It was that day that the three of us made a promise.

We would use the one-month divorce cooling-off period as a trial. We would work on our family, give each other one more chance.

Over the past month, Thaddeus had done exactly what he said he would. He put Marilyn and me first in everything, doing his best to be the perfect husband and father.

But the conversation I'd just overheard between Thaddeus and his secretary told me it was all a lie.

I stared at Marilyn, fast asleep in her little bed, and tears rolled down my cheeks in heavy, unrelenting drops.

I was still sitting there in a daze when Thaddeus walked into the room and found me crumpled on the floor.

"What's wrong, Albie? The floor's cold. Why are you sitting down here?"

"Have you been crying? Are you feeling sick?"

I lifted my eyes to the man standing in front of me. The concern in his gaze looked genuine, identical to every single day of the past month.

I lowered my eyes, afraid he'd see through me.

"It's nothing. I was just thinking about Marilyn. She's so little. What's going to happen to her?"

Thaddeus let out a breath of relief and carefully helped me up from the floor.

"It's going to be okay, Albie. Medical technology is advancing so fast these days. There'll be a way. I'll find a matching kidney and heart for you and Marilyn. You two are my everything."

"And even if I can't find them, it's fine. I'll protect you both for the rest of my life. I'll be your shelter. I'll be the one you lean on."

Listening to him, a bitter laugh echoed silently inside me.

If I hadn't just overheard that conversation with his secretary, I would have believed every single word.

But now, all that was left in my heart was hatred. A hatred so vast it could swallow the sky.

"Let's go to sleep, Thaddeus. I'm tired. Don't wake Marilyn."

He didn't suspect a thing.

"Okay. Let's sleep."

A long while later, his voice drifted through the darkness, murmuring in his sleep.

"Monica... Monica..."

I swallowed the sourness burning in my throat, slipped out of bed, and made my way downstairs to the study.

Earlier, while Thaddeus was on the phone with his secretary, his gaze had kept drifting tenderly toward a wooden box on the desk.

I'd rarely set foot in his study before. That box, I had never once opened.

But instinct told me it held the answers I was looking for.

The moment I lifted the lid, the tears I'd held back all night finally broke free.

Inside was a thick stack of letters. The handwriting evolved from the clumsy scrawl of a child to the neat strokes of a student to the bold, confident sweep of a grown man.

Every word, every line was proof that Thaddeus had loved Monica Mason.

"A girl came to the house today. Mom said she's only seven. She's so pretty, like a little princess."

"Monica started middle school. She seems taller again. She follows me around all day calling me 'big brother,' but I don't want to be her brother."

"Monica turned eighteen. I can finally tell her how I feel. But she only seems to see me as a brother."

"Monica got married today. She looked so beautiful in her wedding dress. Just as beautiful as the day she was seven."

"Monica got divorced. But I have my own family now. Albie's a good person. I don't know what to do."

...

I had always known there was someone else in Thaddeus's heart.

But seeing these words laid out in front of me, I finally understood. His love for Monica was far deeper and far longer than anything I had ever imagined.

I swiped the tears from my face and kept searching through the study.

Now was not the time for grief. There was something more important I needed to find.

At last, in the bottom drawer of the desk, I found a document envelope.

Inside were organ donation consent forms for Marilyn and me.

My hands trembled so violently I could barely hold the two flimsy sheets of paper.

So it was true. My heart and Marilyn's kidney hadn't been damaged in the accident at all. It was Thaddeus.

All of it was because of Thaddeus.

The memory of Marilyn crying in humiliation because she couldn't hold her bladder seized my chest like a fist clenching around it, so tight I couldn't breathe.

It turned out an artificial heart could ache, too.

I photographed both documents with my phone, then dialed my brother overseas.

"Dominic Jenner, please help me. Please save me and Marilyn."

After I choked my way through the story, his voice came back through the receiver, shaking with fury.

"Thaddeus! He actually dared!"

"I'm sending a plane for you tomorrow night. Until then, do not make any sudden moves. Don't give Thaddeus any reason to suspect anything. Leave the rest to me."

After I hung up, I put the study back exactly the way I'd found it, returned to the bedroom, and lay down as though nothing had happened.

The next morning, Thaddeus was already gone by the time I woke up.

After lunch, Marilyn sat quietly at her little desk, drawing something.

I walked over to look, and she held up her picture like a treasure she couldn't wait to show off.

"Mommy, look! I drew our family."

"See? This is Daddy, this is Mommy, and this is me."

Looking at her face, my vision blurred with tears.

My sweet Marilyn. Her whole world was nothing but Mommy and Daddy. How could Thaddeus have had the heart to do what he did?

Just then, Thaddeus walked into the room.

"There's a banquet tonight. Let's all go together as a family."

I was about to shake my head and refuse, but he pulled me gently into his arms.

"Today my probation period is officially over. From now on, we're a family again."

"A day this good deserves a proper celebration."

Marilyn threw her arms around his leg.

"Daddy, will there be yummy food at the party?"

Thaddeus scooped her up high, his expression melting into pure tenderness.

