Chapter 1

When there was no movement at the door for quite some time, Graham Whitlock finally set down the documents in his hand and walked out of the study.

The moment he saw me, he reacted just like Mara Collins had, staring at me in shock and stumbling over his words.

“Audrey, why did you suddenly...?”

I let out a quiet sigh and cut him off.

“I’m tired. I’d like to come inside and sit down before we talk.”

“Should I get you some slippers?”

Mara finally snapped out of her daze. She hurried to the shoe cabinet, pulled out a pair of women’s slippers, and handed them to me.

They were half a size too big.

They were her size.

I said nothing. I slipped them on and sat down on the sofa in the living room.

Mara took the little girl’s hand and forced a smile.

“Mrs. Whitlock, you two talk.

“Sophie, come on. Mommy’s taking you back to your room. Don’t disturb Daddy while he talks to someone.”

I raised my eyes and glanced at her.

She froze, seemingly realizing that something was wrong with the way she had addressed Graham.

She glanced at me timidly, as if afraid I might confront her on the spot, then hurried to explain.

“Mrs. Whitlock, please don’t misunderstand. This child is...”

Graham immediately stood up.

He stepped in front of Mara and the girl, looking at me warily.

“Audrey, Sophie is Mara’s daughter from her previous marriage. We were worried that she would be bullied at school for not having a father, so we let her call me Dad. Mara and I really are just colleagues.”

I said nothing.

I reached out and gently patted the little girl’s head before looking at Mara.

“Don’t bother. Once you’ve settled the child in, come back out.

“Mara, sooner or later, you and I are going to have to talk.”

Mara clearly hadn’t expected me to react that way.

After saying that, I returned to the sofa.

Graham sat across from me, seemingly at a loss for words. He kept looking at me, probably shocked by how calm I was.

But there was nothing strange about it.

Seven years was long enough to drain the life out of anyone.

My hurt, anger, and resentment had long since been worn away.

The sweet, feminine voice I often heard in the background during our phone calls. The glimpse of a woman’s sleepwear strap in the corner of our video calls. The vacations he had cut short because of some so-called “emergency.”

I wasn’t stupid.

I had simply chosen to turn a blind eye until now.

I just wanted to give our seven-year marriage an ending it deserved.

Mara left with the child and soon returned, naturally taking the seat beside Graham.

I watched them.

And I knew that I was the outsider in this family.

Graham was the first to speak.

“I’m sorry, Audrey. I was a little worked up just now. Please don’t take it personally.

“I was just too surprised. You should have told me you were coming. I could have gone to the station to pick you up.”

As he spoke, he reached for my hand.

I pulled away.

He lowered his head with a bitter, self-mocking smile.

I took the documents from my bag.

On top was a thick stack of family-visit applications I had submitted over the past seven years.

Every single one had been stamped in red:

REQUEST DENIED.

The reason was the same on every application:

Rejected by Graham Whitlock.

“If I hadn’t gone to his supervisor myself, I never would have known that you were the one personally rejecting my applications all these years.

“If I had told you beforehand, would you even have let me come?”

Graham glanced at the documents and guiltily looked away.

“Audrey, the project was in a critical stage back then. I simply couldn’t spare the time. I couldn’t have you coming here and distracting me, so I...”

“Seven years of being too busy.”

I looked at him.

“But you had time to attend your colleague’s child’s sports days and summer camps. You just didn’t have time to bring your own wife here so we could spend some time together?”

Graham froze.

I pointed toward the photographs displayed beneath the television.

“I saw the date on that photo. March seventh of this year.

“I remember that day. I called you because I’d been in a car accident a few days earlier. I told you I almost didn’t wake up in the ICU.

“You told me you were too busy with the project and couldn’t come back. You told me to stay strong on my own.”

I looked at the photograph again.

“So that project was actually a family sports day with your colleague’s child?”

Graham lowered his hands, unconsciously clenching them.

Mara hurried to defend him.

“Mrs. Whitlock, please don’t misunderstand.

“It really was a critical period. Graham only managed to make time for Sophie because he squeezed it in between everything else.”

I gave a quiet hum.

I looked at the two of them sitting close together, both on guard as though I were some villain who had come to destroy their family.

I found it almost amusing.

I asked myself silently:

“Audrey, is this the family you waited seven years for?”

I had no answer.

I simply moved the stack of applications aside.

Then I pulled out two documents from underneath and laid them side by side.

One was my prenatal checkup report.

The other was a divorce agreement.

“Don’t be nervous. I’m not here to demand an explanation. At this point, there’s no point arguing about any of it.

“Graham, I’m pregnant.”

“As the child’s father, you have the right to know. That’s why I came all this way.

“But I’m not keeping the baby.

“I’m here to divorce you.”