"Don't cry. As long as you and the baby are safe, a scar is nothing. I'd have given up the whole hand and it still would've been worth it."

That scar, once a symbol of his love, now stung like a needle pressed against my chest.

I reached out and traced the scar between Brad's thumb and forefinger.

"Does this still hurt?"

He blinked, caught off guard, then curled his hand closed.

"That stopped hurting a long time ago. Why are you suddenly asking?"

I lowered my gaze and said softly, "I just started thinking about the old days."

"You were so good to me and the baby back then."

Brad smiled, that indulgent smile of his, and wrapped both hands around mine.

"Silly girl. Am I not good to you now?"

"From the moment you got pregnant, I swore to myself I'd lay down my life to keep you and our child safe."

His eyes reddened as he spoke, his voice thick with sincerity. "Babe, I know I shouldn't be leaving you right now."

"But she's my mother. She raised me all on her own. I can't bear the thought of her going through surgery overseas by herself."

"You've always been so understanding. You get it, don't you?"

I looked into those anxious, hopeful eyes and nodded.

"Of course."

"Her condition is serious. I'd never stand in the way of you taking care of her."

Brad let out a breath of relief.

"Marrying a woman as kind and reasonable as you is the greatest blessing of my life."

He gazed at me, his face full of tenderness, his eyes brimming with the same devotion I'd seen a thousand times before.

But I wasn't moved by it anymore.

I couldn't help wondering. All that love I'd been so proud of—how much of it had been real, and how much had been a lie?

When had it started between him and that woman?

While I was lost in those thoughts, my mother-in-law walked in.

She must have overheard our conversation. The moment she stepped through the door, her eyes were already rimmed with red.

"Jill, I'm sorry. I'm getting old, and I haven't been any help to you. Instead, I'm causing trouble at the very time you need someone by your side."

Her voice cracked. Tears pooled along her lower lashes.

I looked at her, a tangle of emotions knotting in my chest.

In all the years since the wedding, Jean Delgado and I had always gotten along well. Every year on her birthday, I remembered the date before Brad did, starting on her gift a full month in advance. When she mentioned that the old family house was falling apart, I emptied my savings without a second thought and hired a crew to renovate it into something beautiful. Last year, when she broke her leg and ended up in the hospital, I was the one at her bedside every single day—sponge-bathing her, feeding her, handling the bedpan.

She had held my hand that day, tears streaming down her face. "Jill, you are the best daughter-in-law in the world."

"If my son ever does anything to wrong you, I'll be the first one to make him pay."

I had believed her.

I thought sincerity would be repaid with sincerity.

I never imagined that the same woman who swore she'd have my back would leave during my maternity recovery to help her son take care of another woman going through hers.

How absurd.

I looked at her and managed a small smile. "Mom, don't say that. Your health comes first. I'll be fine here."

Jean nodded, visibly relieved.

"Good. Good girl."

"Don't you worry. Once I've recovered, I'll come straight back and take care of you and the baby properly. I won't let you suffer one bit."

I gave a quiet laugh and said nothing.

Brad booked their flights for the next morning.

Early the following day, he and Jean showed up at my bedroom door with their luggage. They fussed over every detail—reminding me to keep warm, warning me not to touch cold water.

Maybe they genuinely worried. Or maybe they just wanted to put on a thorough performance.

They'd even taken a pen and jotted down a long list of reminders, leaving the notes on my nightstand. The way they fussed over every little detail, you'd think leaving was tearing them apart.

Jean wiped the corners of her eyes as she stepped out of the room.

"Jill, sweetheart, I can't bear to leave you, and I can't bear to leave the baby. But this illness won't wait. I just don't have a choice."

Brad wrapped his arm around my shoulders, his eyes rimmed red.

"Honey, I've already hired a postpartum nurse for you. The second Mom's better, I'm coming straight home. I promise. Not one extra day."

I nodded and watched them leave.

It wasn't until they were gone that something occurred to me.

The moment it did, I grabbed my phone and called my parents, asking them to come over right away.

They must have heard the urgency in my voice, because they arrived in record time.

"What's going on, Jill? You sounded frantic on the phone."

I didn't hold back. I told them everything in one breath—how Brad and his mother had conspired to deceive me, how they were really going to take care of his pregnant mistress during her maternity recovery.

When I finished, my father couldn't believe it.

"Jill, could this be a misunderstanding? Everyone can see how good that boy is to you."

"And your mother-in-law has treated you like her own daughter all these years."

"Why would the two of them team up to lie to you?"

"What if it's just a coincidence? What if Jean really is sick?"

My mother shut that down immediately. "Not a chance!"

"I saw her two days ago in the courtyard doing her line dancing. Two solid hours without breaking a sweat. That woman is healthier than an ox. Heart disease? Please."

"And Brad Delgado—when he married you, he knelt on those front steps until his forehead bled, swearing he'd treat you right. Now he has the nerve to gang up with his mother and pull something like this?"

My mother was furious.

But what I felt more than anger was confusion.

