PART 1

That night, while my husband was laughing in our bed with his mistress, the doctor called him.

“Your wife was pregnant,” he said coldly. “She lost the baby. And your test results confirm you can never father a child.”

The phone slipped from Dominic’s hand at the same moment my final message appeared on his screen:

“Enjoy the family you chose.”

The last thing I heard before my head hit the marble floor was my mother-in-law’s voice.

“Maybe now you’ll remember your place.”

Then the staircase disappeared beneath me.

So did the baby I had not yet told anyone about.

I woke under harsh hospital lights with stitches above my eyebrow and pain buried so deeply in my body it felt like it had emptied me from the inside. Dr. Alexander Reed stood beside my bed, his expression heavy.

“I’m so sorry, Audrey. You were eight weeks pregnant.”

My hand moved to my stomach before I could stop it.

“No,” I whispered.

He lowered his eyes.