The year I was released from prison, I'd served five years of someone else's sentence.

Good behavior got me out a year early. On the day I walked free, I took what was left of my savings from before the conviction and bought a designer watch. It was our wedding anniversary, and I wanted to surprise my husband.

I stood outside the gates of the university where he taught, waiting.

A security guard stepped in front of me. "Who are you here to see?"

"Stewart Matthews. My husband."

I smiled and offered him a cigarette. "Today's our wedding anniversary. I wanted to surprise him."

The guard's expression shifted. His eyes snapped up to mine.

"Don't be ridiculous. Professor Matthews's wife was just here two days ago, dropping him off. She drives a BMW." He looked me up and down. "You've got some nerve showing up here pretending to be her."

I stood frozen.

"That's impossible. I just got out of—"

Before I could finish, the guard pointed toward a woman nearby, a child balanced on her hip.

"See? That's Professor Matthews's wife, right there. Those two are as happy as they come."

I turned to look, stunned. The woman was already frowning at me, sizing me up.

"Who are you? What do you want with my husband?"

……

She shifted the child higher on her hip. "Wait, don't tell me you're one of his admirers. Ever since my husband made the news for that heroic rescue, women have been swarming him like flies. The trash cans are overflowing with roses."

She was dressed head to toe in expensive clothes, her gaze dripping with contempt as it swept over me.

She wasn't wrong about one thing. On my way here, I'd seen Stewart Matthews's photo on the campus bulletin board. Apparently, he'd saved an autistic child from a suicide attempt, landed a spot on the local news, and become something of a local celebrity overnight.

Was that why he'd been telling people he had a wife? To fend off the attention?

I took a deep breath, ready to explain.

But the guard spoke up first, grinning at the woman. "Mrs. Matthews, everyone around here knows how devoted Professor Matthews is to you. He saved up three months' salary just to buy you that necklace you liked for your birthday. The man even turned down a job offer in New York to stay with you." He shook his head admiringly. "Other women don't even register on his radar."

The woman's chin lifted. She looked me over again, smirking.

"So save yourself the trouble, sweetheart."

"My husband has very high standards. He wouldn't look twice at someone like you."

With that, she bent down and scooped up the little boy standing at her feet. "Come on, baby. Let's go find Daddy."

I stared at the child in her arms. A boy. About four years old.

My mind went blank.

She turned to leave, and I grabbed her arm.

"The husband you're talking about. You're sure his name is Stewart Matthews?"

Alberta James frowned and glanced at me sideways.

"Who else would it be? You think I don't know my own husband's name?"

I held my patience and pressed on. "I'm sorry, I just don't want there to be a misunderstanding. Is it possible there are two Stewart Matthews at this university?"

Alberta let out an incredulous laugh and yanked her arm free.

"What is your problem? There's one Stewart Matthews at this school, and he's my husband."

Then she thrust her left hand in my face, waggling her ring finger.

"See this? My husband bought it for me. A Bulgari diamond ring. Not exactly something just anyone can afford."

I stared at the ring on her finger.

My heart slammed against my ribs.

I knew that ring. I knew it better than I knew anything in the world.

It was the wedding band I'd bought for Stewart Matthews in our second year of marriage. I'd emptied every cent of my savings to afford it.

When he'd opened the box, his eyes had gone red with emotion. He'd pulled me into his arms and said the words over and over, like a prayer.

"You're so good to me. I want to be with you forever. We'll never be apart."

But now, that ring sat on the finger of a complete stranger.

My expression went cold. I forced down the shock roiling through me and kept my voice steady.

"That's a beautiful ring. Where did you get it?"

Alberta let out a scoff, her face dripping with contempt.

"My husband's idiot ex-wife gave it to him. Too bad she didn't last long. Died five years ago."

"Though I suppose she died for a good cause."

"Right before she croaked, she left my husband a house, a car, and this pair of diamond rings."

"Now every neighbor on the block tells me I hit the jackpot."

My fists clenched at my sides. My eyes burned as I looked up at her.

"Your address. Is it 502, Unit 2, Building 6, Crestview Residences?"

Alberta blinked. Suspicion flooded her face instantly.

"How would you know that?"

"Who the hell are you?"

A bitter smile tugged at the corner of my mouth.

So it was true.

502, Unit 2, Building 6, Crestview Residences.

That was my house. The home I'd bought five years ago for my wedding to Stewart.

I'm the idiot ex-wife you keep talking about.

But that thought never left my lips.

Five years ago, Stewart had gotten into trouble with a group of drunks who'd been harassing him. He'd fought back too hard. Excessive self-defense. Involuntary manslaughter.

The moment I found out, I told him we needed to call the police.

He grabbed me and wouldn't let go.

He dropped to his knees right in front of me, eyes red and brimming with tears, begging.

"Baby, please, you have to save me..."

"I didn't mean to do it. If they lock me up, my career, my future... my whole life is over!"

He begged me to take the fall for him.

