Chapter 3

She didn't get to hit me and make it disappear with a little kindness afterward.

"What did you say?"

Blood trickled toward my eye. She stared at me, opening her mouth and closing it again.

"You want a divorce? Why?"

I remembered a hike we'd taken just after our wedding. An earthquake had trapped us in a cave.

She'd been hurt trying to protect me.

"It doesn't hurt," she kept saying. "As long as you're okay."

On her next birthday, I'd made a wish of my own: let us stay this happy for the rest of our lives.

Then I found the love letter Blake had written to her in high school. She'd kept every one.

She told me it was all in the past. I believed her.

But once she was pregnant, a constant uneasiness settled over me. A whole day without seeing her left me restless.

I went to her office one day and watched her fasten a necklace around Blake's neck.

The necklace she'd given me.

Blake, apparently, was going abroad to get married.

Soon afterward, Claire announced her own plans to study abroad. And then she left Evan and me behind.

I went to see her once without telling her I was coming.

I found her with Blake. They were walking with Ruby between them, each holding one of her hands, like a perfect little family.

I met Claire's eyes now and made every word clear.

"Because I stopped loving you a long time ago."

"No. That's not possible."

She gripped my shoulders.

"Is it because I hurt you? Is that why you're saying this? Why are you throwing away everything we had?"

I shoved her away. "Get away from me."

She was the one who'd abandoned us. She'd made that choice long before today.

A nurse hurried over.

"Dr. Bennett, the donor team has made the incision. They're ready for you to begin."

I stepped into Claire's path.

"I want to see that child. I need to know whether he's Evan."

Blake's face tightened. His voice shook.

"Please, Ethan. I'm a father, too. Ruby's about to go into surgery. Can't this wait until it's over?"

He held out his hands. "Let her have the operation, and I'll do anything you want. Anything. Losing her would kill me."

Claire took several deep breaths.

"Stop this. They've already started. A child's life is at stake. You locked Evan in the house—did you even think about whether he was safe?"

I laughed. I couldn't help it.

I was laughing at myself. At the fool I'd been to fall for a girl like that.

Thank God Victoria had been there for Evan all these years.

I bit down on my lip. They'd made an incision, the nurse had said. It felt as if the knife had gone into my chest.

"Then we'll let the police sort this out."

Panic flickered across Blake's face.

Officers arrived soon afterward, led by a detective who introduced himself as Marcus Hale.

"We need to speak to the child's parents or legal guardians," Hale told Blake. "A claim that he volunteered isn't enough. Can you have them come here?"

Blake clenched his jaw and refused to answer.

Claire began to look uneasy.

"Tell them. You said he was from a rural town, didn't you?"

Blake suddenly sank to his knees. Tears spilled down his cheeks.

"I wasn't trying to hide anything, Claire. He's an orphan. His grandparents are both disabled. I didn't want to talk about it."

He gave me an angry glance.

"The poor kid's been through enough. If Ethan hadn't kept pushing…"

He took a stack of documents from his bag and handed them over.

"Everything's here, Detective. The paperwork is complete. It's all aboveboard."

I leaned in to read the name. Owen Reed.

Had I really made a mistake?

According to the file, Owen's parents were dead, and his grandparents could no longer care for him. When they heard they could get seventy thousand dollars in exchange for his kidney, they agreed immediately.