Chapter 1

“Something happened to Zion! I need to go check on him.”

Mia ended the call and grabbed her police jacket from the back of the chair. Without another word, she headed for the door.

Their fifth-anniversary cake sat untouched in the center of the dining table.

The candles were still burning.

Daniel stood beside the table with a pan of roasted sea bass he had just taken out of the oven. Hot butter splattered onto the back of his hand, but he barely reacted.

“Today is our anniversary.”

He set the pan down.

His voice was calm.

Mia slipped on her shoes without even pausing.

“We can celebrate another day. Zion’s not doing well right now. His doctor said he can’t handle too much stress.”

“What did he say when he called?”

“He’s in the parking garage. He’s having trouble breathing, and he’s alone.”

Daniel glanced at the clock on the wall.

8:07 p.m.

Ten minutes ago, Mia had been sitting right here.

She hadn’t looked at the cake.

She hadn’t touched any of the food he had spent the entire afternoon making.

She had spent the whole time scrolling through case files on her phone.

But one phone call from Zion had gotten her attention immediately.

“You could call an ambulance. Or call his family.”

Mia finally looked at him.

Her expression turned cold.

“Daniel, this isn’t the time to be jealous. You know Zion has PTSD.”

Of course he knew.

He had heard the same thing countless times over the past five years.

Zion couldn’t sleep, so Mia went to keep him company.

Zion had a nightmare, so Mia rushed over.

Zion refused to eat, so Mia would get up in the middle of a family dinner and drive across half of Cloud City to see him.

All Zion had to do was say he wasn’t feeling well, and everything else came second.

Including Daniel.

“I’m not jealous. I’m just telling you the food’s getting cold.”

“Then throw it out.”

Mia opened the front door.

A blast of cold air swept inside.

As if she had suddenly remembered something, she picked up a neatly wrapped gift box from the entryway table and placed it in front of him.

“Your anniversary gift. Tonight’s an emergency. I’ll come back after Zion settles down.”

Then she was gone.

The door shut behind her.

The house fell silent again.

Only the quiet hum of the kitchen vent remained.

Daniel stood there for a long moment.

Then he reached over and blew out the candles.

Five years.

From the day they started dating to the day they got married, Daniel had remembered every date that mattered to them.

Mia had a sensitive stomach, so he learned how to make meals that wouldn’t upset it.

Her shifts were unpredictable, sometimes keeping her out until the middle of the night. So he packed meals for her ahead of time and wrote reheating instructions on every container.

Her hands and feet were always cold in the winter, so he kept blankets anywhere she liked to sit.

He had been doing those things for so long that everyone had started taking them for granted.

Daniel opened the gift box.

Inside was a silver watch.

Nothing special.

There wasn’t even an engraving on the back.

The receipt had been shoved carelessly beneath it.

She had bought it that afternoon.

It looked like something she had picked up on the way home just so she could say she had gotten him something.

Daniel closed the box.

He didn’t bother trying it on.

His phone vibrated on the table.

Ethan Reed was calling.

“So, is your cop wife actually spending your anniversary with you tonight? Because I swear, if you send me another picture of an entire table full of leftovers, I’m going to lose it.”

“She left.”

There was silence on the other end for two seconds.

Then Ethan exploded.

“Zion again? Daniel, are you serious? He’s been back for six months, and somehow there’s always something wrong with him. And she still drops everything and runs to him every single time?”

Daniel looked at the table.

The beef stew had been simmering for six hours.

He had made the sea bass with lemon and herbs, exactly the way Mia liked it.

Even the berry tarts had less sugar because she preferred them that way.

Every dish had been made with her tastes in mind.

No one had ever stopped to ask what Daniel wanted.

“She said Zion was in the parking garage.”

“Which one? The garage at Clearwater Heights?”

Daniel looked toward the front door.

Mia took the keys to the SUV parked in the parking garage.

That meant Zion might already be in the building.

A dull ache spread through Daniel’s chest.

It wasn’t severe.

But this time, it lasted longer than usual.

He braced one hand against the edge of the table and waited for it to pass.

Then he grabbed his coat and headed for the door.

“Don’t go down there. You hear me? I’m coming to get you.”

“Ethan, I just want to see it for myself. Just once.”

“After all these years, you still haven’t seen enough?”

Daniel didn’t answer.

He hung up and stepped into the elevator.

