Chapter 1

When I was pregnant, the girl in his crew kept insisting on riding up front.

He shut it down on the spot and made her get out.

At three in the morning, I caught him and that same girl going at it in the car.

I didn't cry, and I didn't make a scene. I helped them clean up the car, and then I booked an abortion.

*****

The appointment was set for three days out.

Simon Foster came out of the shower, rubbed his hair with a towel, and held the hair dryer out to me. He said, "Dry it for me."

I didn't take it. I rubbed my belly and sighed, "I'm tired. Do it yourself."

He didn't get angry. If anything, he looked pleased.

He stood at the mirror and aimed the dryer at his head. "You need to work on that temper. You get tired, and suddenly you can't take care of me? What is wrong with you?

"There isn't one good thing about you. I'm the only person who puts up with you. What would you do without me?"

He set the dryer down, crouched in front of me, poked my belly, and grinned. "Be good. Don't get the tigress going, or she'll blow up again."

Then he put his arms around my belly. "Don't be scared. However many faults you have, you're still my woman. Nobody bullies you without my say-so, not even the kid in there."

The picture of the two of them from the night before came back into my head. Something like cotton was packed into my throat, and I wanted to be sick and nothing came up.

He kept lecturing me and I didn't answer. I scrolled my phone to get away from it and landed on Jessica Stone's latest post.

Her post read: [Turns out it's the guys who know how to take care of a person.]

Somebody commented under it: [Looks like somebody's happy again.]

Jessica fired back: [Watch your mouth, or his wife will come punch you in the chest.]

Any other time, one post from Jessica about Simon and I would have made a scene.

I would sent: [Wow, you two really match. I'm rooting for you.

[A shame, though. A hundred years ago you could at least have been a proper mistress. Now you're just the other woman nobody counts.]

That time I answered her calmly. The comments blew up, Simon's phone started ringing, and somebody had tipped him off.

He hung up, and his eyes were as gentle as ever. "Babe, aren't you going to yell at me?"

I shook my head. "You two are just friends. I get it."

He pinched my cheek. "Look at you. Such a good girl."

Then he explained, "I was only checking on her health. Nothing else happened. Take care of yourself and the baby, and stop imagining things."

All the hurt I had stored up overnight drained out of me, and I wanted to laugh, and I didn't have the strength for it.

When he saw I was still down, he got up and left the room, and ten minutes later he came back with an armful of roses and pushed them at me.

He said, "All right, that's enough. I ordered you flowers. Cheer up."

He sat down beside me and peeled an orange. "There's nothing going on. If there were, do you think you would have gotten a look in?"

I ignored the orange and dropped the roses on the table, and I went back to my phone, and he still didn't get angry.

He pulled the orange apart and held a segment up to my mouth.

The night before, I had gotten up to use the bathroom and found the bed empty, and passing the window, I saw the two of them all over each other.

Those images ran through my head while I looked at the hand in front of me, and nausea came up my throat.

Simon said, "All right, drop the act. Who is that miserable look for, day after day? You got pregnant and now you think you're something."

He threw the orange on the floor and stamped on it until the juice ran out.

He had always been like that, doing whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. When he was in a good mood, I could carry on all day and he would keep coaxing me.

He went upstairs and got on a video call with his buddies. He kept his voice down, and I heard every word of it.

His friend said, "Ha, man, you got caught. Did the little wife come at your chest with her tiny fists?

"I don't even want to talk about that wife of yours. She's low, and she doesn't think about you for one second.

"Jessica's one of your crew when it comes down to it. Why does your wife have to talk about her like that?"

Jessica sounded put out. "Just drop it. She's thin-skinned. One photo and she can't handle it."

His friend sneered, "A woman like that needs straightening out. She would behave fast if she ran into a man who hits.

"Simon, be careful. She's carrying your kid, so don't lose your temper and hit her. Women are precious these days. You can't touch them. Terrifying."

Jessica clicked her tongue twice.

Simon scoffed. "No chance. Lily Moon is a dog I own. When the owner's in a good mood, she gets a smile.

"She cut off her own family to chase me. She was mine the summer she finished high school. Without me she would cry herself to death."

He sounded delighted, the way a man sounds when he is showing off a trophy.