Three years had crawled by since Juliet Dunn had been gutted by the stillbirth of her baby. She couldn't get pregnant again, no matter what she tried, and nightmares had her tossing and turning, wrecked with guilt until dawn. But the weird part? Damien Freeman had actually gotten more attentive after the tragedy.

She was at the clinic—again—hanging onto a thread of hope that she could somehow get her child back, when she overheard a nurse. "Dr. Baker, Mr. Freeman and his wife are waiting up on the top floor with the child."

Juliet knew this was the clinic Damien funded, but the words wife and child knocked the air right out of her. Before she even knew what she was doing, her feet were carrying her after them.

And there he was. Damien, holding a little boy who looked around three. Standing next to him? Charleigh Mason, the woman he'd always brushed off as a "business associate."

"Damien, is our baby gonna be okay?" Charleigh asked, tears streaking her cheeks.

Damien laid the child gently on the exam bed. "Don't worry, I'm right here."

Juliet's mind went into a tailspin. In four years together, she'd never once suspected him of cheating—let alone having a whole freaking kid with someone else. It didn't compute. Those were the exact same soothing words he'd fed her when she was drowning in grief over their lost baby.

His calm in a crisis had always been his thing. But now? It looked like he'd been living a whole other life—complete with a child from somewhere else.

Three years ago, Juliet had been rushed into an emergency C-section after she went into premature labor. When she woke up, Damien broke the news: the baby didn't make it—oxygen deprivation. She'd begged to see her child, but they said no. And no matter how hard she tried after that, she couldn't conceive again.

The pain got so bad she asked for a divorce, but Damien always shut it down. "Juliet, stop talking crazy. I'm not going anywhere over a baby. Even if we never have kids, I'll always be with you."

Like an idiot, she believed him. How could a man of Damien's status not need an heir? Even if he claimed he didn't, his powerful family sure as hell would. She stood frozen by the door, and it hit her all over again—their marriage had never been made public.

"Mr. Freeman, no need to worry—it's just a mild allergy, nothing serious. The little guy is a bit fragile since he was premature, but with proper care he'll be just fine," Dr. Baker reassured him.

Juliet's hand crept to the scar from her C-section. Premature? That was some coincidence.

She caught Charleigh's face twisting into a look of disgust. Damien must have noticed, but he didn't even flinch. "Charleigh, I'll have your driver take you and Ace home. I've got to wrap a few things up at the office, but I'll be there as soon as I can."

But Juliet didn't move. Something in her gut told her Damien would come back. She slipped into Dr. Baker's office and listened.

"When my wife is around, don't mention the premature birth or what went down back then. She's really sensitive about not being able to have children. I arranged for the early delivery to give her some sense of safety," Damien said, like it was no big deal.

Juliet's hands flew to her mouth to trap the sound that wanted to escape. That child was hers. She'd spent countless sleepless nights picturing him—his height, his weight, whose eyes he'd have.

Damien went on. "How much longer will Juliet's birth control stay effective?"

Dr. Baker hesitated. "Probably another three months. But if she keeps taking it, she could permanently lose her ability to conceive."

"Got it." Damien's voice was ice cold.

Juliet's world imploded. Every ounce of effort she'd poured into this was pointless. She was the real fool. Tears slid down her face as she hid in the shadows, her heart breaking over and over until all that was left was a dull, dead numbness.

She couldn't wrap her head around it. The man she'd loved with everything in her had done this—had stolen her own child and handed him to another woman.

The trip home was a blur. She just remembered clutching a crumpled medical report, her knuckles bone-white. The house she'd lived in for four years... it all felt like a cruel joke now.

Her phone buzzed. A text from Damien: some project had gone sideways, so he'd be working late. And Juliet realized, for the first time really, that ever since they'd met, through their entire marriage, Damien had always been "busy"—always jetting off, always working late. Now she understood. He'd been managing a whole separate life.

Her heart slamming against her ribs, Juliet sank to the floor of the nursery she'd never had the guts to take down. She pulled out her phone and dialed her lawyer. She was done. She would divorce Damien, and she would get her son back.

Juliet Dunn waited outside the entrance of Jace's preschool, clutching the envelope her lawyer had dug up. She had been waiting for this moment, desperate to see the child she'd only glimpsed the day before. When she finally spotted that cherubic little face she'd been yearning for, tears sprang to her eyes. But reality snapped back with a sharp yank on her hair.

A stinging slap landed on her cheek, and she found herself looking up into Charleigh Mason's eyes. A bodyguard forced her to her knees before Charleigh. "Juliet, know your place. I'm ignoring your antics because Damien only sees you as a mild distraction. How dare you try to get close to Ace?"

Juliet, confused, asked in disbelief, "How dare you, as the other woman, treat me like this?"

Charleigh smirked. "Looks like you're even more naive than I thought. If I finished you off right here, right now, Damien wouldn't even blink."

"What are you saying… ah!" Before Juliet could finish, the bodyguard started pounding her with fists and kicks.

The commotion drew the attention of passersby. Their whispers rose as they watched the scene unfold. Charleigh's loud claim that she was teaching a "homewrecker" a lesson was enough to stop anyone from stepping in. Instead, some onlookers started filming on their phones. As Juliet lay battered, unable to lift her arms, Charleigh planted a foot on her face and contemptuously tossed her phone back to her before calling the police. "I'll show you exactly why you should know your place," Charleigh taunted.