He cried so hard he could barely breathe.

I hesitated. This was prison. This was gambling away my entire life.

No matter how blinded by love I was, I couldn't just agree to something like that.

But then he said something that made my decision instant.

Something that made me willing to sacrifice everything, even my own life.

He said,

"I promise, I'll take care of our baby..."

His hand rested on my stomach, tears streaming down his face.

I stared up at him in shock. "What did you say? I'm pregnant?"

No wonder my belly had gotten bigger lately. I'd thought I was just overeating.

I'd gone in for a checkup, and the results had come back. He'd known and hadn't told me.

Stewart nodded.

"I was going to tell you the good news tonight. I never expected something like this to happen."

"If I go to prison, you'll be all alone with a baby. How would you raise a child by yourself? You'd suffer more than you can imagine."

"But if you confess, the baby can be delivered and I can raise it on the outside. You might even get a reduced sentence..."

"This is the child we've been praying for ever since we got married. Three years of trying, all those remedies, all that hoping. And it's finally happening."

My throat closed. I couldn't speak.

He was right. This baby was nothing short of a miracle.

We'd even gone to fortune tellers, and more than one had told us we were destined to be childless, that conceiving would be nearly impossible.

For the sake of this precious, hard-won baby.

I gritted my teeth and agreed.

"Stewart, promise me. When I give birth, you'll take good care of our child."

"The manslaughter charge. I'll confess."

And just like that, I was gone for five years.

In the beginning, Stewart still sent things through people now and then. Letters, too.

Then gradually, the messages stopped coming.

He said it was because the baby was so young, and taking care of a child alone wasn't easy. He was just too overwhelmed.

I understood. I never pushed him about it.

In prison, I poured everything I had into being a model inmate, day after day.

All I'd wanted was to get out early and reunite with my family.

Now I was out.

And I'd discovered that my husband had built a second home while I was gone. He'd even found himself a new wife.

Alberta must have noticed the look on my face, the way I'd gone quiet and still.

She frowned, pulling the baby closer, and took two subtle steps back.

"Who even is this woman?" she muttered to the security guard beside her. "So strange."

Then she saw my eyes turning red.

That stopped her short. She fumbled for a tissue and thrust it toward me.

"Hey, sweetie, what's wrong? Did something happen? Don't cry."

"Just tell me what's going on. What do you need my husband for?"

I forced the tears back and managed a thin smile.

"I've been away from home for five years. Hearing you talk about how much you and your husband love each other just reminded me of my own family, that's all."

Alberta's expression softened.

"Well, why didn't you say so?"

Her gaze drifted downward, landing on the T-shirt under my jacket. Her eyes lit up.

"Is that a Graystone University shirt?"

"What a coincidence! My husband went to Graystone too. You two are alumni!"

I nodded, following her lead.

"That's right. I was Stewart's junior."

Alberta's face broke into delight. She patted my shoulder.

"Why didn't you say so sooner? You're practically family!"

"You've been standing out here in the cold forever. You must be starving. Come on, dinner's on me."

I wanted to refuse, but Alberta was impossible to turn down. She tucked the baby against one hip, grabbed my arm with her free hand, and pulled me to a restaurant near campus.

She waved the server over and ordered dish after dish without blinking.

"Don't be shy! These are all local specialties. Eat as much as you want."

Then she pulled out a bank card to pay, and I froze.

That was my card. The one linked to our family savings.

Stewart had given her that too?

I watched her sample the dishes she'd so extravagantly ordered. A bite here, a taste there, then she'd push the plate aside.

Wasteful didn't begin to cover it.

"Are you the one who handles the finances in your house?" I asked, keeping my voice casual.

"Of course! My husband is so good to me. The moment we got together, he handed over all the money."

"His favorite thing to say is, 'Where a man's money is, that's where his heart is.'"

"I always tease him about it. 'Aren't you afraid I'll go crazy spending it all?'"

"You know what he says?"

"He says if I'm spending too much, it just means he isn't earning enough." She laughed. "Honestly, where do you even find a man like that?"

My grip tightened around my chopsticks. I could only imagine what my face looked like.

Five years of marriage, and Stewart had kept every penny under lock and key. He'd never once been that generous with me. Not once.

If it weren't for how perfectly every detail lined up, I could have sworn the Stewart she was describing and the man I'd married were two completely different people.

Alberta was still gushing, animated and bright-eyed.

She picked up a piece of sweet-and-sour pork, took one bite, and wrinkled her nose, pushing the plate away.

"This chef is mediocre. Not half as good as my husband's cooking."

I stared at that piece of pork with its single bite missing, and something twisted inside my chest.

Every time I used to come home on leave, Stewart would have his signature sweet-and-sour pork simmering on the stove, ready and waiting for me.

Five years.

Ever since I'd gone to prison in his place, I hadn't tasted a single bite of his cooking.

I thought about the year I'd gotten sick. I'd begged people to carry a message home for me, asked them again and again, just so Stewart would come see me.