Chapter 2

Standing by the roadside, I felt so woozy and sick to my stomach. My gut twisted a few times, but nothing actually came out.

"Isabelle!" A tall, strikingly handsome mixed-race man dashed over and caught me just as I was about to collapse

"Lucas..." I barely managed to whisper before everything faded to black.

Did I just see Edward Grant?' I thought hazily, right before I lost consciousness.

Probably just my imagination. Wasn't he off with his new girlfriend?' I wondered.

When I came to, I was lying in a private hospital room.

I forced my eyes open, still groggy and confused as I tried to make sense of the unfamiliar equipment around me. The moment I realized where I was, my hand shot to my belly.

"It's okay, Isabelle. You're safe. You and... everything's alright," Lucas said softly, squeezing my hand.

Lucas held my hand, comforting me. Even though his words were a bit vague, I understood exactly what he meant.

My baby was safe.

Lucas was my childhood friend from Switzerland, and the second son of a global medical empire. With his older brother running the family business, he came to the country with me, saying it was to help out with the local operations.

'But honestly,' I thought, 'he probably just wanted an excuse to take it easy.'

Lucas's hand was warm and dry, his touch sending a steady flow of heat into me that helped me calm down and stop shivering.

"Ha! What a lovely sight," Edward Grant sneered.

Edward's voice startled me, and I instinctively jerked my hand away from Lucas.

Lucas's exotic blue eyes darkened, and the disappointment on his face was impossible to hide.

"Wow, Mr. Grant, are you so lonely you have to freak out every time I hang out with Isabelle?" Lucas sneered.

Edward completely ignored Lucas's lame sarcasm.

"Isabelle, don't forget you're Mrs. Grant," Edward said coldly.

I was so angry at the way he talked down to me, my whole body started shaking.

"And what about you, Mr. Grant? Did you remember your own status when you were with your side chick?" I shot back.

Edward was so furious at my words that he marched over, looking like he was about to choke me in bed.

But Lucas stepped in and blocked him.

Edward clenched his fists in rage. "Isabelle! I'm warning you, don't talk about Nina like that."

With Lucas right there, Edward was powerless to touch me. I tilted my chin up, daring him to try anything.

"What should I call her? Side chick? Bitch? Two-facedsnake? Homewrecker?"

Every time I threw out another insult, Edward's anger just kept building, but there was no hiding the guilt in his eyes.

'I understood now,' I thought.

'She knows Edward's married.'

'What a joke. After all the work I put into this marriage, it's just become an excuse for Edward to mess around with someone else,' I thought bitterly.

In the end, Edward stormed out, but not before leaving me with one last vicious threat.

"I'll make you get on your knees and apologize to Nina," he spat.

I was furious. 'Who does she think she is, expecting me to apologize?' I fumed.

Lucas watched me grumbling about Edward from my hospital bed, then asked carefully, "Isabelle... do you have a headache?"

I looked at Lucas, and he looked back at me like a gentle Bernese Mountain Dog, his eyes so blue it was like the whole sky was in them—but that sky only had room for me.

Even with that pretty face of his, I could tell what Lucas really meant. He was basically asking if I'd knocked my head or something, since I was going off on Edward like that.

Yeah, I'd never gone off on him like that before.

Since I was seventeen, I always defended Edward, couldn't stand anyone badmouthing him. Even when he acted like I didn't exist, cold as ice, I kept convincing myself that if I just tried harder, gave him more time, poured in more love, even a heart of stone would melt eventually.

But reality slapped me hard in the face.

I lowered my eyes, looking tenderly at my belly. There was a tiny life growing inside me, and in nine months, she'd come into this world. All I wanted was for her to be happy, to be surrounded by all the love this world has to offer.

Not saddled with a father who's nothing but trash.

As I explained, Lucas's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

"Isabelle, are you finally going to divorce him?" he asked, barely able to hide his grin.

I shot him a suspicious look. "Why are you so hyped about my divorce?"

Lucas just kept grinning, didn't answer, and instead started pampering me, fussing over every little thing.

He walked over to the bed, pulled the curtains open a bit to let in some sunlight, then adjusted the head of the bed so I could sit up more comfortably. At my request, he set up a bed tray, brought over my laptop, handed me a cup of warm water. Then, with a little bounce in his step, he headed downstairs to grab me some food.

I was a bit confused, but honestly, Lucas fussing over me was nothing new. 'This is just how we've always been,' I thought. Ever since we were kids in Switzerland, he'd always taken care of me like this.

I'd never really thought about divorce before, but after everything that just happened, I finally made up my mind.

For the sake of my child, I needed to end this marriage.

I opened my laptop and started contacting a lawyer about the divorce and dividing up our assets.