Then Daniel looked straight at me and said, “Take the bus home tomorrow. I’m taking my family out for hotpot.”

For a moment, the room went completely still—except for my baby’s soft, uneven breathing against my chest.

I thought I had heard him wrong.

“What?” My voice came out weak.

His mother, Elaine, adjusted her bracelet and sighed, as if I were the problem. “Claire, don’t create a scene. You’ll be discharged in the morning. The bus stop is right outside.”

“I gave birth six hours ago,” I whispered.

Daniel shrugged. “My parents are here. We already booked dinner. You don’t expect us to cancel just because you’re tired, do you?”

His sister Melissa laughed. “Women give birth every day.”

I stared at them—their expensive clothes, their cold expressions, the car keys in Daniel’s hand… a car I had paid for.

My baby whimpered, and I held him tighter.

“Daniel,” I said quietly, “you’re really leaving me here alone?”

He leaned in close, his voice low. “Don’t look at me like that. You should be grateful my family accepted you after everything.”

Everything.

That meant my modest lifestyle. My silence about who I really was. Letting him believe I was just an ordinary accountant with nothing to offer.

Elaine peeked into the diaper bag and smirked. “Cheap things. We’ll replace them—if the baby looks like Daniel.”

Something inside me shifted.

Not pain.

Not shock.

Clarity.

Daniel kissed the baby’s forehead like it was a performance, then turned to leave.

At the door, he paused. “Don’t call too much. We’re celebrating.”

The door shut.

I sat there—stitched, bleeding, exhausted—my son asleep against my chest.

I cried for three minutes.

Then I picked up my phone.

There were two contacts Daniel didn’t even know existed.

My lawyer.

And my father’s private office.

I called the lawyer first.

“Claire? Is the baby here?” Martin answered immediately.

“Yes,” I said softly. “And Daniel just walked out on us.”

There was a pause.

Then his tone changed. “Do you want to proceed?”

I looked at my son’s tiny fingers wrapped around mine.

“Yes,” I said. “Lock everything down.”

While Daniel and his family were laughing at a hotpot restaurant, posting photos with captions like “Family first. Blessed day,” my signature had already set things in motion.

My baby wasn’t in that photo.

I saved it.