Chapter 1

Over breakfast, a post came across my feed.

"My wife is beautiful, but I still prefer the woman I met by chance after our wedding, six years ago. What should I do? As long as no one finds out, I can keep it going, right?"

The photo was taken in the restroom of my daughter's summer camp.

The poster's avatar was identical to my husband's on his messaging app.

By the time I drove up to the camp, my daughter was planted right in my path.

"Mommy, I don't want to go to camp today. Will you take me somewhere fun instead? I miss you so much, I want to go to the amusement park with you! Please, Mommy, come with me! Come with me!"

My daughter is six this year.

She had never once clung to me like that, never told me she missed me, so the whole act came out clumsy.

I went around her, rushed into the classroom, and kicked the restroom door open.

A man and a woman, clothes half off, screaming as they stared at me.

...

When she was pouring on the sweetness, I couldn't help a cold laugh, and lifted her chin with my fingers.

"Evie, you've never once said you missed me, never said you wanted to go to the amusement park with me."

"Who taught you to say all that? Your dad and Teacher Fox, right?"

Her whole body went rigid, and then she burst into wailing sobs.

I stepped past her, walked into the classroom, and kicked the restroom door open.

The truth is, six years ago, Rolf Henson had already cheated.

The woman was our neighbor from across the hall.

A preschool teacher with plenty of years behind her.

Her name was Isabel Fox.

Back then, I was carrying our daughter.

The doctor said I was far along, the baby wasn't settling, and with the frequent contractions I needed to stay off my feet and rest.

So Rolf took leave and cared for me at home, attentive to every little thing.

At the time, I didn't know he'd taken that leave not to be with me.

But to be with another woman.

That night, a nightmare jolted me awake.

The pain in my belly hit hard all at once, my water broke.

I called out for Rolf through my tears, and only then saw the spot beside me on the bed was empty. Rolf wasn't there.

Because he was in the room next door.

Behind my back, tangled up with another woman.

I forced myself to call an ambulance, and phoned my parents and his.

Only when everyone had come rushing over did Rolf come panting out of the room next door, the flush still not gone from his face.

He gripped my hand. "Honey, don't be scared, I'm right here!"

I shoved him away, hard. "Get out! If anything happens to me or the baby, I will never let you or that woman off!"

Everyone froze where they stood.

Because there were still three lipstick marks on Rolf's face, plain to see.

After I gave birth and was discharged.

I went alone to Isabel's school and raised hell.

I filed a complaint with the authorities under my own name, reporting her loose conduct and for wrecking someone else's family.

The director stepped in to smooth it over.

She brought Isabel to our door to apologize, earnest about it.

"I'm so sorry, Miss Finch. Isabel just lost her head for a moment. Her parents are ill, the family was short on money, that's the only reason she did something so terrible. I've already reprimanded her."

"After all, she's worked with us for three years. A steady job isn't easy to come by. Do you think you could maybe..."

I touched the scar on my belly, unmoved.

"The doctor said if I'd reached the hospital one second later, neither the mother nor the child would have made it, and I'd have lost more than just a uterus."

"So what you mean is, my life is worth less than one job of hers?"

Tears streamed down Isabel's face.

"Madison Finch, the director didn't mean it that way..."

I slapped her across the face.

"You're the last person here with any right to speak! If you hadn't wrecked my family, I wouldn't have been unable to find Rolf, and I wouldn't have ended up losing my uterus."

"Do you know what it means for a woman to lose her uterus? It means that from now on, apart from this one child, I can never have another!"

My fists came down on her in scattered blows.

Rolf just stood there and watched, holding the baby, gently coaxing her to sleep, as if he couldn't see any of it.

He didn't dare step in.

Because he was guilty.