The comments under the photo weren't congratulations—they were questions.

"Wait… is this for real??"

"The woman you're holding looks like Darrell's wife!"

"Don't say that. Could be her twin."

"But I remember Darrell said his wife's an only child. No twin."

I laughed—bitter, gutted—and left my comment: "You guessed right. The woman he's holding is my wife."

The moment I posted it, the same woman who'd hung up on me called back.

"Darrell, why the hell would you comment that on Victor's feed? You couldn't just say I was your wife's twin sister?"

"You that desperate to tell the whole world you got cheated on?"

"You want everyone laughing at you?"

"Victor's coworkers are ripping him apart because of what you wrote. You proud of yourself?"

Every single word was about protecting Victor. Not one syllable of guilt. Not one apology to me.

In that instant, the grief went flat. Dead water. My mother's death had made a lot of things clear.

My voice came out quiet, laced with something cold: "So you're afraid too. Afraid people you know will find out what kind of woman you really are. Having another man's baby before the divorce papers are even filed."

Charlotte's volume spiked. "Darrell, how am I a bad person?"

"Victor got hurt saving me—hurt down there. Shouldn't I at least give him a child to make up for that?"

"You know what, hearing you talk like this? You and your mother are the heartless ones."

"If you can't accept that I had a child for someone else, then let's just get divorced!"

Standing before my mother's cold remains, I laughed, low and sharp, and nodded. "Fine. Let's divorce."

Charlotte went silent for a long time. She couldn't believe it. The man who had loved her like she was the air he breathed had just agreed to let her go.

Then Victor's voice drifted in from somewhere beside her.

"Charlotte, come help me put some ointment on. I can't reach my back."

That was Charlotte. The second anything involved Victor, I ceased to exist. She forgot we were still on the phone.

"There. All done. Does it still hurt?"

"That doesn't hurt anymore. But something else does. You look really sexy in those pajamas."

"Victor, stop. I just had a baby."

I could hear their breathing getting heavier through the phone, and I didn't need to be in that room to know exactly what was happening.

"Charlotte, I really miss the time we spent together. I can't stop thinking about your body."

"Now that we have a child, you won't have to divorce him for the baby's sake…"

"Victor, I won't leave Darrell."

"There's no other man in the world who'd love me the way he does."

"I know he's angry right now and won't come around for a while. Once my recovery's over, I'll just go home."

I said nothing. I hung up.

Artificial insemination. That was what she'd told me. One more lie. Every night she said she was working late, she'd gone to Victor's bed to make that baby.

She'd been cheating on me for a long, long time.

I started to get up, but my phone buzzed with a message from Victor.

"You heard all that, right?"

"Hahahaha. Spineless little cuck. Wanna know how I fucked her?"

"While you were out working overtime, I had her pinned against the bathroom wall, kissing her."

"We did it in the office. In your bed. Even in your car. We left our marks everywhere."

"Remember that time at the supermarket? One box of condoms left on the shelf, and you handed it to me. I used them on your wife that same night."

My thumb crushed the screen dark. Both fists clenched so hard my knuckles ached. I was a second from breaking apart, but then I remembered where I was. My mother lay right in front of me. If her spirit was still nearby, watching her son fall to pieces would only break her heart all over again.

I brought my mother's body to the crematorium. Took her ashes back to our hometown and picked an auspicious day to put her in the ground.

I stayed for a month after that.

When I came back to the city, the apartment was exactly how I'd left it. She hadn't been home once. Hadn't called once.

Her heart—her whole self—was with Victor Delgado and his child now.

I contacted a lawyer and asked him to draft a divorce agreement.

The moment she came back, I'd file. I set my phone down and let out a long breath.

Tomorrow I'd go back to the office. Surely the gossip about me had died down by now.

The second I stepped through the doors, my coworkers greeted me warmly enough, then immediately dropped their voices and huddled together, whispering.

I knew I couldn't escape the mockery. I kept my face blank and walked in.

"Man, if I were Darrell I'd beat the shit out of both of them."

"He can't. The company belongs to Victor's uncle. Jobs aren't easy to find. If he actually hit Victor, he'd lose his position too."

"So he's just supposed to take it? Watch someone else sleep with his wife and then play daddy to the kid?"

"What else can he do? A man without money doesn't get to fight a man who has it."

Every humiliating word reached my ears, each one sharp enough to sting.

The entire office knew. My enemy had slept with my wife and fathered her child.

That green hat was on me head to toe. Every last inch of me wore it.

Then, all at once, the whispering stopped.

Victor Delgado stood at the other end of the hallway, coffee in hand, watching me.

Our eyes locked, and he saw the raw hatred in mine.

Every colleague in the corridor held their breath, staring at the two of us.

"Are they going to fight?"

"Someone call security. Now."

Victor, afraid I'd retaliate, slipped a small paring knife out of his pocket.

I watched him without expression, then walked forward.

As I drew level with him, he curled his lip into a cold smirk. "She was barely out of the delivery bed before she spent a whole day and night with me."

I stopped. Victor raised the paring knife a little higher.

I knew exactly what he was doing. He wanted me to snap and throw the first punch so he could stab me and call it self-defense, then have me arrested on top of it.

Security guards came rushing in. All this commotion over me. They really underestimated my restraint.

"Darrell, your month-long leave dragged your entire team's numbers down."

"If you still want to work here, come to my office later and pick up those files. Get them done."

I'd thought about quitting. But the guys on my team were brothers who'd stuck with me through everything.

My month away had gotten them chewed out constantly. Even if I was going to leave, I owed it to them to deliver results and get them promoted first.

When he saw I wasn't going to fight back, Victor relaxed and let a sneer spread across his face. "What an obedient little dog. You know you owe those guys, so you'll choke it all down and stay."

The implication was clear: if I walked, he'd fire my team.

They had parents to support and kids to feed. I couldn't carry that on my conscience.

Back at my desk, the guys gathered around me.

"Darrell, let's all quit together. We don't have to put up with his garbage."

"Yeah, and don't beat yourself up. A woman like that isn't worth keeping."

I set down what I was holding and looked at them calmly. "I'm single now. I've got nothing to lose. But you guys are different."

"Before I leave, I'm going to make sure you're taken care of."

The moment I clipped on my badge, one of Victor's people came over. "Darrell, Director Delgado says to come get those files. Now."

I walked to Victor's office. The door was half open. Through the gap I saw Charlotte perched on the edge of his desk, her legs locked around his waist.