Chapter 1

My throat tightened, and my hand, holding the phone, wouldn't stop trembling. How could this be?

Summer Parker and I had known each other for more than a decade. She was easygoing, carefree, and always spoke her mind. She even disliked my boyfriend, Malcolm Gray, more than anyone else.

She thought he was pretentious and that he never treated me well. She hated watching me put up with him. Every time she ran into him, they would end up arguing.

Malcolm and I had almost broken up several times because he said something bad about her.

The childish voice on the phone pulled me back to reality. "Miss, you still haven't told me when Daddy is coming home to spend time with me."

I swallowed the pain stabbing through my chest and forced myself to stay calm. "Sweetheart, how old are you?" I asked.

"I'm six!"

Six, huh? That meant Summer would already be carrying her now.

The phone slipped from my hand and crashed to the floor. A chill ran through my body.

Yesterday, when I went shopping with her, her clothing size had gone from a 6 to an 8. I had even joked that she had gained some weight recently, completely missing the panic that flashed across her eyes.

No. This couldn't be true.

"Sweetheart—"

I was about to ask her more questions when an adult's voice came from the other end of the phone. "Nina, who are you talking to?"

I knew that voice better than anyone. It belonged to the man who had slept beside me for the past four years.

Nina was the name I had chosen two days ago.

That night, I'd found Malcolm flipping through a baby names book. He said he was looking for a name for our future child. I'd teased him for getting ahead of himself when we weren't even married yet.

He lowered his head and smiled. "There's no rush for that."

I understood what he meant now. There was no rush to get married because he wasn't having a child with me.

"Miss, I sent you a friend request. We can talk again next time. I'm going to spend time with Daddy now!"

The call ended.

I took a cab to the hospital. As I walked past the nurses' station, I saw Malcolm standing in the hospital corridor.

Yesterday, we had a fight, and Summer had taken my side. She and Malcolm had argued so fiercely and ended up in the hospital. Malcolm's assistant had told me he'd flown to Southlake that night.

After Malcolm entered a hospital room, I walked over and stopped outside the door. Inside, he pulled Summer into his arms, his face filled with concern.

"I'm sorry you had to go through this, Summer. You even had to put on an act like that to protect the baby," he said gently. "Once I secure the new project from the Rosewoods, I'll break up with Willow. You and the baby are all that matter to me."

I stood outside the door, my nails digging into my palm as I held back my tears.

Summer sighed. "I don't want things to be this way either, but Willow is my best friend. I don't want to hurt her…"

She paused before continuing, "Didn't you make a few new connections with some business owners lately? When the time comes, you should introduce them to Willow. Think of it as our way of making it up to her."

It felt like my throat was stuffed with shards of glass. I couldn't even make a sound through the pain.

The business owners Malcolm had recently befriended were all over 50. Some had even been divorced three times.

I stumbled into the stairwell and wiped away my tears. Then, I called Dad.

"Hey, Dad. I need you to withdraw all the projects we were planning to give to Gray Corporation. As for taking over the international branch, I've given it a second thought. I'll pack my bags and leave next week."