Chapter 1

Seven years into my relationship with Isla Farrow, she legally marries Damien Calder, a student she sponsors who is also ten years younger than her.

When I see the marriage certificate, I think it must be a joke. Then Isla rushes to explain, and I realize it is real.

"Damien's school is really strict. He has run out of every excuse in the book to get time off for his volunteer trip to an underserved community. Wedding leave is the only one he hasn't tried.

"I'm just helping him out with a cover story. He's doing a good thing. When he gets back, I'll file for divorce.

"It's not that big a deal. Why are you so mad? Once I'm divorced from him, we'll get married. Isn't that enough?"

I put the marriage certificate back in the drawer.

"There's no need. I wish you two a lifetime of happiness."

Chapter 1

Isla Farrow's expression darkened. She stared at me for a long moment, then raked her fingers through her hair in frustration.

"What are you talking about? Nate, can you calm down for once? You're always so emotional. Damien is my sponsored student. He's ten years younger than me. There's nothing going on between us. What exactly are you making up in your head?"

But the irritation on her face actually calmed me down. I let her go on for a while before I finally spoke.

"I'm making things up?

"You stood me up on our anniversary to be with Damien. You spent my birthday with Damien. You even had him take you to your prenatal appointments. Isla, do you honestly think I'm stupid?

"Forget it. I'm done. I don't want to talk about this anymore."

I closed my eyes, stood up, and headed for the bedroom. Isla didn't follow. She just stood there watching me walk away, and I didn't hear her voice until I was in the doorway, about to shut the door.

"You're getting older and you overthink everything. I'm not going to hold it against you. Just take some time to cool off."

Right. It was my fault again.

Ever since Isla started sponsoring Damien Calder, the fights between us had been constant. And every single time, it ended the same way, with Isla playing the bigger person and telling me to calm down.

I slammed the door shut, sat down on the bed, and couldn't stop the tears from falling. I kept thinking about it. If I hadn't found that marriage certificate, how long would the two of them have kept it from me?

Isla had brought up postponing our wedding because she was showing. I'd assumed it was vanity, but it turned out she'd already married Damien, so of course she needed to push ours back.

I didn't know how long I sat there. The sky outside gradually went dark, and by the time I wiped my face, my whole body was stiff. When I finally walked out of the bedroom, the apartment was empty.

Just then, my phone rang. It was Damien.

I gripped it tight, thought for a second, then picked up. There was loud noise on the other end, and Damien sounded panicked.

"Nate, you need to get down here. Isla got into a fight with someone!"

He hung up before I could say anything and texted me an address, a bar called The Vesper.

It wasn't until I stepped outside that I realized it was already 1:00 am, and Damien, who was supposed to be off volunteering in an underserved community, was at a bar downtown.

I got there 15 minutes later, my head spinning with questions. The place was a mess, and the staff had already cleared the crowd out.

Chapter 2

Only Isla and Damien were left standing in the middle of the floor, along with a woman the staff were pinning down. She was clearly drunk, but even restrained, she wasn't backing off, jabbing a finger toward Isla's face.

"What's your deal? You're some kind of cougar now? Who even are you to him? Who are you to decide who he leaves with?

"He's here working as an escort and you're going to act all high and mighty about it? Don't tell me he's your little kept—"

The insult never landed. Isla shoved past the people holding her back, stepped forward, and drove a vicious kick straight into the woman's stomach. She crumpled to the floor, curling up and howling in pain.

Isla stood over her and let out a cold, quiet laugh.

"You think you get to put your hands on my Damien? You must have a death wish."

Security rushed in and hauled the woman toward the exit, but even then she craned her neck back and spat in Isla's direction.

"Guess I hit the nail on the head! All that hugging and clinging, anyone with eyes can see something's going on between you two!

"Fine, my bad. I picked an escort who's already taken!"

Her voice trailed off as they dragged her out.

Isla's eyes followed the woman out, and that was when her gaze landed on me. She froze. The aggression drained from her face instantly, and her mouth opened, but nothing came out.

Damien pulled her into his arms, his eyes rimmed red.

"Isla, why would you do that? It's fine!

"I just wanted to pay you back. I was trying to earn some extra cash on the side. I didn't know the people here would be this terrible."

Isla had started to move toward me, but Damien caught her, and she stopped. Her hands dropped to her sides, and she just stood there while he clung to her and cried.

The bar manager hurried over with a nervous smile plastered across his face.

"Ms. Farrow, if you'd told us Damien was yours, we never would have brought him on. This is all just a big misunderstanding!

"Damien, why don't you head home with Ms. Farrow and talk it over? I'm sure a little money like this is nothing to her."

Damien nodded, wiped his tears, and looked at Isla hopefully.

"Isla, I promise I'll find a real job and pay you back. I won't make things difficult for you and Nate. I'm sorry."

The words were barely out of his mouth when Isla's assistant walked in, spotted me, and let out a startled gasp.

"Mr. Ellison?"

