Chapter 1

1

My daughter was in the ICU after the crash. My husband, Silas, told me he was on an urgent business trip and couldn't make it.

The very next day, I saw a headline of him on a romantic getaway with his young assistant.

I looked at my daughter through the glass and called him to end our marriage.

There was a brief silence before a woman's voice answered.

"Mr. Salinger is in the shower. Do you want me to give him a message?"

I hung up the phone. I decided to take my daughter and vanish from his world forever.

Annie fought for her life in that ICU for two weeks. She didn't make it.

I watched as they covered her small body with a white sheet. I felt like a hollow shell, a ghost walking among the living.

My parents flew in the moment they heard. They helped me handle the arrangements while I sat in a trance.

The funeral wasn't grand. It was just close family and a few friends.

Her father never showed up.

Before she passed, Annie told me she wanted to see her daddy. She wanted him to take her to Disney World one last time.

But until the moment she was buried, he never came.

After the service, once everyone had left, my mother grabbed my arm. Her eyes were red with fury.

"Where the hell is Silas Salinger? From the accident to the burial, he hasn't shown his face once. Does he even deserve to be called a father?"

I didn't say a word.

The night of the accident, I called him immediately.

He told me he was stuck at a mandatory corporate retreat. He said he had already pulled strings to get the best doctors for Annie.

He promised he'd be back the second the meetings were over.

But the next day, I saw him on the news with Lexi, his assistant.

They were on a luxury cruise, holding hands and laughing. They didn't care who was watching.

Silas had even commissioned a private fireworks display that lit up the entire harbor for her.

The internet was swooning over their "romance." I only felt a cold, sharp bitterness.

I had seen it coming. Since Lexi joined the company, Silas couldn't stop talking about her.

The look in his eyes when he mentioned her was a look I knew well.

It was the same way he used to look at me when we were college sweethearts.

When Annie was moved to the ICU, I lied to myself. I told myself she would be okay and Silas would come home.

But the truth was, he didn't return until today.

It had been three days since the funeral and nearly twenty days since the accident. I was packing the last of our things when the door opened.

Silas walked in, looking disheveled but satisfied. Lexi was right there with him.

I wondered what kind of "project" required twenty days of silence.

Lexi was practically carrying him, her arm wrapped firmly around his waist. They looked sickeningly intimate.

She helped him onto the sofa and looked at me with a fake, shy smile.

"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Salinger. Silas had a bit too much to drink at the closing dinner. I had to make sure he got home safe."

Silas blinked, his eyes focusing on me. He barked an order like I was the help.

"Go make something for me and Lexi to eat."

Lexi waved her hands dismissively. "Oh, don't bother her, Silas."

Silas didn't care. "It's fine. That's all she does all day anyway. It's no trouble."

I let out a sharp, cold laugh.

In all the years we were married, he