Chapter 3

I don't remember how I got out of that house.

I dragged the suitcase out of the closet and started throwing clothes in. The front door opened behind me before I got halfway.

He came in fast, out of breath, and grabbed the suitcase out of my hands.

"Elena!"

"Just let me explain, okay?"

He took a breath.

"I already deleted her. I went there today to end it. Nothing happened."

Still lying. The man was still lying to my face.

I almost laughed at him.

"Did you forget your curtains are see-through? I saw everything."

His face locked up.

Then the lock on the front door clicked.

Tessa.

She let herself in with the code. Then she hung her coat on the hook by the door. Like she'd done it a thousand times.

"So you come here a lot," I said. "All those nights I was away. That's where you were. In my house. In my bed."

She walked in. Didn't care that he was glaring at her.

"I'm pregnant. Almost eight weeks."

He spun around. His whole face changed.

"Pregnant?"

His voice dropped.

"How?"

Then he heard himself. His eyes shot to me.

Eight weeks.

That was when I lost the baby. After the crash.

I remember the day I told him. He was so happy he wouldn't let me lift a finger. When I lost it, he stood by my hospital bed and cried until his body shook, saying it was his fault, that he should have protected us.

And now, standing in his second house, I heard myself laugh out loud.

Because that whole time, during the day he sat at my bedside holding my hand. At night he went to her.

Tessa saw my eyes go wet. It made her bolder.

"You want to know why? Because you can't have kids anymore."

"What man wants a wife who's broken? So this baby? This one's the firstborn. The real one."

I took a breath. Pushed it down.

Then I laughed. Cold.

"Firstborn."

"Then you've got one job here. Have the baby. Go ahead, have ten."

"You!"

She choked on it. Then she raised her hand to slap me.

"Enough!" Dominic caught her wrist.

But his other hand moved to her stomach. Protecting it.

I saw it.

And that was when the cold set in for good.

Then the doorbell rang.

This time it was his parents.

They came in and put themselves right between Tessa and me.

"Try it. Try touching my grandchild."

The way they looked at me, you'd think I was the one who broke up their son's marriage.

I dug my nails into my palm until I felt blood. I didn't care.

So this whole time. All of them knew each other. And they'd cut me out a long time ago.

Dominic yanked at his tie, jaw tight.

"Both of you, go home. You're not helping."

His mother laughed. Short. Nothing warm in it.

"Tessa is carrying a Volkov child. That makes her the most important woman in this house."

She looked me up and down, like I was furniture.

"You married into this family five years ago. You've given it nothing. No heir. No line. Nothing."

"And I still haven't asked my son to divorce you. That's me being generous."

Every word landed like a slap. And every one of them said the same thing. I was the wife who brought nothing into this family. Useless.

Tessa looked at her, sweet as sugar.

"Oh, thank God you're here."

His mother patted her hand. "Don't worry."

Dominic sat quiet for a long time.

"Mom. When the baby's born, I want Elena to raise it."

"In my eyes, she's the mother."

Tessa stared at him like he'd slapped her.

"Dominic! What are you saying? That's my baby!"

Me, I just stood there looking at the floor.

I almost laughed again. Should I thank him?

All I felt was sick. And I knew, clear as anything, there was no future here. Not one.