While I Was Pregnant, My Husband Pressured Me to Lose WeightChapter 2

My raised foot froze.

I looked at Elijah before I could stop myself.

He spoke, cold and hard.

"Dawn, I'm doing all of this for your own good."

"You can't keep making excuses when you can't even lose weight."

"My wife—Elijah Swanson's wife—can't manage even this much self-control."

"Do you want to become something people laugh at behind my back?"

Elijah's words were icy, cutting to the bone.

The corners of my open mouth closed, and I pressed the miscarriage surgery form deeper into my bag.

"Fine."

I said it softly.

I was just about to take off my shoes.

Beulah suddenly frowned and spoke up.

"Madam, isn't taking your shoes off a bit like cheating?"

"I heard from Mr. Swanson that before he started pushing you to lose weight, when you weighed in you'd cheat by not taking off your shoes."

"So now you have to weigh in with your shoes on too!"

My hand, reaching for my shoes, froze. I stepped onto the scale still wearing them.

"A hundred and fifty-five pounds?"

"Madam, you didn't cheat, did you?"

"You lost five pounds in a single afternoon?"

Beulah's disdainful, suspicious voice rang out.

I looked at Elijah.

His expression stayed cold.

My heart ached, but I said nothing and walked into the villa.

After running five kilometers, my mouth was dry and I felt awful.

I opened the refrigerator, only to find I couldn't pull it open at all.

"Madam, I forgot to tell you."

"The best way to lose weight is to not eat after noon."

"It's already eleven o'clock, so the refrigerator locks itself automatically. It won't open again until seven tomorrow morning."

Beulah walked over and finished calmly.

Then she took out a weight loss plan.

"Madam, this is a plan I had a professional weight loss coach put together just for you."

"Please follow the schedule on it exactly."

I took the weight loss schedule from Beulah's hand—every inch of it crammed with exercise and dieting.

Almost every single minute was accounted for.

"I won't agree to this!"

"Elijah, my mother is still in the ICU after her car accident. I have to go see her every day!"

I crumpled the paper in my hand.

I looked up and met Elijah's eyes.

He frowned and was about to take the schedule from my hand.

Beulah suddenly cut in.

"Mr. Swanson, since you hired me to keep after your wife, you have to trust me completely."

"She's in the ICU—going there won't do any good anyway."

"Madam, stop making excuses!"

"If you keep this up, you'll probably be dieting for the rest of your life!"

Elijah's outstretched hand stopped.

His phone suddenly rang.

He walked off with the phone, leaving behind only one line.

"Dawn, Beulah is right!"

"Don't forget, I'm the one paying for every last one of your mother's ICU bills..."

Clutching the weight loss schedule, I trudged back to the bedroom, exhausted.

My mouth was so dry I couldn't stand it—I drank the water at the sink.

Elijah's words kept replaying in my head.

Bit by bit, my heart went cold.

Late that night I tossed and turned in bed, barely sleeping a few hours all night.

Just as I sank into deep sleep, my phone suddenly buzzed violently.

"Miss Delgado, your mother is in very bad shape!"

"She's suddenly become delirious and won't wake up!"

"Please come to the hospital right away!"