Chapter 2

The next morning, the red mark on my cheek had faded to a dull, purplish bruise. I covered it with makeup, my hands trembling. Every time I looked at Lily, sleeping peacefully in her crib, a wave of cold terror washed over me. The deadline-her first birthday-felt like a guillotine hanging over our heads.

I had to fix this. I couldn' t let Matthew' s twisted sense of obligation destroy my daughter' s life.

I drove to his office, a sleek, glass-and-steel tower downtown where he worked as a project manager. I walked into the lobby, my heart pounding against my ribs.

The receptionist, a young woman with a perfectly bored expression, looked up from her magazine. "Can I help you?"

"I' m here to see Matthew Hughes. I' m his wife, Jennifer."

She gave me a once-over, her eyes lingering on my slightly disheveled appearance. She smirked. "Mr. Hughes is in a meeting. And he' s already told me how to handle his... crazy ex."

"Ex?" The word felt like another slap. "We' re not divorced. I' m his wife."

She just shrugged, a picture of indifference. "That' s not what he says." She gestured with her chin towards the glass-walled conference room. "And besides, he' s busy."

I looked where she was pointing. And there he was. Matthew. He wasn' t in a serious corporate meeting. He was leaning over a desk, his arm draped possessively around a woman' s shoulders, his face a mask of concern and adoration.

The woman was Sabrina Todd. She was dressed in a sharp business suit, looking not like a grieving widow but like a confident professional. Matthew had given her a job here.

The sight of them together, so comfortable, so intimate, ignited a fire in my chest. I pushed past the reception desk, ignoring the woman' s cry of protest.

I threw open the conference room door. "Matthew!"

He looked up, startled. His expression shifted from shock to pure fury when he saw me. Sabrina, however, perfected her role instantly. Her face crumpled, her eyes welling with tears as she shrank back against Matthew.

"Oh, Jennifer," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Please, don' t make a scene."

"A scene?" I laughed, a harsh, broken sound. "My husband gave my daughter' s future to your son, and you' re worried about a scene?"

Matthew rushed to Sabrina' s side, shielding her as if I were the one who was a threat. "Look what you' re doing! You' re upsetting her! Can' t you see what she' s been through?"

"What she' s been through?" I pointed a shaking finger at him. "What about what Lily is going through? What about what I' m going through? You slapped me, Matthew!"

Whispers erupted from the onlookers in the office. Matthew' s face turned crimson. He was a man who cared deeply about his public image, and I was destroying it.

Sabrina chose that moment to deliver her masterstroke. She looked at Matthew, her eyes wide with feigned innocence and concern. "Matthew, honey... are you sure the baby is yours? I mean... Jennifer has been so unstable lately. And I thought I saw..." She let the sentence hang, the insinuation as poisonous as a snake bite.

It was a lie, a vicious, calculated lie. But Matthew, his mind already warped by his savior complex and his rage at being publicly humiliated, latched onto it. It was the excuse he needed. The perfect justification for his monstrous actions.

His eyes, when they met mine, were cold and filled with a stranger' s contempt. "Get out," he hissed. "Get out before I have security throw you out."

I looked from his face to Sabrina' s triumphant, pitying smirk. I saw the whispers, the stares, the judgment in the eyes of his colleagues. I had come here seeking justice, a desperate plea for my daughter. Instead, I was branded a crazy, unfaithful ex.

I backed away, the fight draining out of me, replaced by a cold, hard certainty. This was over. My love for him, my trust, my hope for our family-it was all dead.

As I walked out of that office, I made a promise to myself and to the tiny, innocent life depending on me. I would not let them win. I would save my daughter, even if it meant doing it alone.