Chapter 1

When I came home from vacation, Bailey did not run to the door.

That was the first wrong thing.

My golden retriever had never missed the sound of my key in the lock. Even half-asleep, even buried under his blanket, he always came skidding across the marble floor with his tail whipping the air like he had been waiting his whole life for me to come back.

That night, the apartment was silent.

I dragged my suitcase inside and turned on the light.

Bailey was curled in his bed.

At first I thought he was asleep. Then his legs trembled.

I dropped the suitcase handle.

Two thick strips of false lashes had been glued to his eyelids. The glue had dried in hard, glossy clumps against the fur around his eyes. His eyes were swollen, wet, half-shut. He gave one small whimper when he heard me, then pressed his head deeper into the cushion as if he was afraid to move.

For a second, I could not breathe.

Then Ethan Shaw appeared in the bedroom doorway, wearing pajama pants and an annoyed expression. He leaned his shoulder against the frame and yawned.

"You're back?" he said. "Why are you making so much noise?"

I did not answer.

I was on my knees beside Bailey, trying to touch his face without hurting him.

Ethan glanced over and gave a lazy little laugh.

"Oh. That." He rubbed the back of his neck. "A coworker came by earlier. The new intern. She thought it would be funny. She's young, Vivian. She was just playing around."

Playing around.

The words sat in the room like a slap.

This was not playing around.

This was a warning.

Whoever had done this knew I would come home. Knew Bailey was mine. Knew exactly what I would see first when I walked through the door.

I wrapped Bailey in a towel and took him to the emergency vet.

The vet had to soften the glue before removing it. Bailey shook through the entire procedure. He never snapped, never growled. He only pressed his head into my stomach and breathed in frightened little bursts.

By the time I brought him home, the sky outside was almost pale.

I opened the front door and heard Ethan laughing in the bedroom.

His phone was on speaker.

"No, it's fine," he said, his voice warm in a way it had not been with me for months. "As long as it made you happy. It's just a dog."

A girl's voice answered, sweet and bright. "I was scared Mrs. Shaw would be mad."

Ethan chuckled.

"With me here, she won't dare make a scene."

I stopped in the hallway.

Bailey pressed against my leg.

Ethan had forgotten one very simple thing.

I had lifted him from nothing.

I had taught him how to write a board report, how to handle clients, how to sit in a room full of executives and not look like someone who had wandered in by mistake. I had introduced him to the people who made him. I had built the ladder he climbed.

And if I could raise him, I could let him fall.

Inside the bedroom, the girl giggled.

"Honestly, Mr. Shaw, Bailey looked so cute. Next time I should dye his fur. Mrs. Shaw stays home all day anyway. You'd think she would at least know how to keep a dog pretty."

I knew that voice.

Chloe Lane.

Twenty-two. Fresh out of college. New intern in Ethan's department. Pretty in that soft, harmless-looking way that made people excuse every insult before it landed.

The last time I had gone to Ethan's office with documents and soup, she had taken both from my hands as if she owned the door between us.

"Mrs. Shaw," she had said with a smile so clean it was almost polished, "Mr. Shaw is in a meeting. It may take a while. You probably have housework to do, so why don't you head home first?"

Polite words.

A leash hidden inside them.

Back then, I had not bothered with her. Before my career break, an intern at her level would not have been allowed to speak to me unless I spoke first.

Arguing with her would have lowered me.

Now I looked down at Bailey's swollen eyes and realized she had been waiting for me to lower myself all along.

Ethan came out of the bedroom, slipping his phone into his pocket. His gaze landed on Bailey.

"The vet fixed him, right?" he said. "Then it's over. Chloe even fed him a bone afterward. If you think about it, he got a treat out of the whole thing."

My hand tightened around Bailey's leash.

Years ago, Ethan had collapsed from alcohol poisoning after a client dinner. Bailey had run into the street, barking and pulling at a stranger's pant leg until someone followed him and called an ambulance.

When Ethan woke up in the hospital, he had cried while holding Bailey's face between his hands.

"He saved my life," Ethan had said. "We're keeping him. I owe this dog forever."

Forever had lasted until a pretty intern laughed.

Ethan nudged Bailey lightly with the toe of his slipper.

"Chloe said she might come over in a few days to dye his fur. I'll send you a list of what she likes to eat. Make something nice when she comes. She's a guest. We shouldn't be rude."

I looked at him.

The man I had loved for ten years stood in front of me, calm and entitled, asking me to cook for the woman who had hurt my dog in my own home.

Something inside me went very quiet.

I walked into the closet.

Ethan frowned. "Vivian?"

I took out the charcoal-gray Italian suit he had bought last month. Custom-made. Eight thousand dollars. He had bragged about wearing it to meet Mr. Cole, a client I had introduced him to.

Then I picked up the tailor's scissors from the drawer.

Snip.

The first cut opened the collar.

Snip.

The second cut went through the lapel.

By the time Ethan rushed in, the suit was a ruined pile of expensive fabric at my feet.

His face twisted.

"Vivian Hart, are you insane?" he shouted. "Do you know how much that cost? I needed that suit for the meeting with Cole!"

I let the scissors hang from my fingers.

"It's just a suit," I said. "I thought it would be funny."

His mouth opened.

No sound came out.

Then rage flooded his face.

"Over a dog?" he said, voice cracking. "You destroyed my suit over a dog? You're being completely unreasonable!"

I watched him kneel and pick up the torn pieces with shaking hands.

"Look at you," he said bitterly. "I take care of you, and this is what you become? A hysterical housewife?"

I almost laughed.

"You take care of me?" I said. "That is a very generous fantasy."

His face darkened.

"You asked me to stay home," I continued. "You said our parents were tired of waiting for grandchildren. You said I should take a planned family leave and focus on fertility treatments."

I stepped closer.

"One year ago, I was five levels above you at the company. You could barely put together a quarterly report when you started. I taught you. I opened doors for you. I let people believe you were worth the room you were standing in."

Ethan's grip tightened on the ruined suit.

I looked down at him the same way I used to look across a negotiation table at men who mistook silence for weakness.

"Ethan," I said, calm enough to surprise even myself. "I want a divorce."