Chapter 2

The expression on Dominic’s face froze.

The bedroom went so silent.

The computer screen lit up again with a new message in Vivian’s chat window.

“Dominic! When are you coming over? Isn’t that annoying woman asleep yet?”

My heart lurched.

Dominic scrambled to shut the computer off.

But I got there first. I clicked open the chat window and scrolled up.

Their message history went on and on, so much of it that jealousy burned through me, so much that I wanted to scream.

“Dominic, the baby kicked me again today! I can’t wait for next week’s ultrasound. But this penthouse you got me on the Upper East Side is just so lonely. When can I move back to the Ashford Estate for good? I don’t want our baby to be born without his father around.”

“Oh, and I heard your mother is hosting three charity galas in a row next month. All that drinking and late nights, dealing with those stuck-up socialites. When you bring me back, I really don’t want to deal with your fussy mother. I know I won’t be able to handle it.”

Dominic’s reply was dripping with indulgence:

“Don’t worry, I’d never let you deal with that. You know my mother’s temper, and those stubborn old-guard board members need someone gullible and easy to handle parked at the estate to absorb all of it for us. You just focus on the baby, and once it’s born, I’ll clear out every last person in the way. All you have to do is sit back and enjoy being Mrs. Ashford.”

Every word on that screen cut right through me.

I turned around and caught Dominic averting his gaze slightly.

Something inside me shattered completely.

A vicious cramp seized my stomach.

Five years ago, when Dominic had just taken over the family business, I stood for four straight hours in a blizzard in Manhattan, well below zero, to help him secure a stubborn old-school investor. My knees never recovered. Every time it rained, the pain was like my bones were cracking apart.

Over the years, his mother had looked down on my background, never missing a chance to mock me at dinner parties, even having security block me from the banquet hall and leave me standing out in the cold. I swallowed every last sneer and slight. To maintain the Ashford family’s perfect image, I worked myself into the ground, choking down every humiliation without a word.

I used to believe that he stayed by my side at the peak of his career because he saw how much I endured, because he was moved by what I’d sacrificed.

But he’d known all along.

My whole body trembling, I spun around and slapped Dominic hard across the face.

“Why?”

I couldn’t breathe. My ears were ringing.

So all this time, the luck I’d been so proud of, the love story the whole world envied me for were nothing but a lie — worse still, a trap.

I was nothing but a shield Dominic had put up to protect Vivian.

Five years of my youth, five years of my love, all of it wasted.

“Why?”

My voice shook beyond my control. “Dominic, you never loved me, did you?”

“Why me? Why did it have to be me!”

I screamed at him, my eyes swollen and raw, looking like a woman on the edge of madness.

Dominic touched his reddened cheek. After a long silence, he let out a slow, heavy breath.

“Don’t say that, Stella.”

“You’ve gotten plenty out of these years together, haven’t you?”

“I know you’re talented, but without me, you’d still be grinding away at some random company for the rest of your life. How else would you be living like this?”

“Your clothes, your food, everything you own is better than anything anyone your age could have. Isn’t that enough?”

“As for whether I love you or not, does it really matter?”

Every word out of Dominic’s mouth was like a hammer blow, pounding into my body and into my heart.

Crushing the air from my lungs.

Crushing me to pieces.

“It matters deeply.”

My voice cracked with a choked sob.

I had fallen in love with Dominic long before he ever proposed our arrangement.

The terms of the deal were never what tempted me. I had only been holding on to a foolish hope.

The hope that he might actually fall in love with me.

After Vivian came back to the country, Dominic grew colder toward me with every passing day.

I still refused to give up.

He was the man I had loved in secret for years before I ever had him. I couldn’t bear to let go.

“Let’s get a divorce, Dominic.”

I said it flatly.

Even though he’d told me I could keep my place as Mrs. Ashford if I just turned a blind eye.

I was done pretending. Done waiting.

I loved him. Hopelessly, desperately loved him.

But I still had my dignity.

“Fine.”

Dominic’s phone buzzed. He gave me that one quiet word, then answered the call.

“What? Vivian, your stomach hurts? Hold on, I’ll be right there.”

“Just lie still, okay?”

His voice was unbearably tender.

The night wind was cold.

But he left in such a rush that he forgot his coat.

My mind snapped back to the day I had fallen down the stairs while pregnant.

I was hemorrhaging badly. I needed emergency surgery.

Before they took me in, I used the last of my strength, biting my lips white, and called him.

I called again and again. No one picked up.

In the end, I signed the consent form myself.

I let out a bitter laugh, and the tears fell again.

After what felt like forever, I opened my email and found the message I had been putting off for months.

“Hello, Mr. Smith. I’d like to reconsider the overseas posting.”