Chapter 3

My eyes stayed fixed on that ultrasound for a long time.

Chloe had never even dated anyone. How could she be pregnant?

Had someone forced himself on her, or was it something I didn't want to imagine?

"It's Julian's."

Chloe's voice was flat.

My breath caught.

My heart seemed to skip a beat too.

"What's wrong, Vivian? Aren't you happy?"

Chloe's voice carried over.

She pointed smugly at the gray smudge on the printout. "You're going to be an aunt."

I drew a deep breath, and everything in front of me went white.

I'd never imagined my life could hold a scene like this.

The two people I loved most in the world, the two who mattered most, had betrayed me together.

In that moment, panic flooded me.

I didn't know how to face the sister I'd grown up with, or the man I'd spent five years loving, or the great storm of a marriage we'd built.

A violent ringing rose in my ears, and a heat spread from my chest out through my whole body.

I shot to my feet, grabbed the coffee cup beside me, and in a fit of rage, hurled it contents straight at Chloe.

Chloe shrieked and stumbled back, landing hard on the floor.

She clutched her belly, brows knotted, pain twisting across her face.

At the same moment the coffee shop door banged open, and a familiar figure rushed in.

It was Julian.

He reached Chloe, shoved me aside as I scrambled to help her up, and slapped me across the face with everything he had.

The force of it sent me sprawling. My temple cracked against the corner of the table and swelled red in an instant, and my vision washed white.

"Chloe, Chloe, are you okay?"

Chloe's brows pinched weakly, and her voice broke into tears. "Julian, save me. Save our baby."

Julian swept her up into his arms at once.

From start to finish, he never once really looked at me.

I pushed myself up, the pain throbbing through me.

Watching the man I loved fuss over another woman like that, my heart felt like it had been seized in a giant fist and squeezed until it ached.

"Vivian. You knew Chloe was pregnant, so you knocked her down on purpose. Didn't you?"

Julian's tone was hard and cold.

As if the woman in front of him wasn't his wife, but his enemy.

I'd meant to explain. Now every word jammed in my chest, suffocating.

"How could you be so vicious?"

"Chloe's fine this time, so we'll let it go. But if anything happens to her, I will never let you off!"

In five years of marriage, Julian had never once scolded me like this.

He used to smile and ruffle my hair.

"You know something? You're the purest, kindest girl I've ever met."

"Vivian, I'll love you forever."

Something warm slid down from the corner of my eye.

I wiped it away and lifted my chin, stubborn.

"Think whatever you want."

Then I bolted out of the coffee shop.

The sky was black with clouds, and thunder rolled overhead.

The rain came down in sheets.

I heard Julian's footsteps behind me.

I spun around, only to see him carry Chloe into his car.

The door shut, and they sped away.

It left me standing there, hollowed out, sobbing in the downpour.

I ran through the rain toward home, slipped, and went down into the mud.

The rain hammered against me. I struggled a few times, then sank back into it, like the last of my strength had drained away.

If I could, I thought, just let me die right here.

By the small hours of the morning, I'd spiked a fever.

Half conscious, I instinctively called Julian.

I tried over and over. No answer.

Then his phone shut off completely.

And just like that, my head cleared.

I dragged my limp, useless body to the hospital alone.

After they gave me a shot to bring the fever down, I saw Julian and Chloe outside one of the rooms in the ward.

Julian was murmuring to Chloe, gently coaxing her to sleep.

He patted her back the way you'd soothe a child.

When he turned and saw me, he crept out on tiptoe.

"What are you doing here?"

He touched my swollen, bruised cheek, and his voice softened.

"I lost my temper. Don't take it to heart."

Then he pulled me into his arms, tender, as if nothing had happened at all.

"Chloe's fine, and the baby's safe. Don't worry."

I shook my head stubbornly and pulled free of him.

"Julian."

My voice was hoarse.

"Could you just not be with her? She's my own sister."

Getting those words out took everything I had, and cost me every scrap of pride.

I loved this man. So much.

In five years of marriage, clumsy as I was, I'd rarely said anything close to a word of love.

But today, facing him again, I was ready to set it all down, ready to ask him whether he'd love me the way he used to, whether he'd come back to me.

I looked up at him, my eyes brimming.

Julian went still for a moment.

Then he laughed out loud.

"How could that be, Vivian?"

"After everything, you still don't get it? I've fallen for Chloe. I mean it, the same way I once meant it with you."

"I can't live without her."