Chapter 2

I'd just opened my mouth to ask about Melanie and the so-called kidney donation when the phone clipped at his waist started ringing.

He glanced at the screen, and a smile rose to his lips before he could stop it.

I caught the name he'd saved it under: "My Silly Girl."

Ha. Melanie. The woman who stole twenty years of my life. From the day they brought me back, she'd tormented me in the shadows.

And now she'd killed my child.

There was a time Cyril knew exactly what filthy things she did to me. A time he couldn't stand her.

Somewhere along the way, she'd become his "Silly Girl."

I could have laughed until I was sick.

Her voice oozed out of the phone, sweet and clinging. "Cyril, my custom gown came in. Come with me to try it on. Our wedding's only five days away, we can't afford to fall behind on anything."

"Okay, I'm coming." He was already moving, tossing me a careless line over his shoulder. "Something urgent came up at the company. I have to go."

"Cyril."

I stopped him. My voice came out hard as iron. "Let's get divorced."

His footsteps halted. His back went stiff for a beat, then he slowly turned around.

Meeting my calm stare, his brow drew tighter and tighter until it broke into pure impatience.

"How long are you going to keep this up? I already told you, Melanie didn't mean it."

"She was running a high fever that day, she grabbed the wrong medicine by mistake. She blames herself more than anyone! Can't you find it in you to be the bigger person?"

The bigger person?

I looked at him, and a laugh shook loose out of me, shook through my whole body.

When I lay bleeding on the floor, losing the baby, all he'd cared about was whether I'd frightened her.

When they took my womb, when they made sure I could never be a mother again, he was in my bed working hard to "comfort" the mother of his child.

And now he wanted me to be the bigger person.

I held his eyes, searching them for a trace of guilt. A trace of love.

He was studying my face too, looking for the usual collapse, the sobbing, the hysteria.

But there was nothing in my eyes except a cold, still pool. Not even anger.

He sighed, came over, pulled me against him, and pressed a light kiss to my forehead.

"I know it hurts, losing the baby. I'll make it up to you."

"Anything you want. But divorce is off the table."

No.

Cyril, I can.

I have your fake marriage certificate to thank for that. It means I can walk out any time I please.

But he was in a hurry to go meet Melanie, and he never took the word seriously. He turned and left in a rush.

I wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes, turned, and opened the very back of the closet.

I drew out a yellowed document from inside.

In five days, at their wedding, I'd give him a gift he would never forget.

When I woke, the sheets beside me were empty.

I was at the counter making coffee when one of Cyril's men walked in.

"Ma'am, flowers from Mr. Weiss."

He set down nine hundred ninety-nine roses and an elegant covered tray in front of me, his face full of envy.

"Mr. Weiss really cares about you. He had a Michelin chef prepare a special breakfast to support the pregnancy."

Looking at that cruelly ironic breakfast, and at the roses Melanie loved and I hated most, I felt my heart start to burn.

"Throw them out. I don't need them." I looked away. My voice gave nothing away.

For all six months I was pregnant, Cyril never once asked whether I'd eaten, let alone ordered anyone to make me breakfast.

"Are you sure, ma'am?"

While he hesitated, Melanie came out of the guest room on the second floor.

"Oh, those are from Cyril. He said that for the baby's health, he'd have someone make me a special breakfast every day."

She came hurrying down the stairs, scooped up the tray with a little hop of delight, and let her eyes drag mockingly across my stomach.

"You'll never need anything to support a pregnancy again, sister. Such a shame."

After the man left, I looked at her, at the smile dancing in her eyes, and couldn't understand it.

"Melanie, why are you doing this to me?"

"Who told you to come back and compete with me? All that wealth and status, it was supposed to be mine."

"Including Cyril. Just because you're the Hensons' real daughter, the moment you showed up, the engagement was suddenly yours. Why should it be? Why?!"

My whole body was shaking. I screamed at her, "Is any of that my fault? I never wanted to fight you for a single thing!"

The smile curving her lips turned evil enough to chill the blood. "So what? I'm going to take everything from you. Your husband, your name, even your womb."

I gritted my teeth, fists clenched, and growled low, "So the person who saved Cyril was me, and you claim it was you? Aren't you afraid I'll expose your lie?"