Chapter 3

A month passed since Emily’s first birthday party was supposed to happen. Derek was out of the hospital.

We live in a big three-story duplex in the Chicago suburbs. Mother-in-law on the first floor, brother-in-law Derek on the second, my husband and I on the third.

Since everyone was home, we had to eat together.

Dinner was painfully awkward.

I quickly ate a few bites and went upstairs to nurse Emily.

Once it was quiet downstairs, I handed the baby to the nanny and grabbed my car keys to head to my postpartum fitness class.

I got in the car and tried to close the door, but it wouldn’t shut. A shadow suddenly loomed over me.

It was Derek.

He forced the door open and climbed into the passenger seat.

I opened my mouth to scream, but he covered it with his hand. In that moment, my mind raced—murder, rape, robbery... I wanted to escape, but reason told me it was useless.

I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for death, but he suddenly let go and shoved a photo in my face.

It showed a mother lifting her shirt to nurse her child.

The full, pale breasts dominated two-thirds of the picture.

What horrified me was...

The mother was me. The only person who could have taken it was my husband!

I zoomed in countless times, searching for any sign it wasn’t him, but...

The background was our bedroom. The angle was straightforward.

“What is this supposed to mean?”

My voice shook.

He opened his phone. The first thing I saw was my husband’s messages in a group chat.

“My wife’s chest got so much bigger after the baby—huge and soft. Enough to feed both me and the kid every time.”

Below were photos of me nursing, taken at different times and places.

It was a 15-person group—all men. His relatives, friends, and coworkers.

I flung the phone away. Before I could scream, Derek covered my mouth again.

“Shh!”

I asked why he was showing me this.

He said he felt terrible about what he did the other day and wanted to tell me the truth.

“Big bro’s messages in the group were really explicit. I lost my mind and...”

“What exactly did he say?”

I still clung to hope.

“He told everyone to go ahead and try it—no need to be polite...”

His parting words: “Be careful of my brother.”

Cold sweat poured down my back as I sat in the sealed car, heart pounding painfully in my ears.

I calmed myself. If I confronted my husband directly, he’d deny everything and cover his tracks.

I started the car and went to class as usual.

That night, the nanny brought Emily to me to nurse. My husband, as always, asked the nanny to leave the room.

I used to think it was just to protect my privacy.

Once she left, he eagerly lifted my shirt. I cursed him as a pervert, but he just grinned foolishly.

Emily nursed happily. I deliberately turned my body away from him.

“Why so shy all of a sudden, honey?”

“Yeah, you should leave too.”

I teased, but he got annoyed, forcibly turned me to face him.

I looked down at Emily’s face, catching in my peripheral vision that he was staring at his phone.

He let out satisfied chuckles now and then.

When he wasn’t looking, I tried to grab his phone. He immediately stuffed it in his pocket, on high alert.

“What’s so funny? Let me see.”

I stared seriously. He wiped the smile off his face.

Under pressure, I got the phone, unlocked it, and went straight to the messaging app. I searched every chat—nothing like what Derek described.

I was sweating profusely when he suddenly opened the photo album. The first image was me nursing—but only my head was visible, nothing below the neck.

“Just saved an ugly pic of you, that’s all, scary wife.”

He hung his head, looking wronged.

I set Emily down and hugged him. “I thought...”

“Thought I took pics of your chest? Silly wife, how could I? You’re a mom now—you deserve privacy. I respect that.”

His eyes looked sincere.

Was Derek lying to me?