PROLOGUE

PROLOGUE

“I thought he loved me… but I was wrong.”

The rain poured like the sky was grieving with me.

I stood on the sidewalk, soaked to the bone, one hand on my belly, the other clutching the suitcase he left behind. My hair stuck to my face, my blouse clung to my trembling frame, and my heart—my stupid, hopeful heart—shattered quietly beneath the storm.

Michael was gone.

No warning. No tears. Just a single, gut-punching text message:

“This isn’t the life I want. Don’t contact me again.”

I stared at the glowing screen as my vision blurred—not from the rain, but from the sting in my eyes. The pain in my chest twisted, squeezing the air from my lungs. My knees buckled, but I refused to fall.

How could he leave me like this?

Pregnant. Alone. Unwanted.

We had made promises. We planned a future. We chose names. And yet, he vanished—like none of it meant anything. Like I meant nothing.

The people passing by barely noticed me—a ghost in the rain. I wanted to scream, to crumble into a puddle of heartbreak and fury. But I didn’t.

I couldn’t.

I placed a protective hand on my belly, feeling the faintest flutter inside me—our baby. My baby.

I took a deep breath, the kind that burns on the way down, and looked up at the darkened sky.

“It’s just us now, baby,” I whispered through clenched teeth. “But I promise… I’ll never let you feel unwanted. I’ll give you the love we both deserve.”

That night, I didn’t go home. Because there was no home. I found shelter in a friend’s tiny apartment, and from there, I started over.

Five years later…

That broken girl in the rain was gone.

In her place stood a woman who had faced every storm and refused to drown. I became the mother my daughter deserved—fierce, focused, and unshakable. I worked small jobs, skipped meals so she wouldn’t, learned to smile even when life knocked me down.

Love? That became a word I buried deep. I locked my heart away, convinced it was safer cold than shattered again.

Until him.

Brent Montenegro.

The name alone could stop conversations—and hearts. Cold. Rigid. Obscenely rich. The type of man you didn’t look in the eye unless you had a reason. And I had none.

Or so I thought.

From the moment our paths crossed, something shifted. I didn’t know if it was fate, luck, or a cruel twist of the universe—but he saw me. Not the struggling single mom. Not the girl abandoned in the rain.

Me.

And despite his harsh words and unreadable expressions, I saw something behind his eyes too. Something that stirred feelings I had long buried. Something I was afraid to name.

I told myself it was just a job.

I told myself I’d keep my distance.

But as the walls I built began to crack, I started to wonder…

Was it possible that love—the kind that stayed—wasn’t just a dream?

Or was I about to lose everything all over again?