My Perfect Marriage Was His Perfect Crime novel Chapter 2

Sterling couldn't miss the turmoil in my emotions. He held me tightly, his voice gentle and filled with pity.

"Nina, even though our child is gone, don't worry—I'll always be by your side."

"Believe me, sometimes losing something is another way of gaining."

He kissed my brow with infinite tenderness. "The more heartbroken you are, the more I hurt—ten thousand times over."

I clenched my fists, blinking furiously to hide the burning hatred inside me, making sure he wouldn't notice.

"How heartbroken are you?"

Sterling lowered his gaze to mine, his eyes swollen like walnuts. He looked as if he had been crying for a long, long time.

"Unbearably so. The moment our child died, my whole world turned black. If not for you, I wouldn't have been able to go on."

What an actor.

No wonder I never realized all these years that his heart had always belonged to Luna.

When I first got pregnant, Sterling had excitedly posted multiple announcements, thrilled at the idea of becoming a father.

Later, when my appetite suffered during pregnancy, he personally learned to cook just to take care of me.

Who would have thought it was all part of a long-laid plan for his illegitimate child?

Sterling went downstairs to get food from the hospital cafeteria, but he left behind his spare phone.

I entered a password, but it wasn't my birthday.

I tried Luna's birthday instead—unlocked.

Chat after chat bombarded me like a hailstorm, making my head spin.

"Sterling, what we're doing to Nina isn't right."

For eight months of my pregnancy, Sterling had been flying back and forth between countries, always on business trips. The days he spent by my side were few and far between.

I pitied him. Throughout my pregnancy—the checkups, the sickness, the hardships—I never told him the worst of it. I never wanted him to worry.

Only now did I realize that all those trips abroad had nothing to do with work.

He had been with Luna.

Accompanying her to checkups, staying by her side through the pregnancy, the birth—he had never missed a single milestone.

The chat logs detailed it all—every tender moment between them.

Sterling applying stretch mark oil for her, massaging her swollen feet, even using his own hands to help her when she was constipated.

Further up, I found messages of them arguing over the child's custody. In the end, Luna had agreed to let me raise the baby, but she still insisted on staying abroad to pursue her career.

I closed my eyes.

I remembered when our identities were revealed—how Luna had smiled at me, so relieved, and said:

I was just… heartbroken.

This kindness, this warmth—it was only mine because Luna had demanded it for me. I was merely borrowing what belonged to her.

Seeing my silence, Sterling pulled me into his arms, distressed. "Nina, are you thinking about the baby again?"

The moment he mentioned it, my emotions crumbled, and tears spilled over uncontrollably.

Sterling panicked, pacing in circles, before suddenly brightening as if struck by inspiration.

"I know! I heard your sister had a child abroad. She never settles in one place—why not bring the baby back and raise it as our own?"

"We'll tell everyone the child is yours. That way, both sides of the family will be satisfied, and no one will criticize you."

I looked up at him, dazed.

If I hadn't already uncovered the truth, I might have actually believed he was doing this for my sake.

But I had already made up my mind.

I would let them have what they wanted.

"That sounds good," I murmured.

"A happy ending for everyone."