Chapter 2

After Emma was out of danger, I checked her out of the hospital.

When we got home, I opened the door to find the place completely trashed. The shattered remains of our family portrait were still on the floor—Jessica had thrown it there a week ago after we got into a fight.

She'd been divorced from Mark for five years. Our daughter was five years old. But in all that time, Jessica had never stopped putting the father and son first.

"Daddy, will you shave my hair for me?"

Emma held up the electric clippers to me. The chemotherapy she needed would make her hair fall out anyway. She'd always been so proud of her hair, but at this point, there was no saving it.

"Daddy... will my hair ever grow back?"

Soft strands of hair fell to the floor one by one. I could see the tears glistening in the corners of my little girl's eyes. My heart ached.

It all traced back to that one phone call from Mark. That was the moment Emma's health took its first hit.

Jessica was eight months pregnant at the time—two months away from her due date. But the second she heard that Oliver had been hospitalized for an asthma attack, she was frantic to get to him.

I tried to stop her. "You're pregnant. The hospital has doctors. He'll be fine."

"He's not your son, so of course you don't care!"

Jessica shoved me away and grabbed a pair of scissors, pressing them against her own belly. "If you don't let me go right now, I swear I'll kill myself and the baby together."

For her sake, for the baby's sake, I gave in. I drove her to the hospital.

Her water broke on the way there—from the stress. Even with her IV bag still hanging, she insisted on going to care for Oliver. She waited two full days before finally going to deliver.

Because of that, Emma was born premature. She came into the world with chronic health problems. She'd been fragile and sickly from her very first breath.

I remember standing there, completely drained, looking at my daughter through the glass of the NICU—her tiny body purple and struggling. And I asked Jessica for a divorce.

"If you love him that much, why did you even leave him?"

But she refused. She grabbed my hand tightly, her face pale and weak from just giving birth.

"Ryan, I never meant for this to happen. I was just so scared for Oliver. I promise—I won't talk to Mark again. Please. Our daughter is so little. She can't grow up without a mother."

As much as I wanted to walk away, every time I looked at Emma, my resolve crumbled. I believed Jessica. For a long time, she really did seem to cut contact with Mark. I almost convinced myself she'd changed.

Then one night, Emma had a dangerously high fever. And while my daughter was burning up, Jessica sneaked out to celebrate Oliver's birthday.

I found out because Mark sent me photos.

Emma's fever wouldn't break. She ended up rushed into emergency care.

After that, the distance between Jessica and me only grew. I stopped caring what she did with Mark and Oliver. I just wanted my daughter to survive.

For five years, Emma and I got used to Jessica not being there.

But this—the leukemia diagnosis—this broke me. I knew there was no future for Jessica and me anymore.

Emma's head was completely shaved now. She looked at herself in the mirror, her eyes red, and started crying again. I held her and realized how much weight she'd lost.

After I got her to sleep, I pulled out my phone. Jessica had posted a photo from a high-end restaurant. She was celebrating Oliver being fine—with Mark.

I let out a bitter breath. Then I opened the text thread I'd been ignoring.

And I called my divorce attorney.

"Start drawing up the papers. I'm taking full custody of my daughter."