Chapter 1

The day I discovered Sean's affair, I cornered him and my stepsister Tina in the company warehouse.

A fire broke out afterward. Tina died saving me from the flames, and Sean was injured when a pillar collapsed on him. His shoulder was wrapped in bandages.

"Joanna, are you happy now?"

His ragged scream that day echoed in my ears for a long, long time.

Two months later, the company went bankrupt because of the fire.

To pay off the debts, Sean and I moved to a run-down neighborhood. I worked three jobs a day, all to ease the guilt eating me alive.

A few years passed, and our relationship seemed to find its way back to what it once was—right up until Valentine's Day.

That was when I spotted the supposedly dead Tina at the supermarket, shopping for seafood with Patricia, my mother-in-law.

"Patricia, thank you. Without you, Sean and I wouldn't be this happy."

"Don't mention it. If we hadn't gotten rid of that crazy woman back then, what would've happened to my precious grandson?"

Patricia smiled and patted Tina's hand.

"It's Valentine's Day. Sean reserved that rooftop restaurant just for you two. Go enjoy yourselves."

My first instinct was to call Sean, but before I could even dial, a text from him came through first.

"Babe, picking up a coworker's shift tonight. Night pay and the bonus come out to almost two hundred dollars. I'll bring you something good on my way back."

I froze where I stood.

So that was it. Three years of hardship, and all of it had been a lie they'd carefully woven around me.

Chapter 1

"Hey, quit spacing out and start unloading. What are you standing around for?"

The woman next to me patted my back and lowered her voice. "There are cameras here. If the boss catches you slacking, he'll dock your pay."

I snapped back to reality and bent down to lift the styrofoam box of seafood in front of me.

It was heavy. Every step sent a dull ache radiating down from my lower back.

I gritted my teeth, finished unloading, collected my fifty-four dollars, and rushed toward the supermarket entrance.

Tina had just said goodbye to Patricia and was waiting for Rosa to load the groceries into the trunk.

I recognized the car immediately. It was Sean's favorite, the black Cayenne.

The day of the bankruptcy, he'd told me all the cars had been sold off cheap to cover the debts.

So they hadn't been sold. They'd been given to the woman he truly loved.

The car pulled away. I climbed onto my electric scooter and followed.

The black Cayenne stopped in front of the villa where Sean and I used to live.

Through the fence, I saw Rosa coming out with a little boy in her arms, about two years old, smiling as she greeted them.

"Welcome home, Mrs. Ashford. Little Noah's been calling for his mommy all day."

Tina planted a doting kiss on the boy's cheek and carried him inside.

That little face, nearly an exact copy of Sean's, hit me like a sledgehammer to the chest.

The second year after the bankruptcy, I'd been pregnant.

But to keep up with the crushing debt, I had no choice but to work three jobs that paid by the hour.

The exhaustion took its toll. I lost the baby.

When Sean rushed to the hospital, I had just come out of the operating room, my face white as a sheet.

His eyes rimmed red, he gripped my hand and swore he would work hard to give me a good life again.

But it had never occurred to me that this entire bankruptcy was nothing but a scheme from start to finish.

"Mrs. Ash... no. What are you doing here?" Rosa's face was a mask of shock and panic when she spotted me.

I walked past her, shoved the half-open front door wide, and stepped inside.

The moment I entered the living room, the scene before me rooted me to the spot.

A family of three's shoes sat neatly in the entryway. A play mat covered the floor, piled high with children's toys.

The staircase wall leading to the second floor was lined with family portraits. Three smiling faces. None of them mine.

Tina's soft singing drifted from the nursery I had designed myself.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are."

My feet stopped. My fingertips went cold, wave after wave.

That was the song I used to sing to Tina.

When my mother first brought her into our family, she had nightmares every night.

I would lie beside her and hum this song until she fell asleep.

Now the same melody played on, but the singer and the listener had long since changed.

On my way down, Rosa caught up to me, looking as though she wanted to say something but couldn't find the words.

I understood her position.

"Don't worry. I barged in on my own. It's not your fault."

She nodded gratefully and said, "When it comes to matters of the heart, sometimes it's better to look the other way. As long as he treats you well, that's what counts."

I smiled bitterly.

Back when I first discovered Sean and Tina's affair, everyone around me had said the exact same thing.

But why was it always me who had to be the one to compromise?

I climbed on my electric scooter and rode to the rooftop restaurant downtown, the one that supposedly required reservations a month in advance.

At eight that evening, Sean stepped out of a Porsche.

The security guard uniform he'd worn that morning had been swapped for a tailored suit that made him look every bit the wealthy man he was.

He walked around to the passenger side and helped Tina out of the car like a perfect gentleman.

