My wrist throbbed from the impact, and my heart ached so badly I could barely breathe.

He turned his head away, his Adam's apple bobbing, both fists clenched white-knuckle tight.

When he finally spoke, his voice came out raw.

"Gertie, I'm sorry..."

I listened to those words, raised my hand, and swung another slap across his face.

But before it could land, he pulled me into his arms.

That was when Grace's voice rang out behind us.

"Julian... what is this?"

"Grace, it's pouring out here. Why did you come outside?"

Julian shoved me away in a panic, turning to face those reddened eyes of hers.

Grace stared at him in disbelief, her voice hoarse and cracking.

"You lied to me. Told me you had business at the office. And all this time you were out here wrapped around this tramp?"

"If I hadn't noticed you left your phone behind, I never would've known what kind of man you really are!"

She lunged forward, grabbed a fistful of my hair, and slapped me hard across the face.

"Miss Harding, I was kind enough to invite you to dinner, and this is how you repay me? Throwing yourself at someone else's husband?"

Julian pulled her into his arms, his voice dropping low and soothing.

"Grace, stop. Don't do this. You still have the baby to think about."

That only made her spiral further. She screamed until her voice broke.

"Oh, so NOW you remember I'm carrying your child?!"

"And you go and do THIS to me!"

"You know the one thing I hate most in this world is a homewrecker!"

My scalp burned. My cheek stung like fire. I looked at Julian, at the guilt carved across his face, and my voice came out strangled.

"Julian. Tell her. Between the two of us, who's really the other woman?"

His gaze dropped. His lips pressed into a hard line. He didn't say a single word.

I let out a quiet, bitter laugh and took out my phone, unlocking my private album.

"Since he won't say it, I will."

"Take a good look, Miss Barnes. Between the two of us, who is the third wheel?"

Grace's entire body went rigid. Her head snapped up, eyes flooding with disbelief as she turned to Julian.

"You told me I was your first love. You lied to me!"

She screamed, stumbling backward.

Her foot slipped, and she crashed against the edge of a planter.

Julian's face drained of color. He lunged forward, catching Grace before she hit the ground, her face white as paper.

She shoved at him wildly. "Get away from me! Don't touch me!"

"I'll get rid of this baby. I won't let my child be a homewrecker's child!"

Julian's eyes rimmed red. He scooped her up, arms locked tight around her waist, his voice thick with anguish.

"Don't talk like that. You're my wife. You and this baby are my whole world."

I reached out instinctively to stop him, but his shoulder slammed into me and sent me sprawling to the ground. He looked down at me, his expression dark as a storm.

"You knew Grace was pregnant, and you still said those things to provoke her!"

"If anything happens to her or the baby, I will never forgive you."

I lay on the wet ground. A shard of broken glass on the pavement had driven itself into my arm, and blood soaked through my sleeve in seconds.

I watched his retreating back, that unwavering, merciless back, and it felt like a fist had closed around my heart and was crushing it to pulp.

But Julian... I gave you a daughter too.

I drifted into a strange, fractured dream.

The sky blazed with fireworks, brilliant and blinding, and Julian knelt before me on one knee, a simple ring cradled in his palms, his eyes full of reverence.

"Gertie, the luckiest thing that ever happened to me was meeting you. Falling in love with you."

"Will you marry me?"

The scene shattered. In its place was Julian holding Grace, walking away without a backward glance, and the image seared into my eyes like staring into the sun.

I sobbed, crying out through the haze.

"Julian, don't leave me..."

My eyes flew open. A warm hand was pressed firmly over mine.

Julian sat at the edge of the hospital bed, brows drawn tight, holding down the spot where the IV needle pierced my skin.

I yanked my hand back as if I'd been burned.

Blood beaded instantly at the puncture site, the skin flushing red and swollen.

"Gertrude, no matter how much you hate me, you can't treat your own body like it doesn't matter."

"The doctor said every one of your markers is below normal. You're overworked and malnourished."

He seized my hand again, and his gaze caught on the scar across my wrist. Something raw flickered behind his eyes.

"It's been four years. You should have forgotten me by now. Moved on with your life."

I let out a bitter laugh. The bridge of my nose stung, and tears spun wildly behind my eyes, threatening to fall.

Who doesn't want to move on?

But the moment he died, every part of my soul left with him. What remained was just a shell, no different from a walking corpse.

The only thing that kept me breathing was my daughter.

I found out she existed the same day I tried to kill myself.

A neighbor coming home from a late shift noticed my door was open, walked in, and found me barely alive, clutching Julian's clothes to my chest.

After they brought me back, the doctors told me I was three months pregnant.

Everyone told me to let go. Julian was gone. The baby would be nothing but a burden I'd carry for the rest of my life. They urged me to end the pregnancy while I still could.

But I refused.

He was gone. That child was the only proof that what we had was real.

