Loading promotion info...
Fireworks for His Bastard, Ashes for My Son
Novelix
Completed
"They said my dad had a stroke. They said my brother's limp was real. They said losing my baby was just bad luck. Seven years later, a phone call from the future tells me the truth: my husband staged it all. While I miscarried alone, he was rocking his mistress's newborn at a rooftop christening — with my parents smiling in the front row. Then he renamed our company after HER. Fine. He wants his forever-girl? He can have her. I'm taking my baby's ashes, my three million, and a one-way ticket out. And when he comes crawling back seven years too late — I'll make sure he watches me build a life he can never touch. "
Chapters (3)
第1章
On my wedding day, my dad suffered a stroke, my brother got into a car accident, and my mother blamed me for bringing bad luck to everyone on my wedding day. I lived with that guilt for seven years.
Then I accidentally saw their group chat. My fiancé, my family, and another woman were all standing together, with a banner overhead that read, “Happy Wedding!”
On my wedding day, Mom blew up the family group chat with one text: "Your dad just had a massive stroke. So what's it gonna be — Daddy or the groom?"
My mind went blank. I bolted downstairs.
Blake was waiting in the car. He smirked. "Wow. Didn't think you had a brain cell left."
Before I could respond, a delivery truck came barreling around the corner and slammed right into us.
The last thing I saw before everything went black was my brother throwing himself over me. Shielding me with his own body.
A steel rod went straight through his leg. He'd walk with a limp for the rest of his life.
Mom pointed at me, her finger shaking. "This is YOUR fault. Your cursed wedding brought this on all of us!"
I pressed my hand against my stomach. Flat. Empty.
I didn't argue.
Not until I got a phone call — from seven years in the future. From Selina Cross. Nolan's forever-girl. The one he never got over.
"Your dad's stroke? Fake. Your brother's limp? Also fake." She laughed. "The only real thing was your miscarriage."
"Nolan arranged that crash. And you actually believed it was an accident. You were so scared you never even tried to reschedule the wedding."
"Since you didn't have the guts — I stepped up. Wanna see? Isn't my dress gorgeous?"
The photo loaded.
In the background — neat as a family portrait — stood my mom, my dad, and my brother. All smiles.
And Nolan was kneeling in front of her, gently smoothing out the train of her gown.
My whole body locked up.
I looked up. Nolan was sitting across from me, eyes red and swollen. He'd cried so many times over losing the baby.
I smiled.
"Do you even remember what we were going to name the baby?"
His face went pale. Panic flickered across his eyes.
A baby that was never meant to be born — why would he bother remembering?
Fine. Then I won't bother reminding him.
He lunged forward and grabbed my hand.
"Of course I remember. It's Lucky. Lucky, right?"
Lucky. A name full of hope. Full of happiness.
I'd flipped through every baby name book. Nothing felt right. He was the one who suggested it.
He'd said, "With this baby, our whole family's gonna be happy."
But in the video future-Selina sent me —
It was my dad walking her down the aisle.
It was my mom beaming on stage, giving a toast.
It was my brother, eyes red, grabbing Nolan by the collar: "If you ever hurt her, I swear to God, I'll end you."
And Nolan smiled back.
"God already tried to end me first."
He was never the superstitious type. But there he was — swearing to the heavens. Not for me.
A grand, beautiful wedding. Every face glowing with joy.
Just — without me. And without my baby.
I smiled. Shoved the phone in his face.
"Still wanna lie?"
His pupils shrank. He opened his mouth to say something — but his phone started blowing up.
A group chat I'd never seen before.
Mom's message sat right on top:
"Hurry up and get over here. The baby's christening party can't happen without the father."
Then Dad — the man who supposedly couldn't move a finger — sent a sixty-second voice memo:
"I already set up a dummy in the hospital bed. Just send her over to babysit it."
And Blake. My own brother.
"If I'd known she'd recover this fast, I should've hit her harder. Would've saved us the trouble."
Tears shot out before I could stop them.
When my baby died — they were throwing a party for someone else's.
I did the math. Three months apart. That's it.
All those nights I lay there, pregnant, back aching, legs swollen, telling myself he was just busy with work — he was rubbing another woman's feet.
Ten prenatal checkups he missed. He wasn't "too busy." He was at another woman's ultrasound appointments.
"Why did you lie to me?"
