My mercenary husband, Lucas Kensington used his body to "save" Sofia, his female teammate—seven times in one night.

That’s what he told me when he returned from the jungle, holding Sofia in his arms. She was bruised, barely clothed, and nestled against his chest like a fallen angel.

He knelt in front of me, eyes full of guilt—but never let go of her.

"Lila," he said, "Sofia was poisoned saving me. I couldn’t let her die."

And to show me how much it hurt him to betray me... he carved seven deep gashes into his own flesh.

That was just the beginning.

Every time her symptoms returned, he rushed to her side. And every time, he cut himself again.

Six months later, he stood in front of me with ninety-nine scars etched into his skin—and a baby in another woman’s belly.

"Lila," he said, voice low and pleading, "you can’t have children. But Sofia agreed… once the baby is born, it’s yours. They’ll call you 'Mom.' We can go back to the way things were."

I stared at him.

At the woman he cradled.

At the life growing inside her.

And I smiled and calmly said, "Okay."

I crumpled up the pregnancy test report I'd been hiding and threw it into the fire.

***

The flames flickered as Sofia coughed twice from the smoke.

Lucas immediately pulled her into his arms and frowned at me.

"Lila, Sofia has agreed. Once the child is born, she'll give it to you to raise. You don't have to threaten her. She won't ruin our relationship."

I stirred the ashes in the basin. The smoke made my eyes red.

I spoke calmly, "Lucas, let's get divorced."

Lucas frantically reached out to grab my hand and begged again.

"Lila, please stop making a scene, okay? Sofia took a bullet for me and was poisoned to save me. I owe her two lives. Giving her one child isn't too much!"

His tone was humble, but everything he said was to defend Sofia.

Seeing my expression, the others couldn't sit still anymore. Lucas's brothers all knelt in front of me.

"Lila, even if you're upset, we have to speak up for Sofia today."

"She's a pure, innocent girl who lost her V-card for Lucas. It wouldn't be wrong if Lucas married her!"

"Lila, you're a housewife. You don't understand how dangerous it was when Sofia risked her life to save Lucas at gunpoint. We all saw what she sacrificed for Lucas."

"If you ask me, Lucas should give Sofia a proper status. Don't let her suffer in silence!"

"Shut up!" Lucas roared, cutting them off. "Lila will always be my only wife! As for Sofia, I'll spend the rest of my life making it up to her."

He looked down at the pregnant woman in his arms, unconsciously showing a tender expression.

Bitterness rose in my throat. I opened my mouth but couldn't speak.

The others didn't know, but Lucas did.

I had once fought alongside him and took a knife to the heart for him.

I was unconscious for three months. When I woke up, he knelt by my hospital bed with red eyes, begging me to quit the army and stop taking risks.

He said he would protect me for life.

And now he was kneeling in front of me again, but this time to protect another woman.

I turned and left in silence.

Lucas quickly caught up. He gently draped his coat over my shoulders and tucked my hair behind my ear.

"It's cold outside. Be careful not to catch a chill. Lila, you never learn to take care of yourself." His warm scent on the clothes instantly surrounded me.

I touched my belly, almost ready to tell him I was pregnant too, but his words interrupted me.

"Lila, Sofia gets cold easily. Let her live in that temperature-controlled villa in the suburbs. You can go rest on the island for a while."

My words got stuck in my throat. I swallowed them down.

Years ago, when I took a knife for him and developed heart problems that left me weak and sensitive to cold, he specially built me a temperature-controlled villa where it felt like spring all year round.

But that island villa was surrounded by sea winds on all sides. My body couldn't handle it at all.

Except for a few days during our honeymoon, we'd never gone back. It had been abandoned for a long time.

He used to give me everything.

Now he wanted me to give them up for Sofia.

His heart was no longer with me.

I lowered my eyes and replied, "Okay."

Lucas happily kissed my forehead. "Lila, you're always so understanding."

He turned and went back inside, taking Sofia's hand and breathing on it to warm it up, his eyes full of affection.

I clenched my cold fingertips, trembling slightly.

I lay alone on the operating table.

The doctor held my hand and comforted me, "Mrs. Kensington, it's good that you've thought it through. You have serious heart disease, and pregnancy is far too dangerous."

When I first saw the tiny embryo on the ultrasound report, my heart instantly became tender.

No matter how much the doctor tried to convince me to terminate the pregnancy, I remained unmoved.

This was the fruit of love between Lucas and me. If I could trade my life for the child's, it would be worth it.

But now, there was no need.

