Chapter 1

I had just gotten my son to sleep when I received a call from an unfamiliar number.

“Mrs. Carter, this is Baby Luxe. Congratulations! You’ve won our grand prize.”

I froze. “What grand prize?”

The caller quickly apologized. “Sorry, Mrs. Carter. Just a little Halloween trick! There’s no grand prize, but we do have a gift for you.”

Assuming it was another pointless scam call, I was about to hang up.

Then she continued, “You and Mr. Ethan Parker have spent over two million dollars at our stores. We’ve prepared a gift package worth a hundred thousand dollars for you. When would you like to pick it up?”

My hand stopped moving the instant I heard Ethan Parker’s name.

That was my husband’s name.

But my last name wasn’t Carter.

And we had never shopped at any baby store.

My eyes drifted to the stroller sitting awkwardly in the corner of our rented apartment.

The words Baby Luxe on its frame made my heart lurch.

I had thought it was strange the day Ethan brought it home.

Baby Luxe was a high-end baby boutique. Even its cheapest stroller cost thirty thousand dollars.

But Ethan only made forty-five hundred a month.

I had asked him where the stroller came from.

He said his boss had given it to him as a reward for being an outstanding employee.

As he spoke, he rubbed his nose.

He didn’t know that was something he did whenever he lied.

Ethan was lying to me.

Before I could press him, the baby woke up, and I forgot all about it.

Now that flicker of suspicion came rushing back.

“Ma’am? Are you still there?”

I snapped out of my thoughts.

After murmuring a response, I heard myself ask in an unusually calm voice:

“I remember buying a seafoam-green stroller from your store recently. A friend saw it and really liked it. Do you have any more in stock?”

Even I thought the question sounded absurd.

Ethan and I were as ordinary as a family could get.

How would we know anyone who could afford a stroller that cost tens of thousands of dollars?

But once a seed of suspicion took root, it could only grow.

I hoped I was being paranoid.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t.

The polite voice on the other end turned apologetic.

“Do you mean the one purchased on January twenty-fourth?”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Carter. That’s a new model. Mr. Parker was able to get early access as a VIP customer. Your friend will have to wait until its official release in May.”

My eyes trembled, and my grip tightened around my phone.

January twenty-fourth. That was the day Ethan had brought the stroller home.

He said it was an employee perk.

But the stroller hadn’t even been released yet.

He had brought home an unreleased stroller on the very same day another man named Ethan Parker had supposedly bought one.

Could that really be a coincidence?

It felt as though someone had sliced open my heart. A chill spread through my entire body.

If the employee was telling the truth…

Where had Ethan gotten two million dollars?

He made forty-five hundred a month and transferred four thousand of it to me.

What money could he possibly be spending at a luxury baby boutique?

Was Ethan having an affair with a rich woman?

Or was this really just a coincidence?

My eyes kept darting toward the stroller.

I heard my own hoarse voice say slowly, “Thank you. I’ll pick it up tomorrow.”

After hanging up, I hesitated for a long time before calling Ethan.

He didn’t answer.

Suddenly, I couldn’t stop thinking about the time we went shopping for a crib shortly after I got pregnant.

The prices at regular baby stores were so high that I hadn’t even dared to step inside, let alone somewhere like Baby Luxe.

In the end, we saved money by taking my cousin’s old crib.

Back then, Ethan told me he would work hard so our baby could have the best of everything.

My eyes burned as I looked at my sleeping son.

We had recently started weaning him, and his little face had grown noticeably thinner.

The thought of the two of us doing everything we could to save Ethan money while he might have spent over two million dollars elsewhere…

My heart clenched.

Just then, Ethan called back.

I pulled myself together and answered.

“Honey, work’s sending me out of town at the last minute. Don’t wait up for me tonight.”

Business trips were routine for Ethan. Every time he checked into a hotel, he sent me a video to let me know he had arrived.

I had never suspected a thing.

But after that call from the baby store, I was painfully alert to everything.

After a moment of silence, I said softly, “Okay. Be safe.”

I wasn’t going to ask him.

Tomorrow, I would find out for myself.