Chapter 2

The irony hit me all at once.

Trudy used to complain endlessly about Hudson, calling him an overgrown baby, saying I was the only one who could stand him.

I'd even argued with her about it, telling her to treat him better.

Now it was the other way around.

I looked at the ring. She'd insisted on slipping it onto my finger before I left on that trip.

"My man's so wonderful, everyone falls for him wherever he goes. I can't have some foreign girl overseas stealing you away. Wear this ring, and everyone will know you're taken."

I never imagined that the marriage I'd waited so long for would end in betrayal before it ever began.

The anger boiled over. I grabbed the water glass and threw it in Trudy's face.

"You make me sick!"

Her expression didn't shift at all. Her voice stayed calm, with a warning threaded through it.

"Desmond, I know you're angry. It's normal to want to let it out. If that wasn't enough, I don't mind letting you throw another. But you'd better not make a scene in front of Hud. I don't want him upset over something like this."

"Otherwise, well, we both know how much of your youth and energy went into that company. It's like your child. I imagine you wouldn't want to leave it behind. Am I right?"

"After all, starting over sounds easy, but hardly anyone actually pulls it off."

I stared at her, unable to believe it, my nails digging into my palms.

She was leaning on me as my boss.

The company, the projects, the team, all of it was years of my life poured out.

Trudy really was a capable businesswoman.

She knew the more you'd given, the more you had to lose, so she threatened me without a shred of hesitation.

It wasn't until she was gone that the tears I'd held back for so long finally fell.

The next day was Hudson's weekly day off from the shop.

I took a cab to his apartment.

When he saw me, he looked away, uneasy.

"Des, why, why are you here?"

I pointed at the ninety-nine shopping bags behind me.

"Returning some things. What, aren't you going to invite me in to sit?"

He pressed his lips together, hesitating, then finally stepped aside from the door.

Once I was inside, I understood why he'd hesitated, and why Trudy had left so cleanly.

She hadn't even packed her things, just texted me to throw them out and be done with it.

She'd already made a home here.

Couple's slippers sat by the entryway. Couple's toothbrushes stood in the bathroom. The body wash Trudy always used was already half gone.

A whole row of his clothes hung in the closet, and a photo booth strip of the two of them, heads pressed together, was stuck to the wall.

Looking at all of it, I let out a soft laugh.

"Nice. While I was gone, the two of you settled right in."

Hudson tugged at the hem of his shirt, awkward, trying to change the subject.

"Des, those clothes are my way of making it up to you. You don't have to return them—"

I laughed, and there was nothing but scorn in it.

"Hudson, when your ex-wife's affair partner came pounding on your door, I was the one who brought people over in the middle of the night to back you up, who pulled strings to help you win the case."

"You said you didn't want to bother your parents, that you'd fallen out of step with the world, that you were done reading people's faces. So I paid for your house, rented your shop, ran your advertising. Every time you restocked, that money came from me."

"People laughed at me for being a sucker, but I didn't care. We grew up together. As long as you were doing well, that was enough. But now you're living in the house I gave you, sleeping with my girlfriend, and using my money to make it up to me. Don't you find that funny?"

Hudson's eyes went red. He dropped to his knees.

"Des, I know what I did was wrong, but Trudy's two months pregnant. I want to keep this baby. I want to give him a whole family."

"I love Trudy. There's no one else I can lean on the way I lean on her, no one who makes me feel that safe. You've been good to me since we were kids, always giving in to me. Can't you give in to me one last time?"

Yes. I'd known since childhood that I had to be good to Hudson.

The year I turned seven, my father and stepmother decided I was dead weight, that I'd take from my younger brother's share.

In the dead of winter they left me at the station and the three of them moved away.

I found my way home from memory, only to discover the house had already been sold. I had nowhere to go, and nearly froze to death on the roadside.

It was Hudson, from next door, who carried me home on his back, who got his parents to take me in and give me half of everything they had.

So I made up my mind to repay them, to always give in to Hudson.

Once I had money, I bought them a house, paid Uncle Joshua's medical bills, handed over piles of cash every year.

But it was precisely because I'd treated Hudson like my own brother that his betrayal was the one thing I couldn't accept.

I watched him quietly.

"Hudson, for the sake of twenty-some years between us, and out of respect for your parents, I'll give you a chance."

"Have Trudy get rid of the baby, and end it with her. Your brother or a woman who cheats, you decide for yourself."

He bit his lower lip and shook his head, choking on the words.

"Des, I admit you've given me a lot, but I want a happy family. I can't be without Trudy, and my child needs a father—"

"I'll close the shop, I'll give the apartment back to you, but Trudy is the one thing I can't give you."