Ten years after my husband's death, I learned the truth from his own brother: he was still alive.

A luxury villa tucked deep in the mountains. That was where he'd been hiding.

My hands trembled as I pushed open the front door. That familiar face, lounging on the couch, his arm draped lazily around another woman.

"Nathan, it's been ten years. Don't you ever think about going back to see your wife?"

Nathan Henson tightened his grip on the woman in his arms, his voice cold as stone.

"Her condition requires a kidney transplant. But I already gave one of mine to you. If I donate again, I'm dead."

"She'd never say it outright, but she'd cling to me until I caved. Faking my death was the only way out."

"Whether she lives or dies, it's no concern of mine."

His words drove through my chest like needles.

He probably never knew. After he "died," I found out I was carrying his child.

I raised our daughter alone. Ten years spent drowning in guilt and grief.

And he would never know that my own life was nearly over.

Ten years of devotion. Ten years of widowhood. Ten years of guilt.

All of it nothing more than an elaborate lie he'd carefully orchestrated.

——

Before I could step inside, the girl caught sight of my face. She instinctively buried her head against Nathan's neck.

A smile curled at her lips, taunting. "Nathan, if your wife showed up right now, would your heart still skip a beat?"

Nathan pinched her waist and pulled her onto his lap. "You and your jealousy over nothing. Even if Sarah Gilbert got down on her knees and begged, I wouldn't feel a thing."

My fingers tightened around the door handle.

I stepped back. The door creaked.

Nathan's head snapped toward the sound, and his eyes locked directly onto mine.

My vision blurred red. Tears fell, one by one, hitting the ground.

When he realized it was me, he went rigid. Rose to his feet like a man in a trance.

The girl tumbled off his lap onto the floor.

I pressed my hand over my mouth and ran.

I didn't know how long I ran. I ended up by the river, clutching my stomach, crouching down.

The pain. A twisting, wringing agony deep inside.

The color drained from my face. I doubled over and coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Nathan came running up behind me and gently wrapped his arms around my body.

"Sarah, after ten years apart, your condition's gotten so much worse."

"Ethel Henson is the woman who saved my life. Whatever she says, I go along with it. You didn't actually believe what I said back there, did you?"

He was still as gentle as he used to be.

But now that gentleness made my stomach turn.

I shoved his arm away and stepped back.

His brow darkened instantly, like a switch had been flipped. Like he was the one who had the right to be angry.

"Sarah, when did you get so stubborn?"

"And this," he pointed at the blood on the ground, a mocking smile playing across his face, "you came all this way just so I'd feel sorry for you?"

"You've survived this long without dying. Your illness must be better by now. How could it possibly be getting worse?"

I stared at him, wide-eyed. Frozen.

He reached out to grab my arm again.

I stepped back, wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes, and forced myself to stand.

"Nathan." My voice grew fainter with every word. "It's been ten years. Don't you owe me at least an explanation?"

His hand hung suspended in the air, then slowly fell back to his side.

"Sarah, you've lost weight."

There was a time when even a scratch on my hand would make his eyes go red.

He used to kneel in front of me, tears streaming down his face, whispering, "I'm so sorry for everything you've been through."

But the man standing before me now delivered those words with a face carved from ice.

He had fallen for someone else. Completely.

Just as I opened my mouth to speak, a small voice piped up from behind me.

"Mommy..."

I frowned slightly, crouching down to pull Daisy Abbott into my arms.

"What are you doing here?"

Before Daisy could answer, Nathan shoved her to the ground.

I whipped around. His face had gone white with rage.

"Sarah! It's only been ten years, and you've already married someone else and had a kid?"

"Whose bastard is this?!"

The veins in his neck stood out like cords.

I almost laughed from sheer disbelief.

That year, the doctors told him I didn't have much time left. In the middle of the night, he'd wept so hard he couldn't breathe. The next morning, he was lying beside my hospital bed, completely still. His face was ashen, foam trickling from the corner of his mouth.

I'd been so terrified I leapt out of bed and slammed the call button.

He slumped gently against me. He'd already stopped breathing.

By the time the doctors rushed in, there were no vital signs left.

His friends took his body away. I never saw him again.

In that hospital, I lived in darkness every single day. I even prayed for him, hoping he'd found peace in whatever came next.

Not long after, I found out I was pregnant.

In that moment, it was like a light switched on in front of my eyes. For the first time, I had something to live for. I believed she was heaven's way of comforting me.

So I made up my mind to have her.

My Daisy.

Now my daughter rushed in front of me, shielding me with her small body, her voice high and fierce.

"Nobody calls me a bastard. My mommy gave birth to me."

"And my daddy was a wonderful person."

After she was born, once she was old enough to understand, I told her everything. She was the one who ended up comforting me.

"Mommy, Daddy was a good man. Wherever he is now, he's at peace. You don't have to worry so much."

Even now, she was still protecting me.