"Of course there will! The party's going to have all kinds of yummy food. Our little Marilyn can eat whatever she wants!"

I thought about what Dominic had said—that the plane would come for us tonight. I looked at Marilyn's eager eyes, then remembered Dominic's warning not to raise Thaddeus's suspicions. In the end, I nodded.

The moment the three of us stepped into the banquet hall, every eye in the room turned our way.

"Look, Mr. Abbott and his family are here. What a gorgeous couple. Their daughter's name is Marilyn, isn't it? She's absolutely adorable. I wish I could set her up with my boy."

"I know, right? Such a sweet, well-behaved child. I can't help but love her just looking at her."

A few of Thaddeus's business associates waved him over. He smiled at me, then headed their way.

The moment he left, a cluster of wives closed in around Marilyn and me.

"Mrs. Abbott, you really are blessed. Mr. Abbott is so young and capable, and your daughter is so well-behaved. We're all green with envy."

"Honestly! Did you see the way he looked at you just now? The man couldn't peel his eyes off you. Married all these years and still that smitten."

The pleasant chatter was interrupted by a voice dripping with affected sweetness.

"Is that so? Wasn't Mrs. Abbott trying to divorce Mr. Abbott just a month ago?"

"I heard she was in a terrible car accident on her way out, too. She must have remarkable recovery powers—back on her feet and looking this good after only a month."

"Then again, I hear her health is nothing like it used to be. After all, even her heart is artificial now. And poor little Marilyn—I heard she's only got one kidney left, and she's just six years old. What's going to become of her?"

The woman who had arrived was none other than Monica Mason, and beside her stood a seven-year-old girl.

That had to be the daughter Monica had mentioned—the one Thaddeus brought up in his study that day. Lily Acevedo.

Thaddeus had done an impeccable job of covering up the accident that had injured me and Marilyn. Not a single word had ever leaked.

Hearing what Monica said, the wives in attendance exchanged bewildered glances, none of them sure how to respond.

I let a faint smile curl the corner of my lips and lifted a glass of red wine from a passing waiter's tray.

"Miss Mason, you certainly have your ear to the ground. As far as I recall, we never shared any of that publicly."

Monica flicked her hair with a self-satisfied toss, her gaze fixed on me, brimming with the certainty that she'd already won.

"Don't you want to know where your heart and your daughter's kidney ended up?"

Before she could finish, I hurled the wine straight into her face.

The crimson liquid dripped down her hair in thin rivulets, leaving her a sputtering mess. She opened her mouth to unleash a tirade, but before she could get a word out, Lily shoved Marilyn hard to the ground.

"You two mean women! Don't you dare bully my mommy!"

The instant Marilyn hit the floor, the urine bag hidden beneath her skirt burst open, and the foul-smelling liquid spilled across the tiles.

Marilyn's face crumpled in panic. She grabbed fistfuls of her skirt, desperately trying to cover the mess spreading around her.

She was still so young. Ever since losing one of her kidneys, she'd had trouble controlling her bladder. Whenever we went out, she wore a collection bag to avoid exactly this kind of humiliation.

Monica let out a sharp, delighted laugh at the sight.

"Why would you even bring her out in public like this? How embarrassing."

"If I were you, I'd stay home with the kid where you belong. Spare yourself the disgrace. The floor reeks now. At such a lovely banquet, no less—"

She didn't get to finish. My palm cracked across her cheek.

But before I could say a single word, a brutal force slammed into me from behind. I lost my balance and pitched forward, landing face-first in the puddle of urine on the floor.

"Alberta! What the hell are you doing?!"

The moment Thaddeus appeared, Monica transformed entirely.

"Thaddeus, Marilyn fell down. We were just trying to help her up."

"Lily was curious about what Marilyn's bag was and asked one little question, and Alberta just lost it—threw wine in my face and slapped me out of nowhere."

Seeing me on the ground, Marilyn crawled to my side, sobbing, frantically wiping at the filth on my clothes with her tiny hands.

"Mommy, Mommy, let's go home. Let's go home."

Her crying shattered something inside me. I was done holding back. I lifted my head and glared at Monica.

"Monica Mason, everyone here saw what happened. What you just said to us—"

But before I could finish, Monica clutched her chest and collapsed into Thaddeus's arms.

"Thaddeus, my chest hurts so much. Is something wrong with my heart? I'm so scared."

A flicker of hesitation crossed Thaddeus's eyes. Beside him, Lily tugged at his sleeve.

"Mr. Abbott, please check on my mommy. She's about to faint."

Thaddeus pressed his lips into a hard line. He handed Lily off to Nathan, then swept Monica up in his arms and strode toward the door without looking back.

As he passed me and Marilyn, his brow creased with undisguised disgust.

"Go to the restroom and clean yourselves up. Look at the two of you—you're a mess!"

I watched them disappear through the doorway, and a cold so deep it ached settled into the pit of my stomach.

I gathered Marilyn in my arms and hurried to the underground parking garage, ready to drive home. But there, in the dim light, Thaddeus's Maybach sat with its headlights glowing.

The rear passenger door hung open, and a bare, porcelain-pale foot dangled out from inside.