Chapter 2

My phone buzzed. I stared at the screen with dead eyes. It was a message from Richard.

My heart flinched.

I tapped it open. It was a photo of Richard and Nina together, both of them beaming.

Seeing them pressed so close together, so effortlessly happy, felt like a blade twisting between my ribs. For a moment I couldn't tell which hurt worse, the wound on my hand or the one carved into my chest.

The way Richard looked at Nina was the same as it had always been—tender, adoring, completely devoted. He had never once looked at me that way. Not even for a second.

Richard and I grew up together. Childhood sweethearts, people used to say.

When we were kids, he found me annoying. Every look he gave me dripped with impatience.

As we got older, the impatience faded into indifference. By then, he was already secretly seeing Nina behind his family's back.

I kept my distance, afraid of causing trouble for Nina and making Richard hate me even more.

But the Evans family never approved of Nina, a nobody from the wrong side of the tracks. Richard fought them for her as long as he could, but in the end, they still broke up.

Before I could even feel relieved, a drunk Richard pinned me down one night. What happened next shattered every shy, girlish dream I'd ever had about my wedding night.

A second later, the photo was recalled.

Then a follow-up message came through. [Nina sent that to the wrong person. Just pretend you didn't see it. No need to make yourself uncomfortable.]

I could only smile at how pathetic it all was.

I slipped the phone back into my pocket, pulled the wedding ring off my finger, and set it on top of the divorce papers.

I ran into Michael on my way out of the courtyard.

He was decked out in a ridiculous biker outfit, hopping off the back of some stranger's motorcycle with a grin plastered across his face. He was already making plans to go street racing again the next day.

The second he spotted me, the grin vanished. His guard went up like a wall.

"Don't start with me." He looked me up and down with open disgust. "Hillbilly."

I'd heard those words a thousand times before, but they still carved right through me. So deep I couldn't breathe.

I shook my head, but the words slipped out anyway, automatic, instinctive. "Be careful out there."

Michael blinked. He hadn't expected me to skip the usual lecture.

He shot me a suspicious look. "What are you up to now?" His voice turned sharp. "I'm warning you, stay out of my business!"

The child I had carried for nine months stared at me with open revulsion, every inch of him bristling with hostility.

I noticed a smudge of dirt on his cheek and reached out without thinking to wipe it away.

Michael shoved me before I could touch him. I stumbled and hit the ground hard, my palm slamming down onto a jagged stone. A sharp bolt of pain shot through my hand.

Michael froze. He fidgeted with the hem of his jacket, a flicker of regret crossing his face.

He opened his mouth to say something, but a bright, melodic voice cut him off. "Michael, sweetie! Come see what I brought you!"

At the sound of Nina's voice, Michael's eyes lit up. He bolted toward her without a backward glance. "Ms. Monroe! I missed you so much!"

Nina stood in the doorway wearing a white sundress, delicate as an orchid, with Richard hovering protectively at her side. Their bodies pressed close, like they belonged together.

Nina brushed the hair from Michael's forehead and gave him a gentle pout. "Even if Mommy makes you upset, you can't push her around like that, okay? Go say sorry."

Michael grumbled under his breath and grudgingly turned to face me. He rolled his eyes. "Sorry."

Watching my own son apologize to me only because another woman told him to was almost funny. Almost.

Nina turned to me with that soft, pitying smile of hers. "Ms. Grant, he's still just a child. Don't take it so personally.

"I haven't been well, and Richard only drew up those papers to cheer me up. Please don't take it to heart. All I want is a little time with him. Even just a moment would be enough for me to die happy."

I watched this beautiful woman weep her pretty tears, completely unmoved. Richard and Michael, on the other hand, looked like their hearts were about to shatter.

Richard pulled Nina into his arms and murmured soothing words. "Lauren would never take it seriously. She's way too thick-skinned for that. She'd cling to me no matter what."

Michael panicked and shoved me toward the gate, teeth bared. "Get lost! You're only making Ms. Monroe upset!

"I hate you! I don't want you as my mom anymore!"