Chapter 2

Tyler's face went pale. He started stammering apologies.

"I'm sorry, Professor, I..."

His eyes reddened, like he was the one who'd been wronged. He shot Victoria a timid glance, then bolted.

Victoria tried to stop him, but he was too fast. She spun back toward me and slapped me hard across the face.

My ears rang, and everything in front of me blurred.

"Alexander, is your heart really that small? Whatever Tyler's done, he's still your student!"

By the time I came back to my senses, Victoria had slammed the front door shut. A gust of cold air swept through, cutting straight through my chest.

My cheek throbbed in waves, a bright red handprint blooming across half my face.

I pressed a bag of ice to my swollen cheek, still too stunned to think straight.

The house was quiet. Miles's toys and drawings were scattered across the floor. One of them was a family portrait, but the figure meant to be me had been crudely cut out.

I stood there with my head bowed, my vision blurring with tears. When I finally looked up, my eyes landed on my wedding photo with Victoria.

Maybe, if I'd never saved Tyler Ford in the first place, none of this would have happened.

The first time I met Tyler, he'd been out delivering food in the pouring rain, and his scooter clipped my car's side mirror. He couldn't have been more than twenty at the time, thin and sickly-looking, wearing clothes faded from repeated washing.

I later found out he went to the same university where I taught. His grades were solid, and I made an exception and took him on as my student.

The moment Victoria met Tyler, something in her softened.

She told me, "Alexander, out of all your students, Tyler's family has it the hardest. He doesn't have any parents. I want to help support him. Think of it as doing a good deed."

He didn't have the money for school, so I paid for it. He needed connections, so I made them for him. I thought of him in everything I did, and handed over nearly everything I knew.

I never imagined the student I'd poured so much into would turn around and betray me.

That day happened to be my second wedding anniversary with Victoria. A phone call sent me back to my office at the university. The power was out that day, so the office was dark.

The door was left half open, and the sound of tangled breathing coming from inside stopped me in my tracks. I switched on my phone's flashlight.

What I saw was something I'll never be able to forget for the rest of my life.

Victoria and Tyler, locked in a kiss neither of them seemed willing to break.

The moment I appeared, both their heads snapped up. The power came back on at that exact moment.

Victoria scrambled to fix her clothes, babbling incoherently.

"Alexander, listen to me..."

Tyler dropped straight to his knees and grabbed at the hem of my pants.

"I'm sorry, Professor. Don't blame Victoria. This is all my fault. It's me..."

The whole world felt absurd. I stood frozen, my ears ringing so loud it felt like my skull would split open. I didn't take in a single word of whatever came after that.

I raised my phone and took well over a hundred photos of the two of them. I didn't wait to hear Victoria's explanation. I posted every photo online.

Tyler was expelled and became a target everyone wanted to tear apart. Victoria's company stock crashed, and she came close to bankruptcy more than once.

She begged me.

"Alexander, it really wasn't what you think. The lights were off, and I wanted to surprise you, but you weren't picking up your phone.

"I thought it was you. Please, forgive me?

"I'm... I'm pregnant. It's your baby. You can't let our child grow up without a father."

She put Tyler on a plane and cut all contact with him for good.

One was the student I'd poured everything into, a young man who should have had a bright future ahead of him. The other was the wife I'd spent years building a life with, a marriage that had always felt solid.

So why did it have to end up like this?

Because I couldn't let go. Because I couldn't accept it. I softened. I compromised. I gave Victoria a second chance.

Looking back now, I only felt like a fool, a clown who'd been laughed at behind his back the whole time.

Victoria had never once let go of Tyler.

I sat slumped against the couch from nightfall until dawn. It wasn't until the sunlight finally hit me that anything started to feel real again.

I called my divorce lawyer.

"Is that divorce agreement from five years ago still valid? Add one more clause for me. I want custody of my son."