Chapter 1

Ethan looked at me, and the smile on his lips only deepened.

“Still angry?”

He set the roses on the counter and reached out to stroke my hair, just as he used to.

“Come on. The three years are over. I came back, didn’t I?”

I moved away from his hand.

“Mr. Carter, please show some respect. I have a husband.”

His hand stopped in midair. He studied my face for several seconds.

“You’re really that angry this time?”

He did not believe I was married.

In his mind, everything I said was simply my way of punishing him for the choice he had made three years ago.

Back then, when Vanessa proposed her so-called test at a private members’ club, everyone urged Ethan not to treat his marriage like a game.

I was four weeks pregnant at the time.

Before we left for the club, Ethan had rested his hand on my stomach and promised to take me to my first prenatal appointment the next morning.

But when Vanessa asked whether he dared to divorce me, he hesitated for only a few seconds.

“Clara is carrying my child. She won’t leave me.”

He signed the divorce agreement in front of everyone. He even laughed and asked if we should schedule our remarriage three years in advance.

He was convinced that a woman carrying his child could never start a new life.

So he never asked whether I agreed.

It never occurred to him that our baby would not survive the day our divorce was finalized.

“Clara.”

Ethan stepped closer again.

“Tell me what you want. A vacation, another wedding, a new house. I’ll give you anything as long as you stop this.”

“I don’t want anything from you. I want you to leave.”

Some of the confidence faded from his smile.

The woman I used to be would never have spoken to him that way.

I had pursued him for two years. When his company was on the verge of collapse, I stayed beside him and gave him every dollar I had saved to help him survive.

Even after we married, no matter how many times we fought over Vanessa, I never truly left him.

I had loved him so completely that, eventually, he began to believe my love was simply part of who I was.

Ethan frowned, irritation entering his voice.

“It was just a test. We divorced to prove to Vanessa that our relationship was real. I never betrayed you, and I never intended to abandon you.”

His gaze dropped to my stomach.

“Where’s the baby? The child should be a little over two by now.”

Even after three years, the memory of the baby I had lost still hurt.

Ethan mistook my silence for something else.

A pleased smile entered his eyes as he reached for my face again.

“Was it a boy or a girl?”

I stepped back.

“That has nothing to do with you.”

“The baby—”

Before I could finish, his phone rang.

Ethan answered immediately.

“What happened?”

Vanessa’s frightened voice came through the phone.

“My car broke down in an underground parking garage. It’s so dark down here, and there’s a man who keeps staring at me. Ethan, I’m scared.”

Concern instantly filled his face.

“Lock the doors and stay inside the car. I’m coming.”

He ended the call and grabbed his keys.

“Vanessa’s in trouble. I need to go get her.”

I looked at him without saying anything.

It had always been this way.

No matter where we were or what we were doing, the moment Vanessa called, Ethan left me behind.

He reached the door, then glanced back at me.

“I’ll come back later. Stop lying about having a husband just to make me angry.”

“I’m not lying.”

“If you’re really married, why won’t you tell me who he is?”

I said nothing.

Ethan had no right to know Dante’s identity. He had even less right to ask about the life I had built without him.

My silence only convinced him that he was right.

“Once I’ve taken care of Vanessa, we’ll discuss our remarriage.”

Then he hurried out.

I picked up the roses and dropped them into the trash.

The next afternoon, Ethan returned to the coffee shop.

Vanessa had her arm wrapped around his. His black coat rested over her shoulders.

I had once asked Ethan to wear coordinated outfits with me, but he always said it was not his style. Yet Vanessa had only needed to mention it once for him to show up in a casual suit that matched hers.

Before either of them could speak, my phone rang on the counter.

The screen read: My Baby.

I answered the video call, and Leo’s little face appeared.

“Mommy!”

He hugged his toy car and waved excitedly at me.

“Daddy said he’ll be home tomorrow. Can we go pick him up together?”

Before I could answer, Ethan’s face lit up with joy.

“I knew it.”

He stared at Leo and laughed.

“You really did give me a son.”

I immediately ended the call.

But Ethan had already decided he was right.

He looked around the coffee shop, then frowned at me.

“I gave you plenty of money in the divorce. Why are you still working here as a waitress?”