If you didn't love me anymore, just say it. I would've let you go.
He pulled his hand back. He thought I'd just now found out.
His voice was steady. Almost mocking.
"You're just saying that because you're upset."
"If I actually told you the truth, could you handle it?"
Ten years flashed before my eyes.
He flunked his SATs. I retook senior year with him.
He started a company. I emptied my savings account to fund it.
Everyone called me a lovesick idiot. A fool throwing her life away for a man.
But he told me, "I'm not good with pretty words. But I'll never do you wrong."
And I believed him.
My silence — he took it as surrender.
He wiped my tears with his thumb.
"Okay, okay. Stop saying things you don't mean."
"I'll be back soon. I'll bring your favorite takeout."
His footsteps were rushed as he walked out.
I threw off the covers and followed him.
---
第2章
The christening was at a rooftop ballroom in Midtown. Top floor. Floor-to-ceiling windows. The whole nine yards.
Packed with people. Champagne towers. A live string quartet.
Nothing like what Nolan told me when I brought up planning a party for our baby.
"Everyone's so busy. It's just a baby's little milestone. No need to make a big deal out of it."
So I shoved the guest list into a drawer.
Cancelled the venue. Lost the deposit.
And here — the woman standing in the center of it all looked like she'd never been pregnant a day in her life.
My mom. My dad. My brother. Taking turns cooing over the baby.
The second Nolan walked up, they parted to make room for him. Like royalty arriving.
"We already gave our gifts. What about you, Dad? What's the big present?"
Nolan bounced the baby gently in his arms.
"How about I rename the company?"
The company was called VanWren Capital.
"Van" for Vance. Him.
"Wren" for me.
It also meant I held shares. Real equity.
He told me once, "This is your safety net. Even if you lose everything else, you'll always have this."
Now he was handing my safety net to Selina Cross.
"From now on — VanCross Capital."
"No!"
The room went dead silent.
Every head turned toward me. Like I was a stranger who'd wandered into the wrong party.
My voice cracked.
"You can't just change it. That company has my blood in it."
Every client dinner where I drank until I puked blood — for him.
Every sales trip where I got caught in storms, passed out from heatstroke — for him.
Countless all-nighters rewriting proposals, pitching deals, pulling miracles out of thin air.
That company wasn't just a career. It was my entire youth.
"Because the company's core research was always about treating Selina's condition."
Mom said it like she was commenting on the weather.
I froze. "What... does that mean?"
She gave me a pitying look. "When Selina got sick back in high school, Nolan skipped his SATs just to be at her bedside."
"And when he retook senior year? Every single college he applied to — pre-med. All of them."
I stood there, stunned. A memory surfaced.
After his SATs, his face was gray. Defeated. I thought he'd bombed the test.
I held his hand and said, "It's okay. I'll retake the year with you."
Then later — when he was picking colleges — I thought his parents were forcing him away from his dream of being an astronaut.
I even snuck into the system and changed his applications. Twice.
He screamed at me for the first time in our lives.
"Can you STOP meddling in my life?"
Now I get it. The reason was so damn simple.
From the very beginning, it was never about me. He was always running toward her.
Tears streaming down my face, I spotted a familiar figure in the crowd.
Chloe. My best friend.
Her location always showed overseas. Too far for my birthday. Too far for my wedding.
When I lost my baby, I sent her dozens of voice messages. Sobbing. Begging. Desperate.
She never replied. Not one word.
And now — here she was. Arm in arm with Selina. Eyes glistening.
"Honestly? Everyone in high school knew he was in love with Selina."
"Those cookies he gave you? Selina's rejects. That love letter he wrote you back? Selina threw the original in the trash."
"I never told you because... God, you were just so pathetic. I couldn't bring myself to crush that last little fantasy you were clinging to."
Then Selina walked up to me. Took my hand. Squeezed it.
"Thank you."
"If you hadn't spent all those years helping me tweak my treatment plans, I wouldn't have recovered so fast."
I blinked. Looked at her face closely.
And it clicked. She was the "anonymous test subject" the company had poured millions into.
She leaned in. Her whisper brushed my ear.
"You don't know this — but the baby was conceived on the exam table. In the lab."
"You were right outside. Observing through the glass."
My whole body started shaking.
"I was moaning pretty loud. You thought it was a reaction to the medication."