I stood across the street and called him. "Have you eaten? When are you coming home?"

He pulled out his phone, his tone perfectly calm. "Already ate. It's getting late. Don't wander around outside, just head home early."

His voice was as gentle as always, but every word was a small blade twisting into my chest.

Tears slid down my face. Watching their silhouettes disappear through the entrance, I said, "Okay. I'll be home waiting for you."

Chapter 2

Back at the apartment, a wave of stifling heat hit me the moment I opened the door.

The building had six floors. We rented the cheapest unit at the very top.

To save on electricity, I never turned on the air conditioning, no matter how hot it got.

But tonight, I dug the remote out of the drawer and switched it on without a second thought.

Cool air swept over me, chasing away the heat clinging to my skin. I picked up my phone and called Lucy.

She was a college classmate of mine and now one of the top divorce lawyers in the city.

I laid everything out for her, and Lucy walked me through the evidence I'd need and the litigation process.

"How did things end up like this? Sean used to be so in love with you!" Before hanging up, Lucy couldn't help but sigh. "He cut ties with his own family just to marry you. He even gave you one of his kidneys to save your life. How could someone like that change?"

I let out an awkward laugh, unsure how to answer.

Because even now, I still couldn't make sense of it.

Over these three years, he'd had so many chances to end things with me peacefully and go live his own life. Why put on such an elaborate act just to suffer alongside me?

The next morning at seven, Sean came home carrying a small box of pastries.

"A coworker got their marriage license yesterday and shared these with the team. I saved mine for you."

I glanced at the name on the box. It was from the rooftop restaurant.

I could only laugh to myself. He couldn't even be bothered to put effort into his lies anymore.

"Sean," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "How much longer were you planning to keep this from me?"

Sean's hand froze for a beat, then he managed a smile. "You mean the fact that I quit? I was actually going to tell you once I lined up something new..."

"You know that's not what I'm talking about," I cut him off. "How long were you planning to hide Tina and your son?"

The moment the words left my mouth, Sean shot to his feet. "You went to see them? When?"

Without waiting for my answer, he grabbed his phone and called Tina.

Only after hearing her and the boy playing on the other end did he sit back down, relieved.

"Joanna." He reached out to stroke my hair, but I turned my face away.

His hand hung in the air. A flash of impatience crossed his eyes. "I was wrong to keep it from you, but you were out of control back then. If I hadn't done what I did, you would've dragged everyone down with you."

"I didn't care about myself, but Tina and the baby are innocent. I couldn't just stand by and watch you destroy them."

I scoffed, though my heart ached.

Back then, he was the one who'd cheated on me with my own stepsister.

When I asked for a divorce, he was the one who dropped to his knees, sobbing, begging me for a second chance.

I gave him that chance. And he never cut things off with Tina. Instead, he went behind my back and had a child with her.

Even now, I was still the only villain in their story.

I slapped the divorce papers down in front of him.

"Sign. Once you do, you can go be with Tina and your son and live whatever life you want."

Sean didn't even look at them. He tore the papers in half, then rubbed his brow with a weary sigh.

"Joanna, do you really have to make a scene over this?

"I had a lot of things to consider back then. I wasn't trying to deceive you on purpose.

"Tina had just found out she was having a boy. My mom wanted me to divorce you. But you were all alone. If I left, where would you have gone?

"I thought about sitting you down and talking it through, but you were so paranoid about me cheating all the time. If I hadn't faked the bankruptcy to take your mind off things, nobody would've come out of it unscathed."

Sean's self-righteous excuses tore my heart to shreds.

"So to make things easier for all of you, you chose to torture just me?

"For three years, I lived drowning in guilt because I thought Tina died saving me. Every time I woke up screaming from a nightmare, did you enjoy watching that?"

Sean opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

Just then, his phone rang. A small, childish voice came through the speaker.

"Daddy, I miss you."

Chapter 3

Sean's expression softened instantly. Even his voice went gentle. "Daddy misses you too. I'll come play trains with you tonight."

"Okay, wait at home for me. I'll drive us. You can't manage it on your own."

I watched him in silence.

When we first got married, Patricia was constantly giving me a hard time because the doctors had advised against pregnancy while I was still recovering.

Every time, Sean stepped in and took all the blame, then reassured me. "No rush. Whenever you're ready."

Back then, I was certain he would make a wonderful husband and father someday.

He did.

Just not for me.

After hanging up, Sean pulled a black card from his pocket and held it out to me.

"Joanna, Tina needs to take Noah for his vaccinations. I don't feel right letting her go alone.

"Take the day off. Go buy yourself something nice. I'll take you out to dinner when I get back tonight."

After he left, I skipped the shopping and hired a private investigator instead.

