My wedding day with Hoàng was once the dream of many. He was handsome, successful, and knew just the right sweet words to make any woman fall for him. I believed I was lucky to be chosen by him. But sometimes, what seems like perfect happiness is only the start of a tragedy.
When I was pregnant with our first child, all I wanted was for Hoàng to care more. Yet as my due date drew near, he grew colder. He left early, came home late, and kept his phone face-down. The messages I accidentally glimpsed contained loving words—but they weren’t for me. I suspected the truth but stayed silent, hoping that once our baby arrived, he would return to us.
One fateful night, nine months pregnant, I went downstairs for a drink. From the living room, I overheard a quiet argument between Hoàng and a woman I did not know. She was crying, terrified, begging:
“Please, if she finds out, I’ll die. If this pregnancy becomes known, everything will fall apart.”
My heart clenched with pain. Not only was he betraying me, but he had also gotten another woman pregnant. I stood frozen behind the door, unable to intervene. As I turned to leave, I heard his cold voice:
“Don’t worry. As long as she disappears, everything will be fine.”
Those words plunged me into despair. I never imagined that the man I shared my life with could be so cruel.
The next morning, Hoàng acted unusually gentle, suggesting a hospital visit for a check-up. Exhausted, I agreed. Yet instead of the hospital, the car headed to the refrigerated warehouse he managed. Unease crept over me. When I asked about the detour, he forced a strained smile:
“I left something at the storage. We’ll be quick, then go.”
When we arrived, he helped me inside the cold room under the pretext of checking inventory. The piercing −20°C air hit me, making me shiver uncontrollably. Before I could react, he pushed me in and slammed the door with a chilling click.
I screamed, pounding the door, begging for release. My belly twisted with the baby’s frantic kicks, as if sensing danger. The cold bit deep, my breath turning to white vapor. My body numbed. In that frozen darkness, I realized—he wanted me dead to protect that other woman.
But fate had a guardian. Remembering a spare phone in my pocket, I dialed the number of Uncle Tùng, a retired security guard and our neighbor who had cared for me since my parents passed away. Hearing my weak voice, he panicked and called for help.
Rescuers arrived and broke the lock just in time. My body was blue, my breathing fragile. Hoàng returned, believing his plan succeeded. Seeing me alive, he turned pale and stammered. The neighbors had already alerted the police.
Hoàng was arrested on the spot. The terrified mistress confessed everything—the pregnancy and the schemes hatched with him. Evidence stacked high against him. The man who thought he could bury his wife and unborn child coldly was instead digging his own grave.
I spent months recovering in the hospital. Fortunately, my baby survived—delivered prematurely but healthy. Holding my tiny newborn as she cried, a mix of joy and pain flooded me. My daughter had nearly lost her mother before birth, all because of a father’s greed and betrayal.
At Hoàng’s trial, I brought our child. He appeared gaunt, bewildered, stripped of his former arrogance. His eyes briefly reddened as he saw our daughter, but it was too late. He hung his head as the sentence was read. I held my little girl—living proof of strength and survival.
People whispered, pitied, and raged. I felt my heart cool. I no longer hated him. The harshest punishment for Hoàng was losing his family, future, and freedom—all by his own hands.
My story is a warning: love tarnished by betrayal becomes a dagger; deception can never stay hidden forever; and even the most fragile woman can find boundless strength when life and death hang in the balance.
Today, I live in a small house with my daughter, supported by friends and the caring neighbors. Every time I hold her, I silently thank fate for a second chance. I no longer cry for the past — I smile for the future, where my daughter and I will write a new story, free from shadows cast by the man who buried himself.
