Chapter 2

As I expected, after reading the text, Denis went out and never came back that night.

I opened the account he and Barbara ran together. Beneath every video, there was always a comment from me wishing them a lifetime of happiness.

They had traveled all over the world, visiting places I'd never had the chance to see.

Barbara used to tease me about it. "Jealous? Why don't you get your CEO husband to take you somewhere?"

She knew perfectly well that Denis had turned me down at least ten times, always giving me the same excuse. "I have too much company business to take care of. Can't you be a little more understanding?"

The truth was, he wasn't too busy to travel with me. He was simply saving all his free time for Barbara.

What looked like her flaunting a happy relationship was actually a deliberate provocation, and I'd been too willing to pretend otherwise.

While I was lost in thought, the account updated again, this time with a video set to be visible only to me.

The footage showed a messy bed covered in scattered sex toys. Denis was on top of Barbara, his lean, muscular back arching as he gave himself over to his desire.

"Being with you is the only thing that makes me feel this good. Come here, baby. Let me see..."

My blood ran cold.

Just the night before, he'd held me close, taking me into his arms with the same intensity while whispering against my ear, "I can't go even a day without touching you. I feel like I'm losing my mind. Sweetheart, how am I supposed to live without you?"

Those words had once made my heart flutter. Now they came back to me like knives, each one cutting a little deeper.

...

The camera angle shifted, and I caught sight of the tattoo near his waist.

The character was a vivid "B, not a G".

It hadn't been blurred at all. He'd lied to me.

I touched my face, only to realize it was already wet with tears. I closed the video immediately, but the pain in my chest only grew worse, twisting so sharply that I could barely breathe.

Right then, my phone rang with a call from the hospital.

"Ms. Gail Duran? I'm so sorry, but your mother suffered a sudden heart attack and passed away."

For a moment, the entire world seemed to stop.

By the time I stumbled into the hospital, a white sheet had already been pulled over my mother's face. I stood there in a daze, barely able to form the words.

"How... could this happen?"

When I reached for her hand, the coldness of her skin sent a shudder through me, and every breath felt like it was scraping my lungs raw.

Desperate for someone to tell me what to do, I called Denis.

But he didn't answer the first time. The second time, he rejected the call. When I tried again, his phone had already been switched off.

Ever since I'd been bullied in college, Denis had promised me that he would always answer my call on the first ring.

Now, all I could hear was the same cold automated message telling me the number was unavailable, and with every repetition, my heart sank a little further.

Eventually, I stopped calling.

After spending one last moment with my mother, I turned to the doctor. "Her heart condition had been stable for years. How could she have a heart attack so suddenly?"

The doctor sighed and shook his head.

"It really was very sudden. Someone had come by just before she collapsed. A courier, I think. He said something to her, and shortly afterward, she went into cardiac arrest."

As if drawn by an invisible force, I walked back into the room and spotted a lab report thrown on the floor.

It read: [Barbara Moore: 12 weeks pregnant.]

And in the space marked Father's Name was Denis Lowery. A dark splash of blood from my mother's coughing had stained the edge of the report.

Barbara and I had once made a promise that we'd get pregnant around the same time and become godmothers to each other's children.

Now, the baby she carried had become the final blow that took my mother from me.

After making the funeral arrangements, I returned home and began packing my belongings piece by piece. Once everything was settled, I contacted a lawyer and asked him to draw up the divorce agreement.

I had just started sorting through the last of my things when the front door opened.

Denis walked in.