Chapter 1

The day I found out I was pregnant, I heard my husband promise another woman that he would never let me have his child.

I sat in my car at the end of Bennett Lawson’s lake house driveway, holding the ultrasound report against my chest.

The paper was still warm from my hand.

For three days, I had imagined this moment.

I imagined his expression when I told him.

I imagined him smiling, pulling me into his arms, and finally telling me that after eight years of marriage, we were going to become parents.

Bennett had told me he would be away on a business trip this weekend.

So I came here secretly.

I wanted to surprise the man I loved.

Then I heard a woman’s laugh.

I froze.

The sound came from the back terrace.

Not a stranger’s laugh.

A familiar one.

I slowly opened the car door and stepped outside.

I walked around the side of the house. The thick grass muffled my footsteps.

A pair of red high heels lay carelessly on the wooden deck.

Two wine glasses sat on the outdoor patio table.

And my perfect, gentle husband stood by the railing.

He was not alone.

He was holding Sabine Warren in his arms.

Sabine was the younger sister of his dead fiancée, Grace.

Bennett always told me Sabine was just a little sister to him.

Now, his large hand rested flat against Sabine’s bare lower stomach.

"When are you going to divorce her, Bennett?" Sabine asked.

She looked up at him. Her fingers played with his shirt collar.

"I am tired of hiding. Our baby needs a real home."

"Soon."

"But Nora..." Sabine bit her lip, acting worried. "She loves you so much and acts like the perfect wife. She will never leave."

Bennett let out a cold laugh.

"She owes Grace a life," Bennett said. "Letting her play Mrs. Lawson for eight years was her punishment. It is my greatest mercy."

"Did you ever love her?" Sabine asked. "Even a little?"

"Never. Every time she touches me, I think of Grace's car crash. I only feel disgust." he said.

I stood still behind the cold bricks.

My fingernails dug deeply into my palms.

I thought he was working. He was holding Sabine.

I thought it was just a secret affair. Sabine claimed she was carrying his baby.

I thought our marriage was love. It was just an eight-year revenge.

Sabine lowered her voice.

"What if she gets pregnant? She could use a baby to trap you."

My heart jumped.

Bennett looked down at Sabine’s stomach with a smile.

"She won't," Bennett said. "Nora will never have my child. I made sure of that."

"Are you still giving her those pills?" Sabine asked softly.

"Every single day." Bennett said.

I looked down at the ultrasound report in my hand.

A small life was growing inside me.

Our child.

The child I had waited years for.

Then, I looked at the red high heels on the floor.

I looked at his hand resting on her pregnant belly.

For one breath, anger urged me onto the terrace. I stayed behind the chimney instead.

A scream would only warn them that I knew.

I simply turned around.

I walked back across the grass to my car.

My hands shook as I unlocked the car door.

I sat in the driver's seat.

I pulled the white envelope from my bag.

I took out my ultrasound report.

I traced the tiny black dot on the paper with my trembling finger.

Sabine was pregnant with his child.

And I was pregnant, too.

But now, I finally understood.

He clearly never wanted mine.