Chapter 1
Ethan Parker was keeping a younger woman on the side.
She looked just like me when I was young.
When stomach spasms left me unconscious and landed me in the hospital,
he knew what was happening, but still chose to stay with her.
“She’s just a kid. Why are you making such a big deal out of it?”
After I finally gave up on him, Ethan broke his leg trying to win me back.
But no matter how desperately he begged, I never looked back.
The day my stomach spasms got so bad I nearly passed out, I discovered Ethan Parker’s secret.
He said he couldn’t leave an important business dinner.
“Sophie, I’ll come to the hospital as soon as I’m done!”
He hung up before I could say okay.
The word caught in my throat.
By the time my ride arrived, I was barely conscious. I let the driver help me into the car.
My mind drifted back to when we first started our business. I’d come down with a sudden high fever, but Ethan was working on a major technical breakthrough for our product, so I hadn’t told him.
By the time he got home, my fever was dangerously high.
After it broke, he gave me an earful.
“Sophie, nothing matters more to me than you. The only reason I work so hard to make money is to give you a better life.”
And now… Forget it. There was no point thinking about it.
At the hospital, an IV ran into my left hand. I was afraid that if I fell asleep, no one would notice when the bag ran dry.
I scrolled through Instagram to keep myself awake.
I sent Ethan a message.
“Don’t push yourself too hard. Your health comes first.”
An account I followed had posted an update.
It was a confessions account. People often submitted stories about cheating boyfriends and husbands.
Today’s submission was from a man.
“My wife had a stomachache, but my girl said she missed me and asked me out for drinks. I figured it was just drinks. What was the harm? My wife is understanding. I knew she wouldn’t keep calling. She texted that she wasn’t feeling well. My girl got annoyed by the notification, and I let her put my phone on silent.”
“Young girls can be so clingy. She said her stomach hurt and wouldn’t let me leave. She lay in bed while I gently rubbed her belly. She used my phone to order everything she wanted. Watching her act so spoiled, I couldn’t help thinking how cute she was.”
“After she fell asleep, I checked the purchases, then looked at my wife’s text telling me not to drink too much. Guilt hit me out of nowhere. My wife is so used to being frugal that even now, she agonizes over buying a necklace. Meanwhile, I’d spent enough on my girl to buy several.”
Stomachache. Necklace.
Those familiar details sent a chill straight through the IV line and into my heart.
A few days earlier, I’d fallen in love with a necklace. But when I saw the hundred-thousand-dollar price tag, I walked away.
Being frugal was second nature to me. When we started our business, we lived in a basement apartment. In the summer, we wouldn’t even turn on a fan. At night, we went to the subway station to enjoy the air-conditioning.
Sometimes we ate just one meal a day, saving every penny to put into our little company.
Even now that we had money, the habit was ingrained in me.
The comments were full of insults.
“Who says people aren’t having kids anymore? Apparently this guy adopted a girlfriend.”
I closed the app as if I could escape what I’d read. It had to be a coincidence.
Other people got sick. I wasn’t the only woman in the world who wanted a necklace.
Ethan finally arrived just after dawn.
He hurried over and pressed a hand to my forehead.
“Sophie, I’m so sorry. I had no idea last night’s client would be so difficult.”