Her brow crumpled, tears threatening to spill at any second.

Mortimer pulled her behind him, shielding her.

"Nora, I've already explained this. I just need a smart heir. That's all."

"You're too simple to understand, so just accept it. Can't you just listen to me like you always have?"

No.

You're the one who taught me that when something hurts, you leave.

I held out the divorce papers.

My eyes, clear and unwavering, locked onto his without blinking.

"This is where it ends between us."

Mortimer frowned at me.

"I'm never going to agree to a divorce. Maud isn't going to affect your position as Mrs. James. I don't understand what you're making a fuss about."

I ignored him and slammed the divorce papers down on the table.

Then I turned and headed upstairs to pack.

Mortimer scoffed, not taking it seriously.

He turned back toward the kitchen to check on the fish soup he was making for Maud.

And Maud followed me upstairs.

Her voice was dripping with sincerity.

"Nora, you've done so much for me. I never wanted to push you out and take your place."

"Mortimer chose me to carry his child precisely because he trusts that. Please don't overthink this."

But the moment the bedroom door clicked shut, her tone shifted completely.

"Nora, you really are pathetically stupid. Do you have any idea that the life you're living is something other people can only dream of?"

"From the very first time I laid eyes on Mortimer, I thought the same thing: you two don't belong together."

"You can't follow a single conversation about his work. You can't share his burdens. He even has to endure people in his circle laughing at him because of you."

"It was only a matter of time before he tossed you aside."

"Oh, and surely you're not so dense that you don't know how babies are made? Want to watch how we made ours?"

When she pulled up a video of them together, I couldn't hold back any longer.

I shoved her. Hard.

"You're disgusting! Both of you are disgusting!"

A smile spread across her face, one I couldn't read.

"Idiots really are easy to provoke."

Then she clutched her stomach and screamed.

"Mortimer! My stomach! Nora, why did you push me?!"

A second later, Mortimer burst into the bedroom.

He looked at me with nothing but disappointment.

"Nora Dickerson, what have you done?"

He didn't give me a chance to explain. He scooped Maud into his arms and carried her downstairs.

The sounds from that video still echoed in my ears, the two of them moaning, breathless.

I stared at the framed photo on the nightstand, and my eyes slowly began to burn.

My phone buzzed. A message about my flight.

Nora, I've already bought the ticket. I'm waiting for you at the airport.

I rubbed my stinging eyes and went back to packing, my hands moving on autopilot.

The family doctor arrived quickly.

By the time I dragged my suitcase downstairs, they had already finished examining Maud.

When Mortimer saw me with my luggage, the fury on his face became impossible to contain.

"So you really are planning to leave?"

He grabbed my wrist, rough and unyielding.

"Fine. I'll take you myself."

No matter how hard I struggled, I couldn't break free. He dragged me into the car.

"You used to just be stupid. Now you're stupid and cruel."

When his eyes met mine, brimming with tears, Mortimer went quiet for a moment. His voice softened.

"Nora, do you have any idea how much pressure I took on when I insisted on marrying you?"

"My father is still pressuring me to this day. This child was a compromise, a concession from both sides."

"Can you just give me a few more months? Once the baby is born, I promise everything goes back to normal."

The tenderness in his eyes was no less than it had been all those years ago.

But a wave of nausea churned through my stomach.

The tenderness was real. So was the baby he'd made with another woman.

I yanked my hand free, refusing to let him touch me for one more second.

Mortimer's face darkened. He stared at me for a long time.

Then, as if venting his fury, he slammed his foot on the gas and roared at me:

"Fine. You want it this way? You got it."

"Until Maud has the baby, you're staying at Hillcrest Manor. Without my permission, don't even think about coming back."

Silence the rest of the way.

The car was tearing down the road when Mortimer's phone rang.

"Mortimer, where did you go? My dad... my dad just showed up at the front door."

It was Maud.

"How is that possible? Our community is gated. No one gets in without being registered."

Mortimer's hands tightened around the steering wheel.

"I'm not lying to you. He's pounding on the door! The doctor already left. I'm all alone and I'm so scared. I'm afraid he'll hurt the baby."

Maud's sobbing bled through the speaker.

Mortimer slammed the brakes.

The next second, his scrutinizing gaze landed on me.

"Was it you?"

I hadn't said a single word, but he already looked like he'd solved the mystery.

"It had to be you. You're the only person in Havenport who knows her father, and the only one who could've let him into the complex."

I exhaled slowly.

"It wasn't me. Why would I bother?"

He let out a cold laugh.

"When it comes to that baby, there's nothing you won't do. No wonder you stopped fighting when I tried to take you away. It all makes sense now."

I stopped fighting because I was exhausted. That was all.

"Get out."

Two words. Ice cold.

Outside the window, there was nothing but darkness.

Hillcrest Manor was still miles away, and the city was already far behind.

The howling wind made my heart tremble again and again.

But Mortimer didn't give me a choice, because he needed to rush back and save Maud.

He pushed me out of the car in silence, tossed my suitcase onto the roadside.

Then he sped off without a shred of hesitation.

The wind dried my last tear before it could fall.

I called my mother.

"Mom, a bad man left me on the side of the road. Can you come get me?"

...

After the police arrested Maud's father and Maud's nerves had been soothed, Mortimer's first call was to his assistant.

"Did you get my wife to the manor safely?"

Spencer's voice came through unsteady, almost panicked.

"Mr. James, I never found her. The moment you called, I headed out. I searched every inch of that road. She wasn't there."

"And the housekeeper at the manor says she never arrived either..."