Chapter 2

"Step up? really? And how's he going to do that?"

"The baby comes, he walks out, and you're raising a kid on your own! Then what? Then it's too late to be sorry!"

The more my mother talked, the more worked up she got. But my mind had drifted somewhere else.

I was thinking about how he had looked when he found out I was pregnant.

That day, I had barely sent him the test results when he called me right away. I could hear the joy in his voice that he couldn't hold back.

Then a notification popped up. A transfer of one million dollars.

It came along with a list of baby things he had already put together, sent straight to my phone.

The nursery, the nanny, the prenatal doctor, even a discreet security detail. He had already told his people to arrange everything.

Thinking about it, the corners of my mouth curved up on their own.

He would take responsibility.

"Mom. Really. You don't need to worry. I'm a grown woman. I know what I'm doing."

"I've got a meeting. I'll be back tonight, okay?"

I packed up my handbag, grabbed my car keys, and headed to the garage.

A black Aston Martin was parked right across the exit, blocking it completely.

It was Lucas's car.

Without thinking, I reached into my bag to move it for him. I dug around for a long time before it hit me. The day we fell out, he had taken his spare key back.

I stood there for a moment, unsure. In the end, I took out my phone and opened the chat that had been silent for so long.

[Your car's blocking the garage. I'm late for a meeting. Can you move it?]

The second I sent it, a notice popped up: Message failed to send.

I stared at it for a moment, then opened his Instagram.

The profile picture he had used for years was gone. A new photo was pinned to the top of his page.

A man's hand, fingers laced with a woman's hand wearing a diamond ring. In the background was the Romano family's private yacht.

I gave a bitter little laugh.

Of course. He had even taken his car key back. Why would it be strange that he blocked me?

I was about to walk around the car when I stepped on something and almost fell.

I grabbed the side mirror just in time to steady myself.

When I looked down, I froze.

Scattered all over the ground next to the car were the things I used to keep in Lucas's car.

I had always worried he would forget to look presentable before important sit-downs with the other families.

So I kept a spare pair of cufflinks for him, along with a spare tie, in the compartment of his car.

There was also an obsidian tie clip I had designed myself.

I had redone the sketch over and over to make it fit his taste before I finally worked up the nerve to give it to him.

There was a small first-aid pouch too, with the painkillers and bandages he sometimes needed after trouble at the docks.

Besides that, there were a few lipsticks and a box of false lashes.

And a handful of little things I had left behind on trips we took together.

So he had cleared all of it out a long time ago.

I slowly looked up and peered through the window at the passenger seat.

It didn't look like the seat I knew anymore.

Where it used to be empty, there was now an elegant woman's handbag.

The door pocket was stuffed with a few boxes of imported perfume, and a small diamond pendant hung below the rearview mirror.

None of it looked like anything Lucas would ever have allowed in his car.

I suddenly remembered the time I hung a tiny silver charm in his car, just because it had my initials engraved on it.

When he found it, he didn't even look at it twice before he tossed it.

"Don't hang junk in my car."

Back then, I had only felt embarrassed. I quietly took the charm back and put it away.

After that, I never dared to leave anything in his car that might give away how I felt.

But now, I finally understood. It wasn't that he didn't like these things. It wasn't that he didn't want to make a relationship public.

It was just that the woman couldn't be me.

I bent down, picked up everything on the ground one piece at a time, and threw it all into the trash can nearby.

When I was done, I called a car and left without looking back.

I had barely gotten into the back seat when my best friend, Chloe, called.

The moment I picked up, her voice was so loud it nearly blew out my eardrum.

"Ivy! Did you see Lucas's post? That jerk is getting engaged! Engaged!"

I leaned against the car window and watched the buildings rush past on both sides of the street. My voice was calm.

"Yeah. I just found out."

"And you're this calm? Are you kidding me? We're all losing our minds over here!"

"The guy never posts. Ever. And today he dumps like ten photos at once."

"I thought, finally, he's going public with you. And then the girl in the pictures? Not you!"

I really didn't want to hear any more about Lucas, so I gently cut her off.

"Chloe. Want to hear something bigger?"

She went quiet right away. "What? What is it?"

I looked down at my stomach, and a smile crept into my eyes before I could stop it.

"I'm going to be a mom. And you're going to be a godmother."

The line went silent for a full two seconds. Then came a scream that almost blew the roof off the car.

"What?! Ivy! Are you messing with me?"

"Nope. Just past three months."

I took a picture of the medical report and sent it to her.

After she saw it, she got so emotional her voice cracked. She rambled on for a long time before she finally sighed.

"I swear, I thought you'd never get over Lucas. I was literally about to stage an intervention. And you've got a baby on the way!"

"Oh my God. Okay. Who's the dad? Tell me. Tell me right now."

I kept her in suspense on purpose. "When he gets back, you're the first person I'm introducing him to. Promise."

Chloe agreed right away. She chatted with me excitedly for a while longer before she finally hung up, sounding like she didn't want to.

I had just arrived at the conference hall when my phone pinged with an Instagram notification.

Chloe had posted a photo of champagne to celebrate, with a caption that was completely over the top.

[THANK YOU, GOD! My best friend Ivy is finally going to be a mom!!! Godmother life starts NOW!]

I looked at the screen and couldn't help smiling.

I was just about to remind her to keep it quiet for now when a new comment popped up.

The man who had blocked me had actually shown up under her post.

Lucas had first left a question mark. Then he added one more line.

[So you're in on it too?]