Chapter 5

Tessy's apartment smelled like coffee and baby powder. I'd been on her couch for three days now, and I was starting to understand why she always looked exhausted. The twins were eight months old, and they took turns crying. When one slept, the other woke up. It was like they'd coordinated a torture schedule.

"Tell me again about mystery fashion week man," Tessy said, bouncing one baby while I fed the other. The little girl in my arms grabbed my finger with surprising strength, her blue eyes staring up at me with complete trust.

"There's nothing to tell. I had a one night stand with someone who may or may not have been an escort. I owe him a small fortune I don't have. And I need to focus on getting my life together."

The baby in my arms made a small cooing sound, and something in my chest squeezed. I'd forgotten how innocent babies were. How they looked at you like you were their entire world, like you held all the answers.

"You're good with them," Tessy observed, watching me pat the baby's back gently.

"I had practice. Three years of practice with a child that wasn't even mine." The words came out bitter. I softened my voice, not wanting the baby to sense my pain. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize. You have every right to be angry. Travis is a manipulative bastard. And your sister? I never liked her, but this is next level cruel."

The baby burped softly against my shoulder, and I smiled despite everything. "Have you heard anything? From Travis?"

Tessy's expression darkened. "He came by yesterday. I told him you weren't here. He didn't believe me. Tried to push past me into the apartment."

My heart jumped. "What did you do?"

"Slammed the door in his face and threatened to call the cops. He left. But Chloe, he's not going to stop. He keeps saying you'll come home. That you always do. That you're nothing without him."

I handed the baby back to Tessy and grabbed my borrowed phone. I'd sent Travis the divorce lawyer's information two days ago. His response had been immediate: I'm not signing anything. You'll come home eventually. You need me.

I'd blocked his number after that. But clearly, blocking wasn't enough.

"He won't sign the papers," I told Tessy. "But I don't care. I'm moving forward. Starting over. I'm thirty-two, Tessy. It's not too late to reclaim everything I gave up."

"Starting over how?"

I stood and started pacing, energy coursing through me despite my exhaustion. "I'm going back to fashion design. I've been thinking about it nonstop. I gave up everything for Travis. My career, my passion, my identity. I became someone I didn't recognize. But that person isn't me anymore."

"You were brilliant at what you did," Tessy said firmly. "I remember how excited you used to get talking about sustainable fabrics and innovative construction techniques. Your eyes would light up. You'd sketch on napkins at restaurants. You lived and breathed design

."

"I miss it. God, I miss it so much." The baby in my arms started fussing, and I automatically adjusted my hold, swaying gently. "I've been analyzing the fashion market. Looking at what's missing. Everyone talks about sustainability, but nobody's actually doing luxury sustainability well. That's where I can make a difference. That's where I can prove I'm more than just Travis's wife who happened to have good ideas he could steal."

Tessy shifted her baby to the other hip. "What about your interview tomorrow? Cross Luxury Group, right? That's huge, Chloe. They're one of the biggest players in the industry."

My stomach fluttered with nerves and excitement. "I know. They acquired Vance Fashion House last week. Marcus Vance was my mentor before I met Travis. Before I gave up everything."

"Wait, both named Marcus? That's confusing."

"Tell me about it." I managed a weak smile. "But this is my chance, Tessy. Cross Luxury Group has the resources, the platform, the reach. If I can convince them to let me redesign Vance's main line with my sustainable luxury concept, I could actually make a difference. I could prove that you don't have to choose between beautiful and responsible. That fashion can be both."

"You'll convince them," Tessy said with certainty. "You're brilliant. They'd be idiots not to hire you."

I wanted to believe her. But doubt crept in. I had no recent portfolio. No references I could use without Travis finding out and sabotaging me. Just ideas and passion and three years of innovations that legally belonged to my soon to be ex-husband because I'd been stupid enough to sign papers without reading them carefully.

The baby I was holding suddenly wailed, a piercing sound that went straight through my skull. I'd been so lost in thought I hadn't noticed her getting fussy.

