Chapter 1

The two pink lines on the pregnancy test stared back at me.

I sat on the edge of the bathtub, my hands trembling. A small, shaky laugh escaped my lips. After two years of trying, of quiet heartbreak every month, it was finally real. I was pregnant.

My first thought was David. I had to tell him. He was at a tech conference out of state, the keynote speaker. He' d be so happy. This was everything we wanted.

I imagined his face, the way his eyes would light up, how he would pull me into a hug and spin me around our living room. He had been working so hard, pouring everything into his company, "Chen Innovations." He always said he was building an empire for our future family. Now, that future was starting.

I grabbed my phone, my fingers fumbling with the screen. I wanted to see his face, so I hit the video call button. I held the pregnancy test up, ready to surprise him the moment he answered.

The call connected.

But it wasn't David' s face that filled the screen. It was a hotel room ceiling. I heard his voice, but he wasn' t talking to me.

"It' s just Sarah," he said, his tone dismissive, annoyed.

My smile froze. I lowered the test.

"Don' t worry about her," David' s voice continued, smooth and reassuring, but not for me. "I' ll tell her I want a divorce tomorrow."

A woman' s voice, husky and triumphant, floated through the phone' s speaker.

"You promise, David? You' ll leave her for me?"

I recognized that voice. Emily White. His head of marketing. The woman I had personally recommended for the job.

"I promise," David said. The sound of a kiss echoed through the speaker, a wet, intimate sound that made my stomach turn. "Tomorrow, it' ll be over. Then it' s just you and me. And our baby."

My phone slipped from my hand. It clattered against the tile floor, the screen cracking.

The words echoed in the silent bathroom.

Divorce.

Our baby.

The two pink lines on the test in my other hand felt like a cruel joke.

My breath hitched. A wave of nausea, so much stronger than the morning sickness I' d felt earlier, washed over me. I wrapped my arms around my stomach, a protective instinct that was now pointless.

The silence from the phone was absolute. They must have heard it fall.

Then, David' s voice came through again, cold and sharp.

"Sarah?"

I couldn' t answer. My throat was tight, my lungs felt like they were collapsing.

"Sarah, are you there?"

He didn' t sound worried. He sounded angry. Angry that I had overheard.

I stared at my reflection in the dark screen of my broken phone. A woman with tear-filled eyes, a ghost in her own life.

He hung up.

The connection was cut. Just like that.

I sat there on the cold floor of the bathroom, the positive pregnancy test clutched in my hand, and I understood.

My marriage was over.

And I was completely, utterly alone.