Chapter 2

The world went dead silent, like a sledgehammer had smashed into my skull.

Leo had been dead for barely a year.

And here Alexander was, practically frothing at the mouth to bring Cynthia’s son into our home for me to raise.

What made it sicker was that this child was only a year younger than Leo.

How on earth did he manage to build a second family with another woman behind my back while whispering sweet nothings in my ear?

What did our son ever mean to him?

Tears spilled over my lashes, dripping onto the back of his hand like boiling acid. Alexander flinched, shrinking back for a fraction of a second.

Flustered, he reached out to wipe my wet cheeks.

I wrenched my face away, my vision blurring behind a wall of tears.

"Do you think Leo is something you can just replace?"

"How could you ever think that?! Leo was my son too!"

Alexander’s frantic panic only drove the knife deeper into my chest.

"I only wanted to distract you! I wanted to help you pull yourself out of the dark!"

I stared right through him.

"Alexander, do you love me?"

"Of course I love you!"

His voice was loud, his tone dripping with desperate sincerity.

Yet his eyes darted away, completely unable to hold my gaze, exposing the rotten guilt inside.

Outside, rain began to pour against the glass.

The cold dampness seeped into my shattered leg bones, sending throbbing agony shooting through my body.

I didn't have the energy to peel back his lies right now. Slowly, I wheeled myself back into my bedroom.

Leo’s birthday was coming up. I still had to prepare for it.

Hurried footsteps echoed behind me.

"Chloe, wait, I—"

A custom ringtone cut through his words.

Through the speaker, Cynthia’s whiny voice dripped through the line.

"Alex, the thunder is terrifying me..."

Alexander immediately grabbed his car keys off the console.

"I’m coming over right now. Lock the doors and windows."

Covering the mic with his palm, he tried to sound gentle as he coaxed me, "Chloe, there's an emergency at the office. Go to sleep early tonight, okay?"

Before he walked out, he went out of his way to hide all of Leo’s things from plain sight.

He threw the seafood pasta directly into the trash chute.

All so I wouldn't spiral if I saw them.

In the dead of night, Cynthia sent me a video on SnapChat.

Alexander was wearing a bathrobe, pulling her into his lap and kissing her deeply.

"Good girl. Soon, our boy will be able to call me Dad out in the open."

"I'm sorry you had to wait in the shadows for so long."

On her ring finger rested an identical band to the one Alexander wore.

She rubbed her nose against his neck like a spoiled kitten.

"Then you better hurry up and marry me."

Alexander didn't answer with words. Instead, he pinned her beneath him on the sheets...

[He only married you because of me anyway. An empty, dead marriage, and now you have to raise my kid. You're pathetic.]

Tears soaked completely through my pillow, draining every ounce of agony left in my soul.

After a long time, I texted back:

[I hope you get what you want soon.]

She snapped back instantly: [Just you wait!]

When they were finally done, Alexander texted me, claiming he had to go out of town on a business trip for a few days.

A man who had never cared for sweet talk suddenly sent me dozens of messages repeating, I love you, Chloe.

I didn't reply to a single one.

Instead, I turned on Do Not Disturb.

With an ego as massive as his, he didn't reach out to me for days after that cold shoulder.

Not until the day of Leo’s birthday.

When I arrived at his grave, I saw Cynthia standing there, holding her son, Timmy, by the hand.

"Don't worry, little guy. I'll make sure to keep your daddy company for you."

"In your next life, you can come be my baby. I'm definitely a way better mother than yours ever was!"