At the police station, Juliet stared at the information glaring on the screen: Charleigh and Damien had been married for seven years. The realization hit her hard—she'd been the unwitting other woman all along.

"Young lady," Officer Amaia Carlson sneered, "why choose to wreck a home when you're so young?"

Juliet sat in shock, her face a mess of blood and tears. She couldn't tell which hurt more, her body or her heart.

When Damien arrived, he didn't even glance her way. He went straight to Charleigh, concern written all over his features. "Charleigh, are you okay? Didn't I tell you to leave these things to me? Are you hurt?"

Charleigh shook her head and simply said, "She followed Jace to his preschool."

Only then did Damien look at Juliet, their eyes meeting. What she saw wasn't the sympathy she'd hoped for, but pure annoyance.

"Mr. Freeman, given the circumstances, this can be classified as malicious stalking. Ms. Mason suggests seven days' detention—how would you like to proceed?" Officer Jakari Peterson asked.

Juliet waited for him to offer some explanation, but all she got was, "Let's go with that."

As the crowd dispersed, Juliet watched Damien carefully lead Charleigh away, extinguishing the last flicker of light in her heart.

"Remove your clothes," one of the officers instructed in the sterile confines of the station.

Juliet was bewildered. "What?"

"A strip search," the officer clarified. The words hit her like a storm.

Forced to comply, Juliet was held down, her dignity stripped along with her clothes. Cameras clicked without mercy, capturing her humiliation before they tossed her a standard detention uniform.

The next seven days were a haunting shadow over her life. The detention center held a mix of inmates. Once word got out that Juliet was there for being "the other woman," her torment was relentless. Her meals were thrown on the ground, she was assaulted over and over, and her hair was shoved into basins of water.

"You shameless homewrecker—you not only seduced someone's husband, you went after their kid!"

"How disgraceful can you be?"

"I heard she insulted the real wife, too!"

The abuse and humiliation never stopped. Juliet endured it for a grueling seven days before her release.

With her phone dead and her spirit crushed, she trudged home. The divorce papers she held were the only thing left of her dignity. With a bitter laugh, she tossed them into the fire, along with the fraudulent marriage certificates.

Suddenly, the sound of a key turning in the lock shattered the silence. It was Damien.

Juliet stood frozen, methodically feeding item after item to the flames. Damien watched her cherished belongings crumble to ash. "How did you figure it out?" he asked, brow furrowing.

Facing the man she'd loved for years, Juliet couldn't believe his unshakable calm even now. A bitter smile twisted her lips. "After everything, don't you think I'm owed an explanation?"

Damien stepped closer, wrapping his arms around her like old times. "Juliet, just hear me out. I did this for you. I gave you access to my life without all the baggage. Whatever Charleigh and I have—it's just a family arrangement."

A bitter laugh escaped her, calm on the surface despite the raging storm within. "So you tricked me into a sham marriage, sped up the delivery, and then handed my baby over to her?"

Damien averted his gaze, dodging the truth. "Juliet, we can still have more kids..."

"Enough." Juliet cut him off sharply. His words were still dripping with lies.

Ignoring her resistance, Damien tightened his grip. "Juliet, I came to discuss Jace. Don't you want to see him?"

Juliet froze, her voice stuck in her throat. How could she not ache to see her own baby? Now that she'd been freed, it finally clicked why Damien had come.

Damien and Charleigh were bound by a marriage of convenience. It wasn't until after the wedding that they discovered Charleigh couldn't conceive. To preserve powerful alliances and secure a legitimate heir for the Freeman legacy, everything—the courtship, the love, the wedding—had been a charade. Their families conveniently looked the other way while Damien scheduled regular medical screenings to vet her genetic suitability.

She was nothing but a pawn, exploited from start to finish.

"Fine," Juliet said, realizing that playing along was her only shot at seeing her son.

The drive to the private estate was dead silent. She realized this was Damien's actual home. To her surprise, Charleigh was waiting at the entrance. As they stepped out, Charleigh hooked her arm through Damien's with sickening affection. "Welcome back," she purred, then told the staff, "Show Ms. Dunn where to change."

Juliet understood that to see her son, she'd have to pose as a servant. She had no choice. Silently, she slipped into the uniform while the butler ran through the household rules. That's when she learned her child's full name: Jace Freeman.

The butler handed her a stack of clean linens and led her to a room. Through the partly open door, she heard heavy breathing and muffled moans—left ajar deliberately to rub in her humiliation. Juliet knew exactly who was in there. Charleigh was mocking her again, but all she could do was swallow her pride.

After what felt like an eternity, the activity ceased. "Come in!" Charleigh's voice rang out, deceptively sweet.

Damien, with his back to Juliet, wore fresh crimson scratches across his skin, seemingly indifferent to them being on display.

The room reeked of sweat and scandal. Head bowed, Juliet stepped in, fighting back nausea as she stripped the soiled sheets and put on clean ones.

Soon after, the sound of little excited footsteps came rushing closer. A young boy bounded into view, his hand held by a nanny. "Mom! Dad! You're both here! I'm back from school," Jace announced brightly.