"Those two pages of notes you took? You can put them in my baby's scrapbook."
I couldn't take it anymore.
My hand flew.
The slap left a red mark on her cheek.
But on my face — there was more than one.
Chloe grabbed my hair and yanked. "What the hell is WRONG with you?"
Blake pinned my arms behind my back so I couldn't move.
Mom and Dad crowded around Selina, blowing on her cheek, fussing over her like she was the victim.
I was dragged out.
Standing on the sidewalk, shaking, I saw a text from future-Selina.
"Wanna see what your little scene just cost you?"
I opened the video.
Future me. Locked in what looked like a hospital ward. Face hollow. Cheekbones jutting out. Barely human.
"Everyone was keeping up appearances just fine. YOU had to go and blow it up. You've got no one to blame but yourself."
---
第3章
Ninety-five degrees out and the back of my neck was ice cold.
Then a jacket landed on my shoulders.
Nolan. Eyes full of concern.
"Are you getting sick?"
"You're already fragile. And you had to come out here and cause a scene."
"I'm sending you home."
I shoved his hand off. Pointed up at the massive LED screen on the building across the street.
Two million dollars an hour. A countdown timer ticking down to his baby's christening moment.
Less than three minutes left.
"You're really gonna miss it? What kind of father does that?"
He frowned.
"Don't take it out on a baby."
"I'll explain everything when I get home."
He nudged me toward the car. As the door closed, fireworks exploded over the Hudson.
A drone formation lit up the sky. Nolan, Selina, and their baby — a perfect little family, spelled out in light.
Every person on the street stopped to take photos.
It went viral within minutes.
"Nolan Vance is the total package — rich AND devoted. Where do I find one?"
"Heard they were high school sweethearts. You can't fake that kind of love story."
"I'm jealous of that baby. Born into old money. Gets a whole building when she turns eighteen."
Then the internet did what it does — started digging.
While I was home with a fever, rewriting a business proposal — Nolan was scuba diving in the Maldives with Selina.
Three days after he proposed to me, he vanished. I almost called the cops. Turns out he was on a pre-honeymoon trip. With her.
The car reeked of perfume. Not mine. I gagged.
A hard brake sent me stumbling out the door. I doubled over, ready to throw up —
And Mom grabbed me by the hair.
"Was it you? Did you leak those posts?"
The internet was sharp. While it dug up Nolan and Selina's love story, it also dug up his betrayal.
The thread was trending. Thousands of reposts. Millions of views.
On the day of Selina's baby's christening, the internet was calling that baby a bastard.
Thinking about that — I laughed.
"Serves you right."
"So what now, Mom? You're gonna put me on trial for someone else's kid?"
Her lips moved.
"If you'd just behaved yourself —"
"I DID behave! For years! And what did you all do behind my back?"
All those details that never quite added up — they finally clicked into one ugly truth.
"My first two miscarriages. That was her too, wasn't it?"
The first time — someone pushed me down a flight of stairs. When I asked for the security footage, Mom had already signed a settlement and made it disappear.
The second time — someone swapped my prenatal vitamins for pills that induce miscarriage. When I tried to get fingerprints off the packaging, Blake got there first. Ripped up the wrapper so there was nothing left to test.
"Why? Why would you do this to me?"
I was screaming.
Mom didn't even flinch.
"We did it FOR you. Otherwise you'd have given birth to three bastards. You think we wanted that kind of shame on our family?"
While I stood there, stunned, Blake walked up.
"Nolan and Selina have been legally married for years. They only held off on the wedding for YOUR sake. You think anyone's gonna believe your little exposé?"
He shoved a phone in my face.
Nolan had posted their marriage certificate from his verified account.
The internet flipped overnight. My photos hit the trending page.
The tags — "homewrecker," "shameless," "trashy slut."
Someone even photoshopped candles around my picture. A funeral shrine.
"Light one up, y'all. Her babies were just clearing the path for the REAL Mrs. Vance."
My vision went white.
I looked down at my wedding ring. Turned it slowly.
On the inside — an engraving I'd never noticed.
N♥S.
Even the ring was a hand-me-down.
I stared at it. And something inside me — the last thread holding me together — finally snapped.
Fine. I believe it now. Every word of it.
If that's my future, then I'm done fighting for it.
I'm done fighting with any of you.
---