Every pair of eyes in the room swung toward me.

I stood right where I was, watching the two of them with something halfway between a smile and a sneer. It seemed to finally dawn on Isla what was happening, because she shoved Damien away and rushed to my side.

"Nate, let's go home and talk about this."

I pulled my hand free and let out a scornful laugh.

"Home? Your home with him, or ours?"

That got people's attention. The whispers started up around us.

"Wait, I know him. That's Ms. Farrow's fiance. What's his name... Nate Ellison? Is this some kind of caught-in-the-act situation?"

"Oh, come on. It's obviously a love triangle. A fiance isn't a husband. Someone like Ms. Farrow having a boyfriend on the side is hardly shocking."

"And Damien's not exactly hard on the eyes, either. Young, handsome... Can you really blame her?"

The voices kept getting louder, and Isla's expression kept getting worse. She grabbed my hand again and was about to say something, but Damien's sobbing cut her off.

He rushed up, ducked his head and looked at me, voice cracking as he pleaded.

"I'm sorry, Nate. I heard you and Isla were fighting because she sponsors me, so I came back early to try to earn some money and pay her back faster. I didn't want you two fighting because of me."

Chapter 3

Damien began, "Tonight some creep was trying to take me away, and Isla couldn't just stand by, so she—"

"Are you done?" I couldn't stomach the performance anymore—the fake innocence, the wounded look. I cut him off with nothing but contempt. "Actually, I think I'm the one who should be apologizing to you two. After all, you're the legally married couple. That makes me the other man, doesn't it?"

"Nate!" Isla's face went white. She stepped in front of Damien, shielding him behind her, and fixed me with a furious glare. "We're in public. There's a limit to how far you can take a tantrum.

"I already explained everything this afternoon, and Damien just explained what happened tonight. What more do you want?

"Damien, don't apologize to him. You didn't do anything wrong. Go home. I'll have my driver take you."

She signaled her assistant to take Damien out, and just before he left, he glanced back at me. In that single look, I caught the faintest flicker of triumph and challenge.

Damien was no innocent man. He'd been playing this game from the start. It hit me then that I'd only come to the bar in the first place because he'd called me. I was just another piece he'd moved into place.

Isla and I drove home together. She didn't say a word the entire ride.

I watched the scenery blur past the window and found myself thinking about the last time she'd been this angry. That time, it had been because of me.

We'd been together for seven years. I knew her inside and out. She was composed, rarely swore, and was nothing like the spoiled heiress people expected.

She carried herself with grace, always gave people an out, never burned bridges. And she would never make a scene like she did tonight. She cared too much about her reputation, and after a blowup like this, the gossip would be everywhere by morning.

Yet the only other time she'd ever lost control like that, she'd done it for me.

It was our third year together. Things were good between us. We were at a party with friends; everyone was drinking, and one woman had had too much. She grabbed my arm, leaning in all loose and flirtatious.

"Nate, what's your secret? How do you have Isla so wrapped around your finger? I've never seen her this crazy about anyone. How about you let me have a taste too?"

The words were barely out of her mouth. Isla, who'd been across the room taking photos with friends, was on her feet in an instant.

A bottle shattered over the woman's head.

Glass went everywhere, and the private room went dead silent. Every single person stared at Isla in disbelief.

She pulled me behind her, bent down until she was eye level with the woman, and spoke in a voice that was still perfectly calm—the kind that made everyone in the room go still.

"Had a bit too much?"

The woman was too shocked to care about the blood running down her face. She stumbled over herself to apologize.

"I'm sorry, Isla. I was drunk. I was just joking. I didn't mean anything by it. Nate, I'm sorry, I swear I wasn't serious."

Everyone assumed that would be the end of it. They were all part of the same circle. Nobody would actually let things get ugly over something like this.

But the next day, news broke that the woman had been in a car accident. She'd been left permanently paralyzed.

When I found out, I asked Isla in disbelief whether she was behind it. She didn't even flinch. She just nodded, her gaze still soft as she looked at me.

"I gave her the choice. Something happens to her family, or something happens to her. She picked herself. That's not on me."

From that day on, everyone in the circle knew I was off-limits when it came to Isla Farrow.

Chapter 4

Even after seven years together without ever making it official, no one in their circle had dared say a word about it. Now, all this time later, I was watching Isla lose her temper like that again, only this time it wasn't for me.

It was for Damien.

My mind was a mess the entire ride home, thoughts tangling over each other with no resolution.

When we walked in, Isla stood in the living room and looked at me coldly. After a long silence, she finally spoke, her voice low.

"Damien's back. I'll file for divorce with him tomorrow, and we can get married the day after.

"I know you're overthinking things again. I'm tired of explaining myself. Just let me show you, okay?"

Something in her voice—that quiet, barely-there pleading—made me look at her in spite of myself.

She turned toward the hallway mirror to take off her jacket, and the moment she caught her reflection, I saw it—a fresh, unmistakable hickey stark against the pale skin of her neck.

