Chapter 3

Ethan met Amber near the hospital. I parked out of sight and started recording on my phone.

"Ethan, why did you need to see me in the middle of the night?"

"Claire got a call from the insurance company today."

Amber's eyes went wide. "What? Then she knows?"

Ethan put an arm around her. "Relax. She's an idiot. She thought it was a scam and blocked the number."

Amber sighed with relief. "Good thing you've played your part so perfectly all these years. That fool wouldn't believe the truth if someone put it right in front of her."

Pride crept into Ethan's voice. "Of course not. Pretending to care about that woman and her brat all these years has made every day feel like a prison sentence."

My nails dug into my palms.

Sophie talked about missing her daddy every single day.

Every ounce of fatherly love he had shown her was a poisoned blade, waiting for the right moment to take her life.

Amber stroked his cheek. "Just hang on for two more weeks."

"Once we take that little girl's heart, Tyler will be safe, and we won't have to spend every day looking over our shoulders."

Ethan let out a long breath. "Why did the prenatal tests have to find something wrong with Tyler instead of that bitch's baby?"

I laughed silently.

What would Ethan do when he learned he was planning to use his own daughter's heart to save another man's son?

Amber's eyes filled with tears. "Claire Sutton poisoned everything. She cost me my degree, my career, and every chance I had at a decent life. Now my son spends his life in a hospital while she gets to raise a healthy little girl."

I slowly uncurled my fingers. My nails had left deep crescents in my palms.

Amber and I had grown up together. After her parents died, I persuaded my parents to pay her tuition through college.

Then she committed academic fraud. When the university discovered she had plagiarized her thesis, she begged my father, a professor there, to protect her.

He had always treated Amber like another daughter, but he was a fair man. He refused.

The university revoked her degree, and she lost a lucrative job offer. From that day on, she hated my entire family.

At one of my prenatal appointments, she had appeared with a triumphant smile and announced that she was pregnant too.

The father was my husband.

No kindness goes unpunished.

I closed my eyes and breathed out slowly.

Ethan drove away. Instead of leaving, Amber doubled back.

A few minutes later, a familiar man emerged from the darkness.

"Ryan."

I recognized Ryan Carter, Amber's college boyfriend and first love.

She had seduced Ethan to get revenge on me. What Ethan believed was true love had been nothing but a calculated use of him.

I pressed Record again.

"How is Tyler doing?" Ryan asked.

"Don't worry. In two weeks, Ethan will personally deliver his daughter's heart to our son."

Ryan wrapped an arm around her. "Call it payback. Ethan sabotaged my application and took the job that should have been mine. His wife stood by while you lost everything. They deserve what's coming."

Amber smiled smugly. "Claire always acted like she was better than me. Now I have her and her husband dancing on my strings. It feels incredible."

I captured every second of her gloating.

Enjoy it while you can. Soon, you will learn what real payback looks like.