Chapter 1

On the fifth of every month, the housing complex management collected our water bills.

The amount had been the same for three years, but today, it was three dollars more.

I checked the bill and found a three-dollar charge for a washing machine at the Southside Fire Station, exactly the difference.

But at the station, payments were automatically deducted from his account; there was no way it could have been a mistake.

I followed the address. There, I saw my husband, Chris, with his arm around a young woman.

"Chris, I owe you so much. If you hadn't arranged for Leo to attend school as your son, I wouldn't have known what to do."

"But what if Evelyn finds out? She’ll be furious."

"And it's all my fault. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have used your promotion as an excuse to trick Evelyn into keeping your marriage a secret."

Behind them, a little boy held up a new backpack and yelled,

"Daddy, can I go to kindergarten on Monday?"

I clenched the kindergarten rejection letter in my pocket. Lily couldn't enroll because she didn't have a father listed.

Recalling Chris's secret marriage pact with me three years ago, my last shred of hope shattered.

I pulled out my phone and called my father, General Reed:

"Dad, I've decided to transfer to the Headquarters Medical Center. Also, please revoke Chris Miller's promotion."