Photos and videos started flooding my phone almost immediately.

Sean had taken Tina to one of the city's most exclusive private hospitals, one that didn't accept outside patients. Only shareholders and their immediate family were allowed through the doors.

According to the investigator's report, Sean had become the hospital's largest shareholder when Tina was three months along.

Her checkups, the delivery, her postpartum recovery, the baby's care. All handled by a team of professionals.

I stared at the dates on the paperwork, my eyes burning.

Back then, Sean's company had just "gone bankrupt." We'd moved into a shabby apartment and were starting over from nothing.

My first day doing food deliveries, I wasn't used to the scooter and went flying off it, scooter and all.

When Sean saw the injuries covering my body, all he could manage was a sorry and told me to tough it out because the hospital was too expensive.

So while I'd been lying in bed gritting through the pain alone, Tina had been enjoying professional care around the clock.

Sean, the difference between your love and your indifference had been staring me in the face all along.

At six that evening, Sean came home carrying several shopping bags, all from the clothing brands I used to love.

"Joanna, guess what I got you?"

He spread the clothes, shoes, and jewelry out in front of me like a child waiting to be praised.

"I don't want any of it." I shoved the things aside and turned toward the bedroom.

But a hand caught my wrist and pulled me back, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Try them on. Stop being difficult."

I yanked my arm free and forced the words through clenched teeth. "They disgust me."

The next second, his hand clamped around my throat and his lips crashed against mine.

Tears poured down my face as I flailed, hitting him blindly with both hands.

Slap.

The crack of it echoed through the room.

Sean finally stopped.

"I'm sorry, Joanna." A flicker of guilt passed through his eyes. "I just wanted to make it up to you."

I pulled the freshly printed divorce papers from the drawer. "If you want to make it up to me, let me go."

Sean blinked, then laughed coldly. "Let you go? Where would you even go?

"Your parents are gone. You sold their house to help pay off my debts. You're not exactly young anymore. Without me, who's going to want you?"

I held his gaze, my nails digging into my palms.

So that was what gave him the nerve to hurt me without consequence.

His phone rang. Sean grabbed it and hurried out the door.

Half an hour later, the investigator sent me photos of the three of them at dinner.

The outfit Tina was wearing turned out to be identical to the one Sean had brought home that afternoon.

I closed my phone with a bitter laugh. His so-called devotion was nothing special after all.

Chapter 4

I'd just booked my flight and was about to leave for the airport.

Someone was standing outside the door.

Tina stepped inside on her high heels, chin held high.

"I know exactly what you're up to. You just want Sean to feel sorry for you so he'll keep you around.

"But I can't let my son keep growing up in the shadows with the label of illegitimate child hanging over him."

Before I could react, she snatched the fruit knife from the counter and drove it into her own arm.

"Are you insane?" I stared at her, stunned.

"Joanna, what did you do?"

Before I could get a word out, Sean's palm connected with my face. My right cheek swelled up instantly.

Tears streamed down Tina's face, her voice trembling with hurt and fear. "Sean, I just came to check on Joanna. I never thought she'd..."

"Joanna, apologize to Tina. Now!" Sean glared at me, barely containing his rage.

"No." I grabbed my suitcase and headed for the door.

Sean caught up, shoved me into the bathroom, and locked it from outside. "I thought these past three years had knocked that temper out of you. Guess I was wrong. You're just as unhinged as ever. If you won't behave, maybe a few days at the police station will knock some sense into you."

A little over ten minutes later, the police came and arrested me for assault.

As I was being led away, Sean leaned in and murmured, "Be good. I'll come get you in a few days."

I said nothing. I walked out of the apartment I'd lived in for three years.

What he didn't know was that barely a day later, I walked out of the police station, climbed into Lucy's car, and drove off without looking back.

Three days later, Sean was sitting at the breakfast table.

Tina laid out the plans for Noah's birthday party next month.

"You decide that." He pushed the papers aside impatiently and went back to his phone.

Tina did the math. Today was the day Joanna was supposed to be released.

"Want me to go with you to pick her up? Her place was in terrible shape last time. I was thinking..."

"I've got it handled. Don't worry about it." Sean cut her off and walked out.

He'd had Mark pick up Joanna's favorite chocolate cake and bubble tea earlier that day. Whenever she was in a bad mood, those two things were the only comfort that worked.

But Mark came back empty-handed after a long wait, reporting that Joanna had already been picked up by someone else.

"Who? Who did she leave with?" Sean jumped out of the car so fast he nearly tripped over the boxes at his feet.

"A close friend, apparently. A lawyer."

"Where did they go?"

Mark shook his head. "No idea."

The bubble tea slipped from Sean's hand and splattered everywhere, but he didn't even notice.