Chapter 1

Two tears fall from my eyes and run down my cheeks. Just two. My chest feels like it's burning, I'm short of breath, and I feel like I'm going to faint at any moment.

Serena took me out of the clinic, left me sitting in a cafe across the street, and went back to find out exactly what was happening with Cassandra and her pregnancy. Her child.

"The one waiting with Adrian, my husband, " my subconscious reminds me, as if I needed to repeat it too many times to believe it.

A reality I don't dare face, I'm not even able to call him to ask for an explanation, not now that everything was going to change between us, with our lives, with our marriage.

I hug my still-flat stomach. A sob escapes me, and I close my eyes to avoid seeing how many people around me are watching me fall apart. Two whole years trying to get pregnant, attending fertility clinics, crying in secret for not being able to give the man I love what he desires most. Entire nights watching him sleep, feeling that one day it would all end between us, only to wake up hours later and see in his eyes that he loved me more than anything.

But today my world was destroyed. Everything was forgotten. My worst nightmare came true.

I pull out my phone, my fingers trembling. I find my husband's contact and tap the call button. It rings and rings, nonstop, until the call disconnects. My heart aches, but I tell myself it might just be a coincidence. That he's busy.

I open our chat and when I see the last message he sent me, my eyes fill with tears again.

"I love you so much that I can't imagine a life without you. Tonight we'll celebrate our anniversary; we deserve it. "

Nostalgia, tinged with pain and sadness, overwhelms me, because it's not even an anniversary in the usual sense. It's just another monthly anniversary. Two years and two months. That's how long we've been married.

My fingers linger on the keyboard for a second longer, before I type what will be my first test.

"My love, I have a surprise for you. Where are you? I can't wait to see your reaction. "

My heart is pounding so hard it's making my ears pop. My hands are trembling as I stare at the screen, waiting for that read receipt that comes almost instantly.

there's no response for several long minutes. Then I look up and see a car arrive at the clinic, a car I know well.

My phone rings in my hands before I see the man I love leave. Then I see him practically run into the clinic.

With a broken heart, I look down and read his message.

"I'm sorry, Evelyn, it can't be right now. I'm in the middle of something important. I'm not in the mood for surprises today. "

If I thought my heart was broken before, now I know it's shattered. Completely destroyed.

"Why are you lying to me? Why did you do this? " I whisper, feeling so much disappointment that it hurts.

Serena arrives minutes later and her face says it all. There's no good news.

She sits down next to me, pale, her hands trembling, drinking from the water I asked for earlier and didn't touch.

"Evie, Cassandra lost the baby. Adrian was arriving as I was leaving and I saw him hug her as if he felt. .. as if they were really. .. that they were lovers. "

The word "Lovers" feels like a whip lashing my back. I close my eyes and allow myself to let out my emotions, my pain and frustration.

How did such a wonderful day turn so toxic?

"What will you do? " my friend asks me.

I look into her eyes, unsure what to say. I shrug, because I have no plan.

"I'll be at the house, and I'll be waiting for him there. If he came to the clinic, he knows I know his secret; he has to face me. The Adrian I know isn't a coward. "

Serena looks at me as if she wants to repeat that. I can almost see the subtitles on her face.

"The Adrian you know doesn't exist. "

"Will you tell him about your pregnancy? "

I shake my head.

"I'm going to see what he has to say. I still hope it's all a misunderstanding. Stupid? Yes, I am. But I can't bring myself to throw away all my love, all my devotion. I want to hear his reasons, I want to know what to do when he tells me the truth. If it ends my marriage, so be it. And my son, this miracle, will be mine alone. "

"Evie. .. "

"It's decided, Serena. If Adrian really did deceive me and asked Cassandra for an heir, there's nothing to be done. He decided, and I'll just act accordingly. "