Chapter 2

The christening was at a rooftop ballroom in Midtown. Top floor. Floor-to-ceiling windows. The whole nine yards.

Packed with people. Champagne towers. A live string quartet.

Nothing like what Nolan told me when I brought up planning a party for our baby.

"Everyone's so busy. It's just a baby's little milestone. No need to make a big deal out of it."

So I shoved the guest list into a drawer.

Cancelled the venue. Lost the deposit.

And here — the woman standing in the center of it all looked like she'd never been pregnant a day in her life.

My mom. My dad. My brother. Taking turns cooing over the baby.

The second Nolan walked up, they parted to make room for him. Like royalty arriving.

"We already gave our gifts. What about you, Dad? What's the big present?"

Nolan bounced the baby gently in his arms.

"How about I rename the company?"

The company was called VanWren Capital.

"Van" for Vance. Him.

"Wren" for me.

It also meant I held shares. Real equity.

He told me once, "This is your safety net. Even if you lose everything else, you'll always have this."

Now he was handing my safety net to Selina Cross.

"From now on — VanCross Capital."

"No!"

The room went dead silent.

Every head turned toward me. Like I was a stranger who'd wandered into the wrong party.

My voice cracked.

"You can't just change it. That company has my blood in it."

Every client dinner where I drank until I puked blood — for him.

Every sales trip where I got caught in storms, passed out from heatstroke — for him.

Countless all-nighters rewriting proposals, pitching deals, pulling miracles out of thin air.

That company wasn't just a career. It was my entire youth.

"Because the company's core research was always about treating Selina's condition."

Mom said it like she was commenting on the weather.

I froze. "What... does that mean?"

She gave me a pitying look. "When Selina got sick back in high school, Nolan skipped his SATs just to be at her bedside."

"And when he retook senior year? Every single college he applied to — pre-med. All of them."

I stood there, stunned. A memory surfaced.

After his SATs, his face was gray. Defeated. I thought he'd bombed the test.

I held his hand and said, "It's okay. I'll retake the year with you."

Then later — when he was picking colleges — I thought his parents were forcing him away from his dream of being an astronaut.

I even snuck into the system and changed his applications. Twice.

He screamed at me for the first time in our lives.

"Can you STOP meddling in my life?"

Now I get it. The reason was so damn simple.

From the very beginning, it was never about me. He was always running toward her.

Tears streaming down my face, I spotted a familiar figure in the crowd.

Chloe. My best friend.

Her location always showed overseas. Too far for my birthday. Too far for my wedding.

When I lost my baby, I sent her dozens of voice messages. Sobbing. Begging. Desperate.

She never replied. Not one word.

And now — here she was. Arm in arm with Selina. Eyes glistening.

"Honestly? Everyone in high school knew he was in love with Selina."

"Those cookies he gave you? Selina's rejects. That love letter he wrote you back? Selina threw the original in the trash."

"I never told you because... God, you were just so pathetic. I couldn't bring myself to crush that last little fantasy you were clinging to."

Then Selina walked up to me. Took my hand. Squeezed it.

"Thank you."

"If you hadn't spent all those years helping me tweak my treatment plans, I wouldn't have recovered so fast."

I blinked. Looked at her face closely.

And it clicked. She was the "anonymous test subject" the company had poured millions into.

She leaned in. Her whisper brushed my ear.

"You don't know this — but the baby was conceived on the exam table. In the lab."

"You were right outside. Observing through the glass."

My whole body started shaking.

"I was moaning pretty loud. You thought it was a reaction to the medication."

"Those two pages of notes you took? You can put them in my baby's scrapbook."

I couldn't take it anymore.

My hand flew.

The slap left a red mark on her cheek.

But on my face — there was more than one.

Chloe grabbed my hair and yanked. "What the hell is WRONG with you?"

Blake pinned my arms behind my back so I couldn't move.

Mom and Dad crowded around Selina, blowing on her cheek, fussing over her like she was the victim.

I was dragged out.

Standing on the sidewalk, shaking, I saw a text from future-Selina.

"Wanna see what your little scene just cost you?"

I opened the video.

Future me. Locked in what looked like a hospital ward. Face hollow. Cheekbones jutting out. Barely human.

"Everyone was keeping up appearances just fine. YOU had to go and blow it up. You've got no one to blame but yourself."

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