Chapter 1

"Brent, are you not listening? I said it's gonna be fake divorce," Adrienne Bruckner snapped, annoyance creeping into her voice.

I looked down at the wedding photo torn in half on the floor, and for some reason, I wanted to laugh.

Adrienne seemed to notice how sharp she'd sounded. Her tone softened. "I told you, it's only a fake divorce. Once everything's settled, we'll remarry."

She said it so lightly, so casually, like she was asking about the weather.

There was no point arguing with her further. Ever since we were kids, whenever we disagreed on something, Adrienne's mind never changed. Not once.

She must have taken my silence for agreement. She let out a sigh, took my hand, and pressed it against her stomach, as if she wanted me to feel the life stirring inside her.

"This will be your child from now on," she said softly. "Didn't you say it yourself? No matter what, you'd accept everything about me. You can't go back on your word now."

I stared at her, stunned. Her words dropped my heart straight into the abyss, leaving me hollow with despair.

She slid the wedding ring off her finger and pressed it into my hand. "I'm getting the marriage license with Dylan tomorrow. It wouldn't look right, wearing this."

I closed my fist around the ring. I'd designed it myself, once, with nothing but hope for our future. Now all I felt was how cruel that hope looked in hindsight.

I stood, grabbed my coat, and turned to leave.

"It's the middle of the night. Where are you going?" Adrienne called after me.

I looked away. "We're getting divorced, and you're marrying someone else. It's not right for us to keep living together."

Adrienne's temper flared the moment she heard that. "Brent, do you even know what you're saying? You actually want to divorce me? I told you already, it's just a fake divorce with you!" She paced the room, furious, gnawing at her fingernails.

I just watched her in silence.

Adrienne had anxiety, so I never argued with her over the small things, or the big ones either. I always gave in. Even when it cost me, even when I came out the loser, I never minded.

Back then, I told myself that if I loved her, I couldn't afford to keep score with her over every little thing. Loving someone and nitpicking with them didn't go together.

But something in me had stopped wanting to back down.

"Adrienne," I said, "it isn't me who wants this divorce. It's you. I'm only respecting your decision."

"How many times do I have to say it? It's a fake divorce! Fake! Why can't you get that through your head?"

She dropped onto the couch, furious, one hand pressed to her stomach. Her face had gone pale. The baby must have kicked.

Something in me ached at that, but then I remembered the child in her belly was proof of her betrayal, and my feet stayed rooted to the floor. I couldn't make myself walk toward her.

For once, Adrienne let herself sound fragile. "Why get so angry over something this small? I just want you to understand me..."

I cut her off. "Understand you?

"Adrienne, I understand you plenty. Back when you begged me not to go study abroad, I gave it up for you. I stayed.

"All these years, I've given you everything I had, heart and soul, whatever you needed, whatever made you feel safe. When you wanted to work, I backed you. I helped you open your own studio.

"What more do you want from me?"

Tears spilled down Adrienne's face. She looked at me, stubborn as ever. "On my eighteenth birthday, you told me that whatever I wished for, no matter the cost, you'd make it happen.

"Well, I'm telling you now. My birthday wish this year is to have this baby. I've always wanted a child with Dylan. I want to marry him. I want a family with him.

"We missed our chance once, through no fault of our own, and now he's dying. Can't I even walk him through what's left of his life? Do you have to be this selfish?"

Selfish? So that was it. In Adrienne's eyes, refusing a fake divorce, refusing to let her carry Dylan Magder's baby, refusing to let her marry him: that was what made me the selfish one.

I took a breath and turned to go. Adrienne shrieked behind me. "Brent, what is that supposed to mean?"

I turned back, my voice flat. "You're willing to raise your ex's baby with another woman. I'm not willing to raise the product of my wife's affair."