Chapter 2

The night my daughter had her appendicitis surgery, Ethan Carter's assistant delivered the divorce papers.

The TV was live-streaming his interview. He was chatting and laughing into the camera, wearing the Vacheron Constantin watch I'd given him.

His executive assistant, Zach, handed me the agreement, his eyes avoiding mine.

"Mr. Carter said if there are no issues, just sign it."

"Mr. Carter said if there are no issues, just sign it. Let's end this amicably. Name your terms, as long as you don't make a scene."

I opened the agreement.

Ethan was being generous.

The downtown penthouse would go to me, half the savings, and custody of our daughter.

Even the child support. He'd filled in a number that would make ordinary people jealous.

Aside from his company shares, he was giving me almost everything he could.

As if this were just a business transaction, and as long as the money was right, everything would be decent and proper.

The hospital room was quiet except for the rhythmic dripping of the IV.

Emma was still unconscious, her little face deathly pale.

"The reason?" I asked.

Zach stammered for a while before repeating Ethan's exact words.

"Mr. Carter said you two are no longer on the same path."

"His circle now discusses IPOs, financing, overseas acquisitions."

"And you..." Zach didn't dare continue.

And me, these past few years I'd been stuck around the stove and the kid, talking about grocery prices and tutoring classes.

In his eyes, I was a nanny with whom he had nothing in common.

Even worse than a nanny, because a nanny wouldn't occupy the position of Mrs. Carter.

My phone vibrated.

Ethan sent a message on SnapChat.

"Hire a good nurse for Emma. Did you sign the agreement?"

Then another message followed.

"This is better for everyone."

Every word dripped with condescension.

He probably thought that as long as he paid enough, I should be grateful and vacate my position.

I stared at those lines of text.

Twenty years of childhood friendship, and this was all it amounted to.

"Pen."

I held out my hand.

Zach froze for a moment, then quickly handed over a pen.

I flipped to the last page and signed my name cleanly.

"Nine o'clock tomorrow morning. Meet at the courthouse."

I closed the agreement and handed it back.

Zach clearly hadn't expected me to be so decisive. His hand trembled slightly as he took the document.

"Alright, Ms. Hayes. I'll inform Mr. Carter."

Zach left.

I stood up and tucked the blanket around my daughter, then glanced at the interview still playing on TV.

The host was asking about the company's technical advantages.

Ethan answered confidently, "This is the core architecture our team spent three years developing. It's impenetrable."

I picked up the remote and turned off the TV.

The hospital room returned to silence.

I pulled an old laptop from my bag and connected to the hospital WiFi.

I didn't open any web pages. I just typed a few lines of code into a black terminal window.

Several lines of green data streams flickered on the screen before stopping at a red cursor.

It was the backend access point to Ethan's company.

After finishing everything, I closed the computer and changed Emma's IV bag.

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