belonged together, while the executives around them smiled without a hint of surprise.[as if the relationship were natural不自然]

I kept my voice calm.

“Tell everyone I’m your wife.”

Ethan looked startled before his expression darkened.

He pulled me into a corner and lowered his voice.

“Mallory, let me introduce you as the household manager for Serena and me.”

“After the gala, I’ll explain everything to them.”

He asked me to accept the humiliation now in exchange for another explanation later.

“Introduce me now.”

His patience faded.

“Serena is my executive assistant, and everyone here knows her.”

“When I call her my partner, she can handle client hospitality and networking for me. You’re pregnant.”[少引号]

“What can you do?”

He frowned.

“Why do you always have to make a scene?”

For three years, that had been his answer whenever I made a reasonable request.

I glanced at Serena’s smug smile, turned away, and left the ballroom with my six-month pregnancy clearly visible.

She stood behind him as though she had already won, while Ethan never attempted to follow me.

Once I entered a rideshare, I called the hospital.

[Hello. I need to schedule a consultation for a late-term pregnancy termination.]

***

After the call, the driver looked at me through the rearview mirror.

“You look about six or seven months along. You’re going to the hospital alone?”

I rested one hand on my belly.

“I don’t have anyone.”

My phone vibrated twice.

Ethan: [Where did you go? Are you heading home?]

Ethan: [Be good. Text me when you get there.]

I stared at the words be good, suddenly sick of seeing them.[直译]

For three years, Ethan used them whenever Serena came between us.

She had been his college sweetheart.

When Ethan was poor, Serena left him to become a wealthy businessman’s mistress.[可润色]

I married Ethan before he had money, and my family provided the backing he needed to start his company.

I gave up my own career, helped him design the company’s original operating structure,[不自然，company structure通常指组织架构，earliest structure搭配不成立] and believed we were creating a future together.

Once he became successful, Serena applied to become his executive assistant.

From then on, Ethan took her everywhere.

He claimed he needed an assistant available around the clock for last-minute business matters.[可润色]

The company’s spouse and emergency-contact record even listed Serena’s number instead of mine.

He said he did not want employees disturbing me.

At first, I cried and argued.

Ethan refused to change anything.

Every time I objected, he described my request as jealousy and treated Serena’s access to him as a business necessity.

He told me to be good, stop interfering, and remain home as a stay-at-home wife.

I knew I could not compete with his first love.

I foolishly believed that obedience would slowly win him back.

Only now did I understand how naive I had been.

Being good had never brought Ethan closer. It had only taught him that he could continue choosing Serena without losing me.

I took a breath and replied.

Mallory: [I’m not going home. I’m on my way to the hospital.]

He called immediately.

Impatience sharpened his voice, though he sounded uncertain.

“Are you threatening me? You love this baby too much to end the pregnancy.”

“I love this baby, but I won’t bring a child into a marriage like ours.”[born into a life without happiness过于抽象，像中文“出生后得不到幸福”的逐词转换]

Ethan sighed and softened his tone.

“You’re pregnant and emotional. I understand that, but you need to understand my position.”

“Serena handles countless business problems for me.”

“What’s wrong with satisfying a little vanity in exchange?”

“You’re my legal wife. Isn’t that enough?”

“Why fight over a meaningless title?”

He spoke as though being his wife on paper should make up for being erased from every other part of his life.[private marriage certificate搭配错误]

My legal wife.

I looked at my bare ring finger.

In three years, Ethan never bought me a wedding ring.

He said the company was young and every dollar had to be saved.

Yet on Valentine’s Day, Serena posted a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace on Instagram.

[Thanks to my favorite boss.]

The necklace cost far more than the simple wedding band Ethan had repeatedly said we could not afford.

“Ethan.”

“What?”

“Nothing. Go back to your event.”

I ended the call and silenced my phone.

Ethan did not call again.

He clearly believed the hospital was an empty threat.

The rideshare soon stopped outside St. Catherine Medical Center.

The maternal-fetal medicine physician frowned at me.

“You’re approximately twenty-four weeks pregnant. Are you certain you want to proceed?”

“This is a high-risk procedure, and the fetus is already developed.”

“I’m certain.”

The physician searched my face, giving me time to reconsider, but my answer did not change.

The doctor tapped the paperwork.

“Because of the medical risk and the stage of pregnancy, the hospital requires extensive informed consent, emergency-contact documentation, and formal review.”

“Who is supporting you through the procedure?”

“My husband is traveling and can’t return.”

“Then a parent or another next of kin must complete the emergency authorization.”

I nodded.

“I’ll bring my mother tomorrow.”

The night air felt cold when I left.

My screen lit up with a photograph from Ethan.

Serena sat at a computer, pretending to work.

Ethan: [See? It was only work. I’ll bring you crab cakes from that café in South Briarhaven.][短信格式错误，放在一个方括号内，不要换行后省略发件人格式]

I studied the photograph.

I did not know what kind of work required Serena to wear pajamas with her cheeks flushed.

Since becoming pregnant, the smell of seafood had made me vomit.

I had avoided it for six months, and Ethan knew that.

The fact that he offered it as my favorite meal showed how little attention he had paid to me since the pregnancy began.

Was the food another game they invented to test whether I would obey?

I did not answer.

Whether it was deliberate or careless no longer mattered. Both possibilities showed the same disregard.

At home, several delivery boxes sat on the coffee table.

Ethan had brought them in the previous day.

I opened one.

Inside was a luxury maternity skincare set.

For one foolish second, hope flickered.[直译]

I picked up my phone and considered canceling the hospital appointment.

For one brief moment, I thought Ethan had finally remembered that I was carrying his child.

Ethan sent another message before I could call.

Ethan: [Don’t open the packages. Serena’s friend is pregnant, and Serena asked me to receive them.]

Ethan: [I’ll be home late. Serena drank too much, and I need to take her home.]

Ethan: [Go to bed. Be good.]

I stared at the final words, sighed, and set the phone down.