My whole body went rigid. I walked toward her, one slow step at a time.

Isla must have thought I was forgiving her, because her expression finally softened into a smile I hadn't seen in a long time, and she reached out for me.

It took everything I had just to stay standing. I lifted a trembling hand, pointed a finger at the glass right over the dark mark in her reflection, and looked up into her eyes.

"Is this how you're going to prove it to me?"

Isla followed my gaze in the mirror, and the moment she saw it, she went completely still, her lips pressed tight, saying nothing.

I felt like a clown. Even up until a second ago, some stupid part of me had still been hoping. But that mark killed whatever was left.

I was an idiot, a complete and absolute idiot.

I took a deep breath, fighting to keep the tears from spilling over, and let out a quiet, hollow laugh. Isla panicked completely.

I'd never seen so many emotions cross her face at once—fear, desperation, and confusion—like she didn't know what to do with herself, but never once guilt.

"Nate, there's a reason for this—"

"Isla, let's break up."

I cut her off and said it calmly. The color drained from Isla's face. She kept shaking her head and tried to wrap her arms around me, but I stepped back to keep the distance and said it again.

"We're done."

Isla kept coming forward, kept trying to explain. I held my hands up between us, steady and final.

"It's over. Tomorrow, go to the hospital for the procedure. We—"

Before I could finish, Isla tackled me onto the couch. She ignored my struggling and buried her face in my neck, her voice cracked and raw.

"Don't say that, Nate. Don't leave me."

That hit me so hard my eyes burned, and my throat closed up like something was crushing it.

Isla had been born out of wedlock. Even after the Farrow family took her in, she'd never really shaken that deep-rooted insecurity.

She'd been a real Farrow for years now, a legitimate member of the family in every way, but she still jolted awake in the middle of the night drenched in sweat.

Whenever that happened, I'd fight off my own exhaustion and curl up against her, patting her back the way someone would soothe a child.

"It's okay. It's all over. You're safe now."

She always buried her face against my collarbone and cried without making a sound, whimpering like a stray that had been left behind.

"Nate, you're all I have. Please don't leave me."

I never thought I'd hear those words again under circumstances like these. A thousand thoughts flooded my head at once. Seven years together made it impossible to say no to her right then and there.

After a long time, Isla's trembling finally went still, and she slowly calmed down.

Chapter 5

Isla took a deep breath, propped herself up, and looked at me with careful tenderness.

"I was wrong, Nate. Can you give me one more chance? I'll file for divorce with Damien tomorrow. I swear I don't have feelings for him.

"It was really just so he could take wedding leave. I should have thought about how it would make you feel.

"Once the divorce is done, I'll cut off his sponsorship completely. I won't have any contact with him ever again. Okay?"

Looking into her eyes, so earnest and sincere, I felt something deep inside me start to give. Maybe it was because she'd never had a normal family, never learned right from wrong the way most people did growing up. Maybe she'd just made a mistake.

Maybe I owed her a second chance.

Once the thought took root, it spread and wouldn't stop. Finally, worn down by her relentless softness, I nodded.

"End things with him completely, and then we'll talk about us."

Isla let out a breath of relief and buried her face against my chest.

"Nate, I love you. I only love you."

She held onto my arm all night like she was afraid I'd disappear. Every time I shifted or turned over, she startled awake.

I didn't sleep at all. My mind wouldn't stop racing, and the last thought I had before morning was that if she followed through on what she'd promised, I was willing to give her a chance—to give our seven years and our baby a chance.

Early the next morning, Isla put on a formal dress and headed out. Before she left, she came to the bedroom, pressed a kiss to my forehead, and said softly, "Nate, wait for me."

I sat up the moment I heard the front door close. I was exhausted from a sleepless night, but I wanted to be awake when she got back.

I didn't expect to be waiting all day.

By the time the sky started getting dark, I picked up my phone and called her. Once, twice, three times. Every call went unanswered.

A bad feeling settled in my gut. I threw on a jacket and headed straight to the courthouse, only to find it had already closed for the day. I was about to leave when I noticed two women chatting on the sidewalk near the building next door.

"Oh, you should've seen it. I was out walking my dog this morning and there was a couple arguing right outside the courthouse.

"It sounded like the woman wanted the divorce and the man didn't. He was crying his eyes out. A whole crowd gathered to watch."

"So what happened? Did they go through with it?"

The other woman asked exactly what I wanted to know. I held my breath and stood perfectly still as the first one shook her head, looking a little sorry about it.

"No. The woman couldn't go through with it in the end. He talked her into leaving with him.

"If you ask me, when the feelings aren't there anymore, there's no point dragging it out. It's better to split and move on."

The rest of their conversation faded into noise. All I could hear was what she'd just said, echoing over and over.

Then my phone buzzed. It was a text from Isla.

"Nate, everything went smoothly. Something came up at the office, so I'm working late. I'll be home a little later."