When I saw Nathan's expression twist into something ugly, I pulled Daisy behind me on instinct.

I leveled my gaze at him. "This is my child. She has nothing to do with you."

His eyes drifted down to Daisy. The ugliness on his face softened into something almost tender. He braced his hands on his knees and leaned down to her.

"How old are you?"

"Nine..."

"Nine?" Nathan straightened abruptly, shock rippling across his features, threaded with a flash of anger.

Then he let out a cold, bitter laugh and pointed at Daisy.

"If I remember correctly, I was already dead by then. And you still had the nerve to move on to the next man?"

"Sarah, I never realized you were that desperate. That you couldn't keep yourself in check for even a second."

"Nine years old. The moment I died, you crawled into someone else's bed? Doesn't that disgust you?"

My fists clenched so hard my nails bit into my palms, breaking skin.

I raised my hand and slapped him across the face.

The tears came the same instant, streaming down my cheeks like a broken string of pearls.

"Nathan!" I screamed through the sob tearing up my throat. "So this is what you think of me."

"Since you're alive and well, let's find a time to finalize the divorce."

I had imagined this moment so many times. The moment I saw Nathan again, he would pull me into his arms and hold me tight.

Instead, he had a new life. A new woman.

The man I remembered would never have spoken to me like that. Never would have questioned me.

But everything had changed.

Maybe the only way either of us would ever find peace was to let go.

And yet, in that moment, his eyes were red.

Just as he opened his mouth to speak again, Ethel came running out from behind him and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist.

"Nathan, are you leaving? I'll miss you so much."

Ethel let out a cold laugh and walked right up to me.

"So you're the mistress Nathan's been keeping on the side?"

The arms that had been clinging to Nathan slowly loosened. Every trace of warmth drained from her face, replaced by undisguised contempt.

"Sarah, right? Nathan told me all about you."

"And for the record, I'm not the mistress here. Sure, I have feelings for Nathan, but you've already moved on and started a new family. Why shouldn't I take my place beside him?"

"If you ask me, you're the real other woman."

She stepped closer, leaning in until her lips were inches from my ear.

Her voice dropped to a whisper, so quiet it could shatter a heart.

"The one who isn't loved... is the real other woman."

Daisy heard every word. She thrust out her small hands and shoved Ethel as hard as she could.

But she was just a child. There was barely any force behind it.

Yet Ethel crumpled to the ground, her head striking a rock.

A sharp cry rang out, and Nathan's hand shot forward, shoving my daughter to the ground.

But Daisy's voice didn't stop.

"My mommy is NOT the other woman! You're a bad lady! I won't let anyone bully my mommy!"

The skin on Daisy's palms was scraped raw.

I crouched down to help her up, but Nathan's gaze cut toward me, his brow furrowed.

"Sarah, is this how you've raised your child?"

"Stupid. Pathetic. Disgraceful."

Something inside me finally broke. My stomach churned, bile and bitterness rising all at once.

Blood crept up my throat, hot and metallic, threatening to spill past my lips.

I pressed my hand against my abdomen, sweat rolling down my forehead from the pain.

Daisy gently rubbed my back, her small voice tight with worry.

"Mommy, are you feeling sick again? Get up. I'll take you to the hospital."

Before I could open my mouth, Nathan reached out and shoved Daisy to the ground a second time, his face flushed crimson.

"Sarah, whose bastard is this? She's already learned how to lie?"

"And what's with this innocent act you keep putting on? You've been sick this long and still haven't gotten better? Shouldn't you be dead by now?"

"Ethel may have been blunt, but was she wrong?"

"You've already started a new life. Am I not allowed to find someone new?"

I couldn't hold it back any longer. Blood surged from my throat and splattered across the ground.

My face went ashen. My lips turned white.

Nathan scooped Ethel into his arms and walked in the opposite direction.

Daisy looked at the rocky path, then gripped my arm tight. In the next second, she let go and ran after him.

She dropped to her knees in front of Nathan with a heavy thud.

Her small hands clutched at his legs, tears streaming down her face.

"Mister, please, can you save my mommy? She's really, really sick. She needs to go to the hospital right now."

"Please. If she doesn't get to a hospital, she's going to die."

My daughter, on her knees, begging.

My tears fell one by one, hitting the dirt.

I raised a trembling hand toward her.

"Don't beg him..."

Nathan let out a cold scoff, turned, and pushed Daisy aside.

His arms tightened around Ethel.

"Why should I save another man's wife?"

"And—" He glanced back at me with a thin smile. "Sarah, you really think this little stunt is going to work on me?"

"Putting on a show with your own daughter?"

"Sarah, you really are pathetic."

"You managed to drag yourself all the way into these mountains. Don't tell me you can't drag yourself back out."

He turned away with Ethel in his arms and walked off without another word.

In the distance, he pulled out his phone, made a call, and disappeared from sight.

Daisy turned back to me. Her eyes locked onto my face, and the tears spilled instantly.