Chapter 1

Austin was supposed to be the perfect, doting husband.

We had been married for seven years. To give him a child, I endured over a hundred hormone injections and went through hell.

Today was our final embryo transfer. Before I went into the operating room, he kissed my forehead and promised he wouldn't leave my side.

But when I was wheeled out, fighting through the pain, the hallway was completely empty.

The nurse looked at me with pity. She said my husband had taken a phone call and rushed off in a hurry.

I lay on that freezing hospital bed for six long hours. As the anesthesia wore off, the pain made me break out in a cold sweat.

He didn't reply to a single Snapchat message.

At dusk, dragging my weak, aching body down to the parking garage, I finally found him. He was in his car.

He was holding Ashley, his childhood friend who suffered from depression, comforting her in his arms.

Ashley leaned against his chest and looked at me with tear-filled eyes.

"Clara, I'm so sorry. My divorce was finalized today, and Austin was just worried I'd do something reckless."

Austin's face turned grim. He shot me a glare full of blame.

"You just had surgery. Why are you running around? Ashley is highly unstable right now. Can't you be more understanding for once?"

I stared at the bracelet on his wrist. "Do you even remember what I just went through in that operating room today?"

He froze. But Ashley gripped his hem even tighter, sobbing, "Clara, you can always try for another baby. But if Austin hadn't been here today, I would've lost my life."

Austin didn't hesitate for a second. Right in front of me, he yanked the pendant from my necklace and placed it around Ashley's neck.

It turned out his devotion was never meant for me alone.