Chapter 3

Sadie's POV

Brock frowned, irritated. "Sadie, not this again. Don't you ever get tired of pulling the same trick? You used your pregnancy to force my hand last time, and that's the only reason I sent Wendy away. If you could've just accepted the situation, none of this would've happened."

The bitterness hit so hard it nearly doubled me over. I'd gone through a miscarriage, struggled with infertility, and suffered complications from surgery. All those nightmare-filled days and nights, and in Brock's version, I'd brought every bit of it on myself.

I let out a sharp laugh and went straight for where it hurt. "I guess I'm just as petty as your mother was. I can't stomach my husband's mistress waltzing into my home. What, are you going to make me end up like her too?"

When Brock was five, his father brought his pregnant secretary home to live with them. That same night, his mother jumped off the roof.

Brock witnessed the whole thing as a little boy and swore he'd never be like his father. And yet here he was, openly expecting me and Wendy to coexist like it was nothing. So much for not becoming his father.

Brock's face went dark in an instant.

Seth couldn't take it anymore and yanked me into a storage room. The space was cramped, stuffed with things Brock had discarded. Inside sat a custom pen, the ring he'd proposed with, and our unborn daughter's silver locket.

I'd given him all of these, and he'd once treasured every one of them. Now they sat here collecting dust, long forgotten.

Seth's voice was pure disgust. "Open your eyes, Sadie. Brock threw away everything you two had like it was garbage. He's already moved on with his life. You're the only one still stuck in the past."

Courtney squeezed in after him, sighing with what sounded like genuine regret. "Wendy isn't as bad as you think. If she hadn't donated a kidney to your mom, she'd still be in the ICU.

"We've all seen how good Wendy's been these past three years. What you did to her back then was really too much."

I froze, my hand instinctively going to the scar on my lower back. When I found out Mom was seriously ill, I'd dragged myself to the hospital despite my own condition and secretly gotten tested as a donor.

Fortunately, I was a match. Then to keep everyone from worrying, I hid the whole thing and donated my kidney without telling a soul.

Even now, the scar still ached sometimes, but I'd never once regretted it. Mom was the one who'd protected me without hesitation, the one who'd stood by me through every mess I made. Of course I would save her.

But now they were telling me Wendy was the one who'd donated the kidney.

The bitterness surged up and lodged itself in my throat, too heavy to swallow and too thick to push down. I lowered my eyes with a strained smile, my voice barely holding steady.

"You all regret taking my side, don't you? You didn't just regret it. You spent three years lying to me right alongside Brock."

Dad sighed, looking helpless. "Sadie, watching you suffer hurts us too. If this is what the rest of your life is going to look like, maybe it's better to let go sooner rather than later."

I lifted my head and slowly looked around the room. Every face was one I knew by heart, but the coldness I felt looking at them was something entirely foreign.

These were the people who'd cried at my wedding and wished me a lifetime of happiness. They were the ones who'd fought for me and pulled me back from the edge more times than I could count. And now, every single one of them was telling me to let go.

I slowly worked the wedding ring off my left hand and set it down next to the things Brock had thrown away.

"Fine. I'll do what you all want. I'll let go."