Chapter 1

I barely made it to the hospital. The fever was so high that I kept drifting in and out of consciousness.

"Acute pneumonia. There's an infection in your lungs, and you need to be admitted immediately." The doctor studied my test results with a grim expression before looking up at me. "Go get the paperwork started, and have a family member come in."

A family member?

I leaned against the cold wall and managed a bitter smile. The phone in my pocket buzzed relentlessly. I fumbled it out and found the screen flooded with messages from Nicole Weston, each one nastier than the last.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Simon?

"Delete that post from the company chat. Now. Or I swear to God, you'll regret it.

"You did this on purpose, didn't you? Trying to ruin things between Finn and me? Not a chance."

I almost laughed. I didn't even have the energy to reply.

What family did I have left? The girl who used to stay up all night when I had a fever, cooling me down with a damp cloth, was gone. The wife who once swore she'd stand by me through anything had become a stranger who did nothing but scream at me.

After 20 years, it had all crumbled just like that.

Just then, a new message popped up. It was from Finnegan Holt.

I opened it and found a series of photos that made my stomach turn. The background looked like a spa hotel room.

He and Nicole were both in damp bathrobes, pressed up against each other. Nicole's cheeks were flushed, and she stared into the camera with a hazy, half-lidded expression.

Underneath the photos, the message read, "Guess what we're about to do next? She says you could never keep up with me."

That pathetic attempt to provoke me still hurt, even through the numbness that had settled over me. I'd seen this kind of stunt too many times, so many that anger felt like a waste of effort.

There had been a time when I'd fooled myself into thinking Nicole just didn't understand boundaries. Now I had to face the truth. From the very first month Finnegan showed up, I'd already lost her. It just took me until now to accept it.

I scrolled to my buddy Charlie Novak's number and called him.

"Charlie, about that divorce agreement you drafted for me, go ahead and send it to Nicole."

There was a pause on the other end, then a heavy sigh. "Simon, are you two really going through with this?"

Charlie was a friend to both of us. He'd watched us go from leaning on each other at the orphanage to building a life together. He knew how hard we'd fought to get here and how happy we'd once been. Nobody felt worse about it than he did.

I stared at the stark white wall and let out a quiet laugh. "When the road's a dead end, you find a different one. That's just how it goes."

In my sleep, I drifted back to when we were kids. We were running hand in hand down a dirt path. The traffickers were shouting behind us, but she grabbed my hand and pulled me straight into a wheat field that stretched on forever.

"Don't be scared, Simon! Even if there's no way out, I'll find one for us. We're never going to be apart!"