Chapter 1

The day before our wedding anniversary, I happened to see a reminder text come in on my husband's phone.

"Mr. Henson, tomorrow is the day of your IVF procedure with your wife, Luna Pruitt. Please arrive within your scheduled appointment time."

I froze.

Luna was Darrell Henson's childhood sweetheart.

And Darrell and I had never booked any IVF.

Just then the bathroom door opened, and out of reflex I set the phone back exactly where it had been.

Darrell picked it up, glanced at the screen, and turned to me with an apologetic face.

"Honey, something urgent came up at the company. I have to travel for it, so I probably won't be able to spend tomorrow with you."

"Don't worry. Once I'm through with it, I'll make it up to you."

Then he left me standing there and buried himself in the bedroom, texting away with someone.

At the same time, Luna posted something to her feed: a photo of an IVF appointment confirmation, and a pair of hands clasped together.

On one of those hands was the anniversary watch I'd given Darrell.

The caption read: "Even if I can't conceive naturally, as long as he loves me enough, he'll find a way."

I saved the photo, then messaged my lawyer.

"Draft me a divorce agreement."

1.

When I went back into the bedroom, Darrell was sitting at the computer desk, texting Luna.

I came in. He didn't look at me.

"Go to sleep first. I still have work messages to deal with."

I lifted my head.

The mirror off to the side reflected his chat log with Luna.

"Darrell, tomorrow's the day for the IVF. I'm so excited. I'm going to have my own child."

A faint smile touched Darrell's face.

"Luna, I know you don't believe in marriage, but I promised you I'd help you have a child."

"You just could never conceive naturally, so if the IVF takes, at least it'll fulfill your wish."

"But your wife's going to be pretty angry about this, isn't she? She was always against the two of us getting too close before."

Darrell gave a cold laugh.

"Never mind her. Three years of marriage and she's been living off me the whole time. Everything she has today is thanks to me. She should count herself lucky I haven't divorced her."

"If she finds out, then I'll just tell her straight. And if she dares to object, she shouldn't blame me for what comes next."

Reading it, a chill spread through me.

Three years married, and it was true I'd never gone out to work.

But what Darrell didn't know

was that every time he left the house, I was at home studying one investment deal after another.

And before we ever married, I already owned a publicly listed company at the state level.

More than that, once my parents were gone, the Fortune 500 empire in their name would come to me as well.

Back when Darrell couldn't raise a cent for his startup, it was I who arranged for people to invest in him.

The reason I never told him any of this

was because of a request my grandfather made before he passed.

He said that if I did marry Darrell, I shouldn't reveal who I really was for five years.

Because five years is long enough to see a person clearly.

In his eyes, Darrell wasn't someone I could lay everything bare for.

At first I refused, but my grandfather had so little time left that I had no choice but to agree.

So at the wedding, my parents attended only as ordinary working people.

To this very day, Darrell still thinks I'm just an ordinary woman.

But it wasn't as though I did nothing.

Out of my love for him, every time Darrell came home I'd have his favorite dessert ready.

I kept the house in order.

I even had warm water waiting for his feet, right on time, so he could feel what a home was like.

And now, only a little past three years of marriage, my grandfather's words had come true.

And going by that caption on Luna's feed,

this IVF wasn't some spur-of-the-moment thing.

They'd been carrying on together for a long time, and Darrell had wanted a child with her for just as long.

She simply kept failing to conceive, which was why they'd turned to IVF.

Which meant Darrell had betrayed me long ago.

The two of them had slept together more times than I could count.