Cold instruments stirred inside my abdomen. I gripped the bed sheets in pain as tears silently fell.

My phone suddenly rang. The nurse pressed the answer button and held it to my ear.

Lucas's furious voice came through the phone, "Lila, you've disappointed me so much! Why did you do this to Sofia!"

I was completely confused and asked in a hoarse voice, "What are you talking about?"

"Sofia was kidnapped, and the address they sent is on that island I gave you!" Lucas roared hysterically over the phone.

"Only the two of us know where that island is. If it wasn't you, then who else could have done it?"

I was in too much pain to speak and could only shake my head desperately.

But I forgot Lucas couldn't see me. When he didn't hear my response, he angrily snapped, "If anything happens to Sofia, I'll make you pay a thousand times over!"

Only the mechanical beeping sound remained on the phone.

The nurse awkwardly put down the phone.

I closed my eyes in despair.

My heart was filled with desolation.

After the surgery, the doctor wheeled me out of the operating room.

Lucas's men suddenly appeared and dragged me from the hospital bed.

They shackled my hands and feet with cold iron chains. "Lucas said to bring you to the island too. If they won't let Sofia go, we'll use your life to pay for it!"

"Are you all crazy? Stop it! She just had surgery!" The doctor frantically ran forward to stop them but was pushed to the ground by Lucas's men.

I was forcibly shoved into a car. Their rough handling sent sharp pain through my abdomen.

I soon passed out from the pain.

I don't know how much time passed before I was jolted awake by ice water.

I shivered and groggily opened my eyes.

Lucas angrily slammed the water basin onto the deck of the boat and grabbed my throat.

“Lila, have I spoiled you all these years? Is that why you've become so cruel and willful that you won't even spare an unborn child?"

My whole body went cold. I trembled, unable to speak a complete sentence, "I, I didn't, it wasn't me, who did it..."

But Lucas didn't believe me. His eyes were red as he roughly dragged me off the boat.

Sofia, heavily pregnant, was tied to the lighthouse, crying helplessly and shouting, "Lucas, it's too dangerous, don't come over!"

When she saw me appear, she cried and said to me, "Lila, if you can't tolerate me, I can leave. Why did you have to hurt my child?"

I shook my head helplessly. "It wasn't me. I didn't do anything!"

"Lucas, the person's gone. They must have run away." Lucas's men searched the area and found no danger, then quickly rescued Sofia.

Lucas pulled her into his arms with a pained expression.

One of Lucas's brothers spat at me in disgust.

"Ugh! We used to respect you, Lila, but we never thought you'd be this disgusting!"

"Exactly, you're so vicious, you're not even worth a fraction of what Sofia is!"

"Enough." Lucas interrupted them with a cold expression, then bent down to speak to me, "Lila, you went too far this time. Stay here and reflect on what you've done."

He put his arm around Sofia and turned to leave.

I collapsed helplessly on the beach.

From a distance, I saw Sofia turn her head and flash me a triumphant smile.

Three days later, my body had been numbed by the sea breeze, my lips were cracked and painful, and my eyes were so dry and sore that tears kept flowing.

Just when I thought I was going to die out there, a blurry figure slowly approached.

"Help... help me..." I could only make a weak sound even with all my strength.

Before losing consciousness, I heard a soft sigh, "Lila, what am I supposed to do with you?"

When I woke up, I was lying on the basement floor.

I opened my eyes to meet Lucas's complicated gaze, "You're awake?"

He brought over a cup of warm water and held it to my lips, but I instinctively turned my head away.

He slammed the cup of water down on the table, "Haven't you caused enough trouble?"

He looked at me with disgust, "I'm not even blaming you for the kidnapping anymore, and you're still throwing a tantrum? Can't you stop being so petty?"

I let out a cold laugh.

He didn't even investigate before deciding I was the one who did it.

If I really wanted to go after Sofia, I could have done it six months ago. Why would I wait until now?

"Lucas." Sofia's gentle voice rang out as she walked in slowly from outside, supporting her belly.

"Why did you come here?" Lucas immediately went forward and carefully pulled her into his arms.

"I was worried about Lila, so I came to check on her. Is she okay?" Sofia asked timidly, shrinking back the moment our eyes met.

"Don't worry about her, she won't die." Lucas glanced at me with disgust and said expressionlessly, "You'll stay here for the next few months until Sofia safely gives birth."

As they left, the basement door slowly closed.

I struggled to get up from the floor and drank all the water on the table in one gulp. A warm current spread through my body.

I supported myself and found a box in the corner of the basement.

