Chapter 2

After sending the breakup text, I started packing.

I'd struggled with severe insomnia for years. I could barely sleep unless Andrew was beside me.

For years, he'd always made sure to come home early because of it. But tonight, he broke that routine for Gwen.

Maybe I was more exhausted than I realized, because halfway through packing, I sank onto the couch and fell into a deep sleep.

I woke to the soft click of the front door closing. When I opened my eyes, Andrew was standing right in front of me, a fine sheen of sweat on his forehead. Out of habit, I reached up to wipe it away.

Before I could touch him, he caught my wrist and pinned me against the couch. But as he leaned closer, I caught the unmistakable scent of perfume on him.

It wasn't mine. It was Gwen's favorite.

Maybe only moments earlier, he'd been this close to her too, just like in that candid photo.

"Joyce, you're seriously breaking up with me over some ridiculous suspicions you've convinced yourself are true?"

I looked straight into his bloodshot eyes. "They're not suspicions. The proof is right in front of me. You can keep calling it helping Gwen recover, but that doesn't change what it is.

"My boyfriend has been sneaking around with my best friend behind my back!"

The veins stood out on the back of Andrew's hand.

"I know you've never gotten over what happened to your mom, how your dad drove her to her death because of another woman. But that wasn't my fault, and it wasn't Gwen's either.

"You've hated her ever since she told me how she felt before you did. But what did she ever do to deserve that? Why should Gwen and I have to pay for what happened to you? How is that fair to either of us?"

With just a few words, Andrew ripped open wounds I'd fought so hard to bury.

For a moment, I could almost hear Mom and Dad arguing in the hallway again.

Dad had built his career with help from Mom's family, all while carrying on an affair behind her back for years.

The first time Mom caught him, he dropped to his knees and swore he would cut the other woman out of his life for good.

I was a senior in high school at the time, and Mom didn't want their marriage falling apart with college right around the corner. So she gave him another chance.

She never imagined he would start secretly moving assets out of her name. Eventually, he stopped even trying to hide the affair and brought the other woman to my school to cause a scene.

That was when I learned the worst part. Dad and that woman had already had a daughter together before he even married Mom.

Mom had grown up in a well-respected family, and the betrayal broke her. In the end, she jumped from a high-rise.

I would never forget the way she looked at me that rainy night. Her eyes were full of despair and a bitterness she couldn't let go of.

Back then, Andrew was the one who covered my eyes and pulled me into his arms.

He gently patted my back over and over, murmuring, "Don't be scared, Joyce. I'm right here."

And now, that same man was using Mom's death against me just to accuse me of being jealous of Gwen.

The truth was, I hadn't even known who Gwen really was until I could finally afford to take Mom's case to court and fight to recover the assets that were rightfully hers.

That was when I found out Gwen was the daughter Dad had with the other woman.

I slapped Andrew across the face so hard his head snapped to the side. Then I turned my back on him and went right back to packing.

Rage simmered in his eyes as he glared at my back. "Joyce, if you walk out that door today, we're over for good!"

I unclipped the keychain from my belt loop and tossed it to the floor. "Why wait? We're already over."

That keychain had survived years of bumps and drops without ever breaking. But this time, it shattered the moment it hit the floor.