The underground parking garage was washed in harsh fluorescent light.

Mia’s black SUV was parked near the exit.

Daniel stepped out of the elevator.

Two rows of cars away, Zion was standing beside the passenger door.

He wore only a thin white sweater.

His head was lowered.

Every so often, his shoulders trembled.

Mia stood in front of him.

Her police jacket was draped around his shoulders.

Then she reached up and carefully straightened the collar for him.

“Mia, I’m sorry.”

Zion’s voice was hoarse.

“I know tonight is your anniversary. I didn’t want to bother you, but every time I close my eyes, I see the crash all over again.”

“Don’t think about it. I’m here.”

Mia gently rubbed his back.

Her voice was softer than Daniel had ever heard it.

Daniel stopped in the shadows.

He didn’t go any closer.

So she did know how to be gentle.

She had just never been that way with him.

Zion lifted his head.

His eyes were red.

Then he looked past Mia’s shoulder and straight at Daniel.

Their eyes met.

Only for a second.

Zion didn’t tell Mia he was there.

Instead, he moved a little closer to her and pulled her jacket tighter around himself.

“Mia, do you think Daniel’s going to be upset? Maybe I should just go home.”

“He’s an adult. He’ll understand.”

Mia opened the passenger door and helped Zion into the SUV.

She never looked back.

Not once.

Daniel stayed where he was until the SUV disappeared around the corner and its taillights faded from sight.

Only then did he step out of the shadows.

At almost the same moment, Ethan’s car came speeding down the garage ramp.

The tires screeched against the concrete.

Before the car had even come to a complete stop, Ethan threw open the door and jumped out.

He grabbed Daniel by the arm.

“Where are they?”

“They left.”

“You just stood here and watched them leave?”

Ethan stared at him.

“Daniel, you put your writing career on hold for Mia. You walked away from everyone in your industry. You’ve practically destroyed your health for her. What has she ever done for you?”

He paced back and forth, too angry to stand still.

Then he pointed toward the garage exit.

“She’s a cop. She can spot a suspect’s lie, but she somehow can’t see through Zion?”

His voice turned cold.

“She can see it, Daniel. She just doesn’t care enough about you to do anything about it.”

The words echoed through the empty garage.

Daniel said nothing.

In the past, whenever Ethan criticized Mia, Daniel always found some way to defend her.

She was busy.

She was naturally distant.

She wasn’t good at showing how she felt.

He had made excuse after excuse for her.

Anything to avoid admitting the most obvious answer.

She didn’t love him.

The pressure in his chest came back.

Daniel pressed a hand against it and slowly steadied his breathing.

As soon as Ethan noticed how pale he looked, most of his anger vanished.

“Where’s your medication? Don’t tell me you skipped another doctor’s appointment.”

“I’m fine. It happens all the time.”

“This is not fine. You’re going to the doctor with me tomorrow.”

Daniel leaned against the car and looked toward the garage exit.

The first time he saw Mia had also been on a freezing winter night.

She had been in uniform, walking toward him through a crowd.

One look had been enough.

He had been sure she was the one.

Back then, he believed that if he loved someone enough, eventually they would love him the same way.

Now he knew better.

Love didn’t work like that.

“Ethan, can I stay at your place tonight?”

Ethan froze.

Daniel almost never slept anywhere but home.

No matter how bad things got between him and Mia, he always went back.

He worried she might come home late and have nothing to eat.

He worried she wouldn’t have a clean uniform ready for her next shift.

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

Daniel got into the passenger seat, pulled out his phone, and opened a document he had saved online.

Before he got married, Chloe Bennett had helped a mutual friend through a divorce.

Daniel still had the settlement agreement template she had sent back then.

At the time, he had never imagined he would one day need it himself.

The glow from his phone lit his face.

He opened a new document and began filling in their information.

The house.

The cars.

Their joint accounts.

His royalty income.

Every shared asset would have to be sorted out.

Ethan got behind the wheel.

When he saw what Daniel was working on, he didn’t start the car.

For a long moment, he just stared at the screen.

“You’ve really made up your mind?”

“Yeah.”

“Then don’t change it this time.”

“I won’t.”

Daniel typed the title at the top of the document.

Marital Settlement Agreement.

This time, he didn’t want explanations.

He didn’t care about getting what was fair.

He just wanted out.