Chapter 1 Who Is That Man?

On their wedding night, the room was filled with roses. Charlotte sat by the bed as she stared at the wedding photos she and Bryson had taken. Tonight was supposed to be their wedding night, but she would not be sleeping with Bryson later. Someone flipped the switch and all the lights went out in an instant. The room had gone completely dark. Boom! The door was kicked open. Charlotte could vaguely see a tall black figure charging toward her. At that moment, Charlotte felt as if she was being crushed by an iceberg that was pressing down on her. The cold, powerful pressure of the figure was suffocating her. "Ah!" A pair of powerful hands pressed Charlotte's shoulders, and she was pushed to the ground by a strong force... Tears flowed down Charlotte’s face as she bit her lip tightly. She was willing to do this for Bryson! It was only one time, but Charlotte successfully conceived a child. Ten months later, she found herself in a hospital delivery room. This was Charlotte's due date. The excruciating pain made Charlotte feel like she had just gone to hell and back. Based on the arrangement they had made prior to the delivery, Charlotte would not have any time to look at the child she would give birth to. The child would be taken away immediately. She saw a nurse chatting with another nurse. "The boy weighs three kilograms and is really handsome. His face is gorgeous, and he’s simply adorable. I’ve never seen such a beautiful baby. It's a pity that he was taken away right after being born. Miss Simmons will never get to..." When they realized that Charlotte had regained consciousness, the nurse hurriedly closed her mouth. Charlotte touched her shriveled belly. During more than nine months of pregnancy, she had watched her belly grow bigger day by day. Now, her flesh and blood, who had been with her for 283 days, had left her. Charlotte was simply at a loss. However, she had managed to help Bryson with this child as a form of compensation for someone else. This also meant that she had helped Bryson avoid getting sentenced to jail, so her sacrifice was worthwhile. But where was Bryson? When Charlotte had gone into labor, Bryson had not been at home. She had been taken to the hospital by an ambulance. The housekeeper had already called Bryson to inform him, but now that she had given birth to a child for him, why hadn’t he come to the hospital to be with her? "Miss Charlotte!" The person who rushed into the ward was Alfred, the housekeeper of the Simmons Family. "What's the matter? Why are you in such a hurry?" Charlotte said anxiously. In order to hide the truth from her father, which was that she was actually helping Bryson by giving him a child, she had planned to lie to her father and say that the child had died after being born. However, Alfred had come to the hospital. Had he found out the truth? "Miss Charlotte, something happened to Mr. Simmons and he’s now in the ICU." Charlotte's heart sank. Despite the nurse's advice, she pulled the infusion needle from the back of her hand and stumbled out of the ward. "What's the matter with this patient? Strenuous activity is forbidden just after giving birth. You need to lie back in bed." "Hey!" "Patient!" In the ICU, Walter Simmons was lying on the hospital bed with his eyes shut. His body was filled with various tubes. If it weren't for the heart rate monitor showing his heartbeat, it would be hard to tell that he was actually alive. Father had always been healthy. He’d hardly ever gotten sick, yet he had gotten so sick now that he needed a ventilator to stay alive. Charlotte started crying as she thought about it. "Alfred, what happened?" Alfred hesitated before he finally said, "After you got pregnant, Mr. Simmons wanted to hand over Simmons Inc. to Bryson so he could manage it. However, Bryson and the vice president, Victor Rutherford, plotted against Mr. Simmons. They took the company from him and threatened to take Mr. Simmons to court over a mistake he made many years ago when he was trying to save Simmons Inc. from a crisis! The lawyer told Mr. Simmons that he would be sentenced to at least 15 years in jail. Mr. Simmons got so angry that he vomited blood. Luckily, he was rescued just in time..." What? Charlotte started trembling. She could not believe it. Father had always been nice to Bryson, and she had even given birth to a stranger’s child in order to save Bryson... How could he do this to them? Charlotte took out her cell phone shakily and called Bryson over and over again, but no one answered. She took a deep breath and supported her weak body as she walked out of the room. "Miss Charlotte, please don’t do anything impulsive. Where are you going?" Ignoring Alfred's attempt to persuade her, Charlotte stumbled her way out of the ICU. She could not believe that the man she had loved for four years would do something like that! Bryson had always treated her well in the past, and she believed that he must have his reasons for betraying her father. She had to see Bryson to talk things out! Alfred did not try to stop her again. At the moment, the only person who could save Mr. Simmons was Miss Charlotte. If Bryson still had feelings for Miss Charlotte, maybe he would let Mr. Simmons go for Miss Charlotte’s sake... Charlotte walked through the corridor helplessly. She accidentally ran into a man and fell down. Charlotte wanted to tell the man off and ask him to watch where he was going, but when she met the man's eyes, she had to stay quiet out of fear. He was a very attractive man with perfect features and a really strong aura. His dark brown eyes seemed like drops of ink in the snow. They were absolutely stunning but extremely cold. With just one look, Charlotte was already trembling in fear. She felt like she had fallen into a freezing lake. His strong, icy aura had made her freeze. At that moment, a doctor walked toward the man with his head down. "Mr. Connor, Miss Larson just gave birth to a baby boy, but she lost too much blood. I’m afraid she might..." Before he could finish speaking, he was frightened by the man’s cold gaze. The doctor did not dare make a sound anymore as he looked at the man nervously. The entire corridor seemed to be filled with tension. Everyone seemed anxious. "If anything happens to her, you’re going down with her." The man's voice was deep and cold, like the wind blowing from the peak of a snow-capped mountain. The doctor broke out in a cold sweat and hurriedly walked away. "Miss Charlotte, are you okay?" Alfred came to help Charlotte. "Who’s that man?" Charlotte stared at the man's figure in a daze. He had already walked away, but his icy aura was still present in that corridor. "That man! You’d better stay away from him..." He was the notorious Mr. Connor that even the devil himself would fear. Even before anything had happened to Mr. Simmons, he had avoided having any contact with Mr. Connor. Alfred secretly hoped that the young lady would not have anything to do with that man either. For a long time, Charlotte's mind wandered and she was lost in thought. Charlotte only had eyes for Bryson, so she had never even looked at another man. However, when Charlotte saw this man, she suddenly went back in time and relived her and Bryson's wedding night. It felt as if the cold, devil-like man was attacking her again. That night had become Charlotte’s nightmare. Since then, Charlotte would dream of that night nonstop and wake up screaming...