Chapter 1

Sophie Lowell's POV

I felt like an invisible hand had clamped around my throat. It was a long time before I finally found my voice again. When I did, it shook. "Why?"

Why would Ian Colson cheat on me, then still go through with registering our marriage? Why would he wait until the happiest moment of my life to tear it all apart with the truth?

Ian froze for a second. Then, he suddenly burst out laughing. "You win."

I stared at him, completely lost.

A second later, a familiar woman's voice floated out from the car speakers. "Then you have to use my favorite strawberry-flavored one tonight, okay?"

My eyes widened in shock. I felt the blood in my veins turn to ice.

"I made a bet with Jessica about how you would react when you found out I was cheating. I said you would slap me, and she said you would ask me why," Ian said lightly. "If I win, she wears black stockings. If she wins…"

He lifted a brow. "Well, you heard her."

As his words fell, Jessica Hore's voice came from the speakers again. "It's been five years, Sophie, but you're still just as pathetic as I remember. But I'll give you this—you've still got fantastic taste in men. I like this one a lot too."

The mocking laughter that followed made my limbs go numb. For a moment, it was like I'd been dragged straight back to five years ago.

I'd ended a business trip early and was planning on surprising my then-husband, Jake Quill, for his birthday. But when I opened the door, I walked in on him and Jessica tangled up together by the window.

He went pale when he saw me and was completely at a loss. Jessica, on the other hand, just lit a cigarette, looking smug.

She said, "Sorry, Sophie. The single life gets lonely. I borrowed your husband for a bit."

Back then, I'd reacted the same way as I had now. I'd cried and asked them both, "Why?"

But as their mouths opened and closed, explaining, it was as if my ears were stuffed with cotton. I couldn't hear a single word.

Suddenly, their faces went white, and they both shouted at me. A sharp pain tore through my lower abdomen, so bad that it made me double over. That was when I came back to myself and looked down. I saw blood pouring down my legs, bright and shocking.

That day, I lost the three most important people in my life—the best friend I'd had for ten years, the husband I'd been married to for one year, and the three-month-old baby in my womb.