Chapter 3

"Vanessa, is that what you want too?"

My eyes landed on the cluster of fresh love bites exposed along Derek's neck as he tilted his chin upward.

The sight scraped across my heart like a thousand tiny needles, leaving behind a slow, lingering ache.

The amethyst pendant had been our token of love.

Seven years ago, we had met at a gemstone exhibition in Silver Ridge because we had both reached for the same piece of amethyst. On the night that we got together, Vanessa had braided the cord herself and tied the pendant around my neck.

We made a promise for a lifetime.

I knew Derek liked it since he had asked Vanessa for it more than once. She had never given it to him.

However, this time, she looked away with hesitation and guilt in her eyes.

"Maybe you could—"

"Sure." I let out a quiet laugh and tore the pendant from my neck, dropping it into Derek's hand.

Watching him eagerly fasten it around his own neck, I nodded in approval. "It suits you."

Vanessa looked at me in surprise. Ignoring her expression, I picked up Sadie and walked away.

Back at the villa, Sadie was still crying so hard she could barely catch her breath.

Ignoring the pain twisting in my chest, I took her little hand in mine. "Sweetheart, if I wanted to take you away from here, would you come with me?"

Her tears fell even harder. "Daddy... can't we stay?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "But your mom and your grandmother don't want us here anymore."

I forced myself to meet her eyes.

"Do you really want to spend the rest of your life calling her Aunt Vanessa?"

I selfishly wanted her to be only my daughter who would choose me without hesitation and to love me the way only a child can love a parent.

But life didn't work that way.

She hugged her Barbie doll tighter against her chest. It had been Vanessa's birthday gift to her last year.

"Daddy, I just want one more birthday with Mommy."

She stubbornly refused to change what she called Vanessa.

Closing my eyes, I pulled her into my arms and nodded. "Okay."

...

January 5th was Sadie's birthday.

I'd reminded Vanessa two days in advance so she would have time to prepare. This might be the last birthday our daughter ever celebrated with her mother, and I wanted her wish to come true.

That morning, Sadie woke up early and put on her little dress. Then she looked up at me nervously.

"Daddy, Mommy's coming to my birthday party, right?"

"Of course she is." I forced a smile and sent Vanessa a message.

"It's your daughter's birthday today. Where are you?"

The message disappeared into silence. No reply came.

Sadie lowered her head and tightened her grip on the ribbon wrapped around the cake box. "Mommy isn't coming, is she?"

A long while passed before she seemed to convince herself otherwise.

"It's okay." She forced out a smile. "Aunt Vanessa is busy. We shouldn't bother her. Daddy, let's eat cake."

It was the first time she had called Vanessa "Aunt Vanessa". Little by little, she was beginning to accept the truth—that she simply wasn't important enough to her mother.

But the trembling corners of Sadie's mouth and the redness gathering around her eyes betrayed her heartbreak.

Watching her pretend to be strong felt like someone had poured gasoline over the frustration and grief burning inside my chest. The pain spread through me, scorching everything in its path.

I opened my phone and pulled up Vanessa's chat window.

"You don't even have time for your own daughter's birthday? Do you really love Derek that much? So much that you have to spend every waking moment with him?"

My thumb hovered over the send button. For a long time, I couldn't bring myself to press it.

Then a new message appeared.

"Come to the McBride estate."