Because my father was right.

All these years, Brad had been nothing but good to me.

He was young, successful, and devastatingly handsome. There was never a shortage of women throwing themselves at him.

Even his boss's daughter had gone out of her way to pursue him, openly declaring that if Brad would be with her, the entire company could bear his name.

Brad hadn't so much as flinched.

He'd turned her down flat, offending her so badly that he'd nearly been blacklisted from the entire industry.

Even then, he never wavered. He looked me in the eyes and said:

"I can lose everything in this world. The one thing I can't lose is you."

As for Jean, she'd treated me even better than she treated Brad, her own flesh and blood.

One night I'd been hit with acute appendicitis. The pain was so severe I couldn't stand. Brad was away on a business trip, and it was Jean—in the dead of winter, through howling wind and snow—who hoisted my unconscious body onto her back and ran for miles to get me to the hospital.

That night, the cold nearly cost her both legs.

But she was so worried I'd blame myself that she gritted her teeth and never said a word.

It wasn't until Brad came home and saw that both her legs had turned black that he rushed her to the emergency room.

Even the doctor was shaken, saying she'd been gambling with her own life.

Jean had only smiled. "As long as Jill is okay, nothing else matters."

It was precisely because I'd felt their love so deeply, so genuinely, that I couldn't make sense of any of this.

What kind of woman could possibly make Brad—a man who loved me that much—and Jean—a woman who treated me like her own—betray me at the same time?

"Let's go. We're heading to the airport right now to see what the hell is going on."

My father shot to his feet, snatched his car keys off the table, and headed for the door.

My mother was right behind him, cursing under her breath as she went:

"Damn right. I want to see for myself what kind of homewrecker could have that whole family wrapped around her finger."

I handed the baby to the maternity nurse, then climbed into the car with my parents.

In the backseat, my mom wouldn't stop:

"Brad Delgado, that ungrateful snake. Back when he wanted to marry you, he knelt outside our front door for three days and three nights. Knelt until his forehead was split open and bleeding before I finally agreed to let my daughter marry him. And now? His own wife is still recovering from giving birth, and he runs off to take care of his mistress and her illegitimate child?"

"And your mother-in-law! Always going on about how she treats her daughter-in-law like her own flesh and blood. And what does she do? Her own daughter-in-law is suffering, and she doesn't lift a finger. Instead she goes off to wait on some other woman's maternity recovery?"

"If I catch them red-handed doing my daughter wrong, I will make them pay. Every last one of them."

Mom was furious.

Back when Brad first came courting, she hadn't approved.

She thought his family's circumstances were too ordinary. That he wasn't good enough for me.

It was Brad kneeling outside our door for three days and nights, splitting his forehead open against the ground, that finally wore her down.

Dad drove in silence, not saying a word.

I caught his reflection in the rearview mirror. His brows were knotted tight, his expression unreadable.

We'd been driving for about twenty minutes when I suddenly spotted Brad's car parked outside a roadside villa.

"Stop the car! Dad, stop!"

Hearing the urgency in my voice, Dad quickly pulled over, then turned to look at me.

"What is it, Jill? Aren't we heading to the airport to find Brad?"

Mom was just as confused. "That's right. We need to get to the airport and catch them in the act!"

I pointed at Brad's car. "He hasn't left for the airport yet. He's probably here to pick up his little girlfriend."

I got out of the car before either of them could respond.

The Other Jilln headed straight for the villa.

What I didn't notice was that behind me, in the car, both my parents had gone pale the moment they looked at the building.

When Dad saw me walking toward the villa, he was out of the car in an instant, stepping in front of me to block my path.

"Jill, are you sure Brad came here to pick up that woman?"

Something strange flickered across his face. It stopped me cold.

"What's wrong, Dad? Do you know this place?"

His mouth opened. Nothing came out.

By then, Mom had caught up to us.

She glanced at the villa, swallowed hard, and when she spoke, her voice was heavy with something close to dread.

"Jill, let's go back."

"Don't look into this anymore."

I stared at her in disbelief.

"Why?"

"Mom, you're the one who said we should come find out the truth. You were the most fired up about it. You said we had to catch them red-handed."

"They're right here, right in front of us. Why are you suddenly telling me to stop?"

She didn't answer. Instead, she grabbed my arm, her voice cracking, almost begging.

"Jill, please. I'm begging you. Let's just go home."

"Let this go. Please?"

Dad walked over too, his face grave.

"Jill, listen to your mother. Let's go home first."

"We're doing this for your own good."

I was completely lost.

I couldn't make sense of it. Just minutes ago, my parents had been ready to storm in and fight for me. Now, after one look at this villa, they'd become entirely different people.

Was it the villa itself?

Or was it the person inside?

While the questions were still churning through my mind, the front door of the villa swung open.

My head snapped toward it.

And there they were. Brad on one side, Jean on the other, carefully supporting a woman with a swollen belly as she stepped out of the villa.

The moment I saw her face, my eyes went wide.

Everything clicked into place.