Chapter 3

The worst thing he ever did to me never made it onto a printout.

A week before my due date, at three in the morning, I woke to a tearing pain ripping through me. I couldn't breathe or move, knowing instantly that something was wrong.

I screamed his name, and Rowan bolted up. Panicking, he got me to the car, his hands shaking as he called the hospital.

"I've got you," he kept saying. "I'm here. I'm not leaving."

By the time we made it to the ER, I was already fully dilated, and the nurses rushed me straight to delivery.

Rowan pulled on scrubs and stood beside me, holding my hand so tight it ground my bones.

"I'm here," he said. "We're doing this together."

The contractions came in waves. I clenched my teeth and held his hand tightly while he murmured something in my ear, too quiet to catch.

Then his phone rang.

It came from his jacket pocket, muffled but ringing again and again.

"Don't look," I said through my teeth. "Please."

He glanced down at the screen. Brielle.

"Something might've happened to her," he said.

"Rowan."

He hesitated, his grip loosening for a fraction of a second before he pulled his hand away entirely.

"I'll be right back," he said. "One minute."

I reached for him, catching nothing but air. He had already turned and pushed through the delivery room doors with the phone to his ear.

"Brielle? What's wrong? Slow down."

The heavy door swung shut behind him, cutting off his voice.

The nurses exchanged a look, and someone murmured something I couldn't hear. I just closed my eyes.

My daughter was born with no one but me. Lila Grace, seven pounds, four ounces. As I held her and stared at her tiny face, the tears finally came.

By the time Rowan came back, the sky was already light, and I'd been moved to a recovery room. He walked in looking guilty and ashamed, offering a forced, scraped together smile.

"Brielle had a panic attack and couldn't breathe, so I had to stay on the phone until she calmed down."

I just looked at him.

"She's beautiful," he said, his voice thin as he looked at the baby. "She looks like you."

I said nothing.

An hour after he left the room, I opened my phone, moved my flight up, and called my lawyer.

"I want to activate my grandmother's trust in full and pull my investment out of the company under my name," I told her.

"Are you sure? If you pull out, your husband's company will lose everything."

"I'm sure. I'll also sign the divorce petition before I get on the plane."

I packed my things, picked up my daughter, and called a car.

Instead of going home, we headed straight to the airport.

I'm done with Rowan. All of it.

Starting today, I disappear from his world.