Chapter 3

A flash of panic crossed Fiona's face. She quickly covered it with her shirt. "Oh, that?" she said with a nervous laugh. "It's my son's toy. I was in a rush and forgot to take it off."

She was sweating from the pain, and I figured she was just out of it. I believed her.

After field day, Fiona parked herself at my house and refused to leave.

She commandeered my couch and ordered Ethan around like a personal servant.

"Ethan, peel me an apple. I want it shaped like a bunny."

"Ethan, I'm thirsty. I want freshly ground coffee. No sugar, no cream."

And Ethan did it all without a single complaint.

I sat there watching this bizarre scene, feeling like a stranger in my own home.

That night, while Ethan was cooking in the kitchen, Fiona leaned in close and whispered, "Viv, I need to tell you a secret."

"Your husband might be seeing someone."

My stomach dropped. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm not making it up." She pulled out her phone and showed me a photo. "Look, I took this yesterday. He was at a cafe with some woman, talking and laughing."

The photo was blurry. All I could make out was Ethan's profile and the back of a woman sitting across from him.

My heart sank.

In this world where I had nothing, Ethan was everything. If he was cheating on me...

I couldn't finish the thought.

I started losing sleep.

I secretly went through Ethan's phone. There was nothing suspicious in his call log or messages.

I followed him. His daily routine was just home and the university, nothing else.

I was acting like a paranoid mess.

Ethan picked up on it quickly.

That night, he held me in his arms and asked softly, "Viv, what's going on? Are you still upset about what my mom said?"

Looking into his earnest eyes, I almost blurted out everything Fiona had told me.

But I swallowed the words.

What if it was just a misunderstanding?

I shook my head. "It's nothing. I just haven't been sleeping well."

He sighed and pulled a small box from the nightstand drawer.

"I bought this with my bonus this month. It's for you."

I opened it. Inside was a necklace. Nothing fancy.

"I know it's not designer, but..."

I kissed him before he could finish.

To hell with the suspicion. To hell with the betrayal. I just wanted him.

That night, Jamie spiked a fever in the middle of the night. A hundred and four degrees.

Ethan and I were terrified. We rushed him to the hospital in the dead of night.

The emergency room was packed. We waited forever before a doctor could see us.

The doctor said he needed to be admitted for observation.

I sat by Jamie's hospital bed, watching his flushed little face, my heart breaking.

That was when it hit me: I already loved this boy I'd "inherited" as if he were my own flesh and blood.

Ethan went to handle the admission paperwork. I stayed with Jamie.

He opened his eyes groggily, gripped my hand, and whispered, "Mommy, don't go."

Tears sprang to my eyes.

I squeezed his hand. "Mommy's not going anywhere. I'm right here."

That was when I heard an argument outside the room.

It was Ethan and a nurse.

"The regular ward is too noisy. Move us to suite V801," Ethan said in a low voice.

"Of course, Mr. Shaw. Suite V801 is always held for you—" A sharp cough from Ethan cut her off.

"Held for me? You've got the wrong person!" Ethan's voice dropped, a warning edge creeping in. "What I said was, even if I have to sell everything I own and borrow the rest, my son is getting the best private room."

The nurse seemed startled and stammered out a correction. "S-sorry, wrong person, sir. Suite V801 is very expensive. The deposit alone is three thousand dollars..."

I sat frozen by the bed.

The way the nurse said that suite was being held for him, and the way Ethan had instantly scrambled to cover it up... something felt deeply off.

This wasn't the Ethan I knew, the one who had to wait for a bonus check just to buy a necklace.

He was supposed to be a broke professor. So why was a hospital holding a private suite in his name?