Chapter 2

When I came home from the hospital, Edward was sitting in the living room with Cookie in his arms, cooing at her in that soft voice he never used with me.

He said, "It's all Daddy's fault, baby. I'll never let anyone else take you out again. It's way too dangerous out there. If your mommy hadn't found you, someone could've snatched you up."

The "mommy" he was talking about wasn't me.

From the day I married Edward, he had always told Cookie to call me "Aunt Lily." That was it.

And it was all because Rose had begged him through her tears the day they broke up. "Edward, no matter who you end up marrying, please don't let Cookie call that woman her mom. I'm Cookie's only mom. Please, I'm begging you."

I never realized Edward was so devoted to keeping his promises, because every single promise he had made to me after our wedding, he had broken without a second thought.

I stood there, pale and barely holding myself together, and Edward didn't ask how I was feeling. He didn't even glance at me with anything close to concern. He just glared at me, his eyes cold and hard.

He said, "You can't even handle something this simple? Funny how you were so eager to suck up to my mother and charm the rest of my family before the wedding. But now you can't even take care of a dog?"

He threw my past right in my face like it was nothing, stripping me bare without a shred of mercy.

I would admit I put a lot of effort into marrying Edward back then, but my family had status, and the Grant family elders had already favored me from the start.

Rose was a woman with no standing, and her mother had been a prostitute. If Edward married her, it would only drag the Grant family name through the mud.

But all I ever did was stay close to the elders and build normal relationships with them. In Edward's version of things, though, I became some scheming woman who would stop at nothing to marry him.

I should have seen my husband for who he really was a long time ago.

But it took me six full years to finally understand that when the journey itself was wrong, the destination wouldn't change, no matter how much love and effort I poured into it.

Edward had just torn me apart with his words. The truth about my miscarriage sat right on the tip of my tongue, and I turned it over three times before swallowing it back down.

Before, I never had the chance to tell him. But now that we were fighting over a divorce, I didn't see the point anymore.

"Lily, are you seriously divorcing me over a dog?" Edward repeated the question, pulling me out of my thoughts.

But instead of feeling rattled, I felt calm. "Yes. It's about the dog."

"You're out of your mind!" The words barely left his mouth before a knock came at the door. Edward clenched his jaw, shot me one last hard look, and went to answer it.

The person standing there was none other than Rose. Cookie caught her familiar scent and bounded over, tail wagging wildly.

Edward's expression softened immediately. "Rose, what are you doing here?"

Rose wore a perfect smile and that carefully crafted no-makeup look, dressed in a white sundress. She looked exactly like the untouchable dream girl straight out of a romance novel.

She said, "Edward, I just came to check on Cookie. If I hadn't been passing through the neighborhood, she could've gotten lost. What if someone took her? I raised her since she was a puppy. How could I not worry?"

She finished and cast a subtle glance my way, equal parts challenge and accusation.

Edward had completely forgotten that just seconds ago, I had been asking for a divorce. He was already angry, and Rose's little performance pushed him right over the edge.

I didn't want to watch these two lunatics put on their little show in front of me, so I threw together the few things I actually needed from the house, walked to the door, and turned to Edward with a cold stare.

I said, "I'll send you the divorce papers. Sign them when you get a chance, and we can end this like adults."

As the door shut behind me, I heard Rose's voice from inside, dripping with fake surprise. "Oh no, did I come at a bad time? I think I upset her. Should I go talk to her?"

Edward snorted, "She's just trying to get me to chase after her. She almost lost Cookie the other day, and I haven't even gotten into that with her yet, but somehow she's the one throwing a fit."

He added, "Don't bother. Give it two days and she'll come crawling back."

His smug little speech almost made me laugh.

I couldn't see Rose's face, but I knew she had to be grinning ear to ear right about now.

I didn't look back. I walked away from that house without so much as a change in my expression.

There was a time when I would have come running back. I always did. I loved Edward, and everyone in this city knew it. But the love was gone now. Or a better way to put it was that I was just exhausted.

I'd finally learned the hard way that I could never win over a dog that already belonged to someone else, and the same rule applied to men.

In Edward's mind, I was the one who had torn him and Rose apart. So fine. Let me step out of the picture and see if the two of them could actually make it work without me in the way.