"Sorry, sorry," I murmured, bouncing her the way I'd learned with Leo. The movement was automatic, muscle memory from three years of being a mother to a child who'd never been mine.

Thinking about Leo sent a sharp pain through my chest. I missed him. Missed his laugh, his sticky hands, the way he'd run to me when I picked him up from preschool like I was the best thing in his world. The way he'd whisper "I love you, Mommy" at bedtime.

But I wasn't his mommy. Blair was. And Leo had always been just another lie.

"Chloe?" Tessy's voice pulled me back. "Are you crying?"

I touched my face. It was wet. "I'm fine. Just tired."

I wasn't fine. My stomach had been queasy all morning. I'd thrown up twice before Tessy even woke up. Stress, probably. Stress and too much champagne and the complete destruction of my life.

But as I held Tessy's baby, as I felt that tiny heartbeat against my chest, I felt something else too. Something impossible. A suspicion that had been growing since yesterday morning.

The nausea. The exhaustion. The weird sensitivity to smells. The way my breasts had been tender.

No. It couldn't be. We'd used protection. I was sure we had. Wasn't I?

I tried to remember through the haze of champagne and grief and passion. Had we used protection every time? Or had there been a moment in the shower, or against the window, when we'd been too desperate, too consumed?

"I need to run to the pharmacy," I said abruptly, handing the baby back to Tessy. "Need anything?"

"Are you sure you're okay? You look pale. And you've been throwing up."

"I'm fine. Just need some fresh air and maybe some antacids."

Twenty minutes later, I stood in Tessy's tiny bathroom, staring at two pink lines on a pregnancy test. My hands shook as I held it. I read the instructions three times, convinced I'd done something wrong. But the result didn't change.

Pregnant.

I was pregnant.

With a stranger's baby. A man whose name I didn't even know. A man I'd never see again. A man I'd paid three thousand dollars like he actually was an escort instead of whatever he really was.

My hand went to my stomach automatically. There was nothing to feel yet, just flat skin. But I knew. I knew with absolute certainty that my life had just changed forever.

I should have been terrified. Should have been panicking. Should have been figuring out how to handle this impossible situation.

Instead, I felt something close to wonder.

This baby was mine. Completely, entirely, only mine. No lies. No betrayals. No shared custody with a man who'd betrayed me. Just mine.

For three years, I'd wanted a baby so desperately it had consumed me. I'd tracked ovulation, taken vitamins, changed my diet, tried everything. And Travis had blamed me, called me broken, made me feel like I was failing at the one thing a wife was supposed to do.

But I wasn't broken. The baby growing inside me was proof of that.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, making me jump. I pulled it out, still in a daze from the positive test.

An email notification from Cross Luxury Group.

Ms. Thorne, Confirming your interview tomorrow at 2 PM. Please bring your design portfolio and be prepared to present your vision for sustainable luxury fashion. Mr. Cross will be conducting the interview personally. Rachel Kim, Executive Assistant

Mr. Cross. The CEO himself. That was either very good or very bad. Companies like Cross Luxury Group didn't have their CEOs interview junior designers unless something unusual was happening.

I looked back at the pregnancy test in my other hand. At the email on my phone. At my reflection in Tessy's bathroom mirror.

A woman I barely recognized stared back. Dark circles under my eyes. Hair a mess. Wearing borrowed clothes because I'd walked out of my marriage with nothing.

But my eyes weren't empty anymore. There was fire there. Determination.

I'd wanted a fresh start. Wanted to reclaim my life, my career, my identity.

Now I was getting one. Whether I was ready or not.

Tomorrow, I'd walk into that interview and prove I belonged in the fashion world. That I was more than Travis Volt's discarded wife. That I had talent and vision and the ability to change the industry.

And in roughly eight months, I'd have a baby. My baby. A second chance at the family I'd always wanted, on my own terms.

I could do this. I had to do this.

I was Chloe Thorne. Former design prodigy. Soon to be single mother. And tomorrow, I was going to get my life back.