The Hollow Inheritance Chapter 2

As the system switched, the wallpaper changed to a college photo of him and Chloe.

There was only one person in his WeChat contacts: Chloe. When I opened the chat, a photo of Chloe holding the baby pierced my eyes.

"Liam, look how handsome our baby is. He's going to grow up to be just as handsome as you."

That baby was identical to the one Liam had brought to me earlier tonight.

The further I scrolled up, the colder my heart became.

During the eight months of my pregnancy, Liam was constantly "away on business trips." The days he actually spent with me could be counted on two hands.

I didn't want to interfere with his work, so I silently endured the miseries of morning sickness and traveled back and forth to the hospital for checkups alone.

Only now did I realize that his so-called "business trips" were nothing more than excuses to accompany Chloe through her pregnancy.

Tens of thousands of photos documented everything from Chloe's pregnancy to her delivery.

Liam personally cooked nutritious meals for her every day, walked with her, shopped with her, and even cupped his hands to catch her vomit when she had morning sickness.

He never left her side during any of her prenatal checkups. His deep, affectionate gaze looked at her as if she were a priceless treasure.

I had begged Liam many times to help me pick a name for our baby.

He would always take a long time to reply:

"Nora, a name is just a label. Pick whatever you want. I'm busy. We'll talk about it after he's born."

Yet, the moment Chloe got pregnant, Liam had already brainstormed hundreds of names for her baby.

"Chloe, how about we name our baby Felix? It means a bright future."

"Or maybe Arthur? Intelligent and destined for greatness."

"Never mind. Let's just call him Andy. I don't need him to be extraordinary. I just want him to be safe, healthy, and live a long life."

After every checkup, he would buy Chloe a gift—either extravagant jewelry or a limited-edition sports car.

"Our Chloe safely passed another checkup. We have to celebrate."

He even bought her a European castle to celebrate a smooth delivery.

And all I ever got was a single sentence:

"Nora, you've worked hard. I have a meeting."

It turns out the difference between being loved and unloved is that glaringly obvious.

Heartbroken, I put his phone down and bought a plane ticket out of the country for three days later.

I got back into bed and stared blankly at the ceiling.

Filled with absolute desolation, I didn't sleep a wink all night.

The next day, Liam, just like always, had his assistant buy a nutritious meal specifically for me.

In the past, I was always touched by his thoughtfulness, believing he cared about my diet even when he wasn't around.

But remembering the photos of him wearing an apron, bustling around the kitchen for Chloe, I finally understood that this was just a perfunctory gesture.

Money is worthless when there's no genuine heart behind it.

Seeing that I hadn't taken a single bite, Liam looked a bit pained:

"Nora, why aren't you eating? Does it taste bad?"

"It's nothing. I just miss the baby."

Liam smiled:

"Oh, so you miss Andy. I miss him too. I didn't understand it before, but now that I'm a dad, I realize I don't want to be apart from him for even a second. Our Andy really is the cutest baby in the world."

"Mom is absolutely thrilled to have her eldest grandson. She's celebrating at the main estate right now. We'll go pick Andy up in a bit."

I didn't say anything. I had already decided to leave anyway; he could do whatever he wanted.

When we arrived at the main estate, the first thing I saw was my mother-in-law and Chloe holding Andy, playing with him.

Chloe was dressed head-to-toe in limited-edition haute couture, glowing with vitality, showing absolutely no signs of postpartum fatigue.

My mother-in-law was doting on the baby while simultaneously feeding Chloe bird's nest soup.

Truly top-tier treatment.

Seeing me, Chloe spoke to my mother-in-law with feigned innocence:

"Auntie, please don't be so good to me. People will think I'm your daughter-in-law. Nora might get jealous. She's weak right now, you should give this bird's nest to her."

My mother-in-law followed her gaze and looked at me. Seeing that I was still wearing the blood-stained clothes from the day of my accident, she looked disgusted:

"Is my son starving you or something? Wearing such unlucky clothes... are you intentionally trying to embarrass our family? Look at Chloe! She also just had a baby, and she's doing so much better than you. You're just overly dramatic."

"You couldn't just sit still. Running around while heavily pregnant—it's a wonder you didn't fall to your death. And you have the nerve to play the victim here? Thank goodness my precious grandson is fine, otherwise I'd make Liam divorce you immediately."

"You knew you were breastfeeding, yet you carelessly took medication! If Chloe hadn't been here to help nurse him, my grandson would have starved to death because of you, you bad omen! I'm announcing right now that I'm taking Chloe as my goddaughter. From now on, just like Liam, she will call me Mom."

I knew my mother-in-law never liked me. She thought I wasn't good enough for Liam, that I was far inferior to Chloe—his beautiful, sweet-talking childhood sweetheart who always knew how to make her happy.

It wasn't until Chloe married someone abroad and I got pregnant that she finally, reluctantly, accepted me as her daughter-in-law for the sake of the child.

But whenever we met, her sarcastic remarks and mocking tone were never far behind.

In the past, Liam would always defend me. Not to mention, the day we went to the mall, he was the one who insisted I go, saying he wanted to buy gifts for our unborn baby.

But now, his eyes were glued to Chloe, filled with unconcealed tenderness.

Holding Andy, Chloe walked over to him, playfully hooking her arm through his:

"Liam, did you hear that? Auntie just took me in as her goddaughter. My dear big brother, did you prepare a welcome gift for your little sister?"

Liam pinched her cheek with a mix of indulgence and helpless affection:

"You little troublemaker. You're not allowed to call me brother."

He said that, but immediately ordered his staff to bring in 92 limited-edition, luxury mink coats, fully accessorized with matching jewelry.

"I know you love fashion, but you're still recovering from childbirth. You can't catch a chill. Winter lasts for three months, exactly 92 days. A different coat for every day."