The only tie he still had to this world.

I underestimated how cruel life could be.

Before she was even six months old, Jeanette Harding was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect.

So for four years, I never stopped. Not for a single moment.

Every time I felt like I couldn't go on, I'd pull up my old messages with Julian, reading those tender words over and over.

Foolishly telling myself that if he were really here, he would never let me suffer like this.

What I never imagined was that when I finally saw him again, he'd be healthy, wealthy, thriving, with a doting wife in his arms and an unborn child on the way.

While my daughter was trapped in a body racked with pain, waiting day after day for a father's love that would never come.

How ironic. How laughable.

My heart felt like it had been ripped open, raw and bleeding, the pain radiating through every limb, every bone.

Julian watched me in silence. Then he exhaled, long and heavy, his voice thick with guilty resignation.

"Gertrude, I know I failed you."

"Whatever you want, name it. If it's in my power, I'll make it happen."

"I want you to divorce her."

I lifted my eyes and looked straight into his.

"Give me back what you owe me. All of it."

"Can you do that?"

His hand went rigid around mine. When he looked at me, there was something pleading in his gaze.

"Gertrude, Grace and I are already married."

"She's fragile. She's not strong like you. If I leave her, she and the baby could both be in danger."

"Gertrude, you know how hard it is for a child to grow up without a father."

Those words sliced into me like a blade, and tears splashed onto the back of my hand.

How could I not know?

I was raised by a single mother myself.

I knew exactly how many cold stares, how much hardship a child endured without a father's protection.

I sniffed hard, my voice breaking.

"I know. That's why I—"

But before I could finish, Julian cut me off, his expression turning cold.

His tone dropped to ice, and his eyes filled with heavy disappointment and blame.

"If you know all that, then why are you still being so heartless?"

"Get some rest. And when you're feeling better, apologize to Grace. She's a simple, kind-hearted person. She won't hold it against you."

He stood and walked out without a shred of hesitation.

I stared at the closed door, a suffocating ache pressing against my chest.

I curled up on the hospital bed and broke down crying.

I didn't know how long it lasted before my phone alarm went off.

I'd promised Jeanette I would come to the children's hospital tonight to stay with her.

I had barely sat up when the door swung open.

Grace walked in wearing a loose maternity dress, her steps slow and deliberate.

"Miss Harding, where are you rushing off to? Why not rest a little longer?"

There was a smile on her face, but her eyes were ice cold.

"I hope you understand—Julian is my husband now. You can stop with the desperate little stunts."

She paused, then lowered her voice.

"After all, children are innocent. Aren't they?"

Every nerve in my body seized. My head snapped up, and I glared at her with bloodshot eyes.

"Grace, what are you trying to do?"

"I'm warning you—if you lay a single finger on my daughter, I will make you pay with your life."

She steadied herself against the edge of the bed and settled into the chair, her gaze dropping to her swollen belly, her expression melting into tenderness.

"Miss Harding, please, calm down. We're both mothers. I don't want to make things difficult for you."

She reached into her bag, pulled out a bank card, and set it on the bed.

"There's a million dollars on this card. More than enough to cover Jeanette's surgery."

"My only condition is that Julian never finds out she exists."

A million dollars. Enough for the surgery and the medication.

The refusal climbed to the tip of my tongue, but I forced it back down.

Between a life without a father and a life at all, I would always choose her life.

So I swallowed the bitterness burning in my throat.

"Fine. I agree."

A smug smile spread across Grace's face. She rose slowly to her feet.

She took two steps, then frowned and turned back to me with a helpless look.

"Miss Harding, would you mind tying my shoelace for me? I really can't bend down."

I hesitated, suspicion flickering through me. But in the end, I knelt down.

That was when Julian's voice cut through the room, sharp and urgent.

"Grace, what are you doing in here?"

Before I could react, Grace let out a cry and her body pitched backward.

Julian rushed in and caught her just before she hit the ground. His pupils contracted to pinpoints.

"Gertrude, you've gone too far!"

"I didn't—"

His hand cracked across my face before I could finish, the force so brutal it whipped my head to the side.

Grace sagged against Julian's chest, her face drained of color, her voice choked with tears.

"Julian, don't blame Miss Harding. She just wanted a million dollars for her child."

"I told her that's our joint marital assets, and I don't have the authority to give it away. That's why she got upset and pushed me."

"She didn't mean it..."

Julian stared at me, disbelief flooding his eyes.

"A child? When did you have a child?"

"I actually thought you were sincere. Turns out this whole time, I was nothing but an ATM to you."

I opened my mouth to explain, but Grace beat me to it.

"Julian, let it go."

"We wronged Miss Harding first, after all. We can't take away her right to find happiness."

Julian's face went dark as iron, his eyes filled with nothing but disgust.

"Gertrude, you're really something else."

He pulled out his phone.