Chapter 1

It was our third wedding anniversary, and I was sitting alone at a dinner table set for two.

The steak was getting cold. The wine I had picked out sat unopened. The whole house was quiet, so quiet I could hear the clock ticking on the wall.

I held the positive pregnancy test in my hand, the two pink lines a secret I had been waiting all day to share. I had imagined this moment a thousand times. I would tell Ethan, he would lift me up and spin me around, and the last piece of our life together would finally click into place.

But he was late. Very late.

Just as I was about to clear the table, headlights swept across the living room window. Relief washed over me for a second, but then it vanished.

His car door opened, and then the passenger door opened too.

Ethan walked around the car and helped a woman out. It was Chloe. His college sweetheart. The ghost who had haunted our marriage from the very beginning.

I saw him laugh at something she said, his head tilted in that familiar way. A way he hadn't looked at me in a long time.

My heart dropped.

Instinctively, my hand, which had been resting on my stomach, pulled away. I shoved the pregnancy test deep into my pocket.

In that single moment, watching him lead another woman to our front door on our anniversary, I knew.

It was over.

I remembered the pure joy I felt this morning when I saw those two pink lines. I had sat on the bathroom floor and cried happy tears, thinking about how this baby would change everything. It would solidify our family, make our love real and tangible.

What a fool I was.

Chloe' s return a few months ago had been a quiet storm. She had shown up at Ethan' s tech company, claiming her own marriage had just ended and she was heartbroken and alone in the city.

"She' s just a friend, Ava," Ethan had said. "She needs someone right now."

At first, it was just lunches. Then it became late-night phone calls. Then he started canceling our plans to go "cheer her up." The storm got louder and louder, until it was the only thing I could hear.

And now, here it was, breaking down my front door.

I stood up and walked to the entryway, my face a calm mask I had perfected over the years. I met them as they stepped inside.

"Ava," Ethan said, a little surprised to see me standing there. He had probably hoped I was already in bed. "Chloe wasn't feeling well, so I brought her back here to rest for a bit."

Chloe leaned against him, looking pale and fragile. She was a social media influencer, and she knew her angles. She looked at me with wide, innocent eyes.

"I' m so sorry to intrude, Ava," she said, her voice soft. "I told Ethan it was a bad idea, but he insisted."

She was a good actress. I could see the flicker of victory in her eyes.

My hand stayed in my pocket, my fingers wrapped tight around the plastic stick. A secret promise to a child he would never know about. A reason to fight for a life without him.

"It' s fine," I said, my voice empty. "Make yourself at home."