I pulled out the encrypted phone and dialed a number. “About that thing you asked—I'm in.”

"Really? You're not lying to me? That's wonderful... Where are you now? I'll come pick you up."

"I still have some things to take care of. Wait for me."

"Okay, no matter how long it takes, I'll keep waiting for you."

After hanging up, I crawled to the door and started banging on it.

After a long time, an impatient voice came from outside. "What now?"

It was Samuel Granton, one of Lucas's friends.

I spoke to him through the door crack. "Get me some food. I haven't eaten anything for three days."

"How are you not dead yet? Wait here, I'll go ask Lucas." The footsteps gradually faded away.

When Samuel came back, the basement door was finally opened.

"Here." He tossed a rusty iron bowl filled with rancid slop in front of me.

I frowned and covered my nose. "How am I supposed to eat this?"

"That's all there is. Take it or leave it."

I reluctantly picked up the iron bowl and was about to bring it to my mouth when I suddenly remembered something else.

I looked at Samuel. "Come here for a second. I have something to tell you about Sofia."

Hearing it was related to Sofia, Samuel hesitated for a moment but still walked over.

"What is it... ah!" Before he could finish speaking, I grabbed him by the neck.

Having not eaten for several days, my body was extremely weak, but I used all my strength to slowly tighten my grip.

After a long while, I finally managed to choke him unconscious.

Except for Lucas, no one else knew.

My combat skills used to be stronger than many men's. I avoided the surveillance cameras in the villa and went upstairs.

Just when I thought I could leave smoothly, Lucas burst in with a medical team.

Seeing me face to face, he glared at me with fierce eyes and strode forward.

He slapped me hard across the face.

My face was knocked to one side, and I tasted blood in my mouth.

"Lila! Who gave you the nerve to do such a thing!"

I had no idea what he was talking about.

Lucas continued his rampage, kicking me hard in the chest.

Several of his friends immediately stepped forward to restrain my arms, twisting them behind my back.

I cried out in pain.

Lucas violently smashed a sinister-looking ceramic figurine against my body. The shattered porcelain fragments flew everywhere, cutting my cheek.

"You've been quiet for the past six months, turns out you were practicing voodoo to curse the baby in Sofia's belly!"

I stared blankly at the voodoo doll on the ground.

Lucas snorted coldly again. "I hadn't even had time to settle accounts with you, and you ran out on your own. I forgot about your skills, General Davidson."

A sharp pain shot through my abdomen, and blood flowed from my lower body. I felt all the warmth slowly draining from my body.

Seeing the bloodstain beneath me, Lucas paused for a moment, then frowned in disgust. "What pathetic act is this now? So boring."

I was forced to kneel on the ground. I looked up at him with a miserable smile. "Lucas, since you hate me so much, let's get divorced."

Lucas's eyes suddenly blazed with fury. He strode over and raised his hand to slap me again, but stopped mid-air.

He glared at me through gritted teeth. "Want a divorce? Dream on! You can only be my woman for the rest of your life!"

I let out a bitter laugh.

After years of marriage, to have come to this point—I was such a failure.

Sofia's painful moans came from upstairs.

Lucas immediately changed expression and waved his hand, quickly running upstairs with the medical team.

After a long time, he finally came out of Sofia's room.

Seeing me lying weakly on the ground, a flicker of sympathy flashed in his eyes, but he still turned away coldly.

"Throw her into the jungle to fend for herself."

Lucas's friends received the order and dragged me to an SUV.

The car drove to the outskirts where there was dense jungle. I was kicked out of the car and rolled onto the ground.

Darkness fell quickly. I walked in the forest for a long time before finding a water source. Crouching down, I greedily drank large gulps of water.

When I looked up, I met a pair of sharp green eyes on the opposite bank.

My blood instantly froze.

I had encountered wild beasts during outdoor combat missions before, but then I had weapons. Now I was empty-handed and no match for these fierce wolves.

My body was cold. My limbs barely moved. The wolf bared its teeth and lunged.

I closed my eyes, ready to die.

But the pain never came.

Instead—a scream.

A loud, human scream ripped through the air.

Followed by the wolf’s snarling... then choking... then silence.

I opened my eyes—barely.

The wolf was on the ground, convulsing in a pool of its own blood.

And then—arms. Strong. Familiar.

I was lifted, pressed against a warm chest.

My vision blurred, but I forced myself to look up.

Those eyes...I hadn’t seen them in ten years.

He stared at me like I was something precious.

"Lila," he whispered.

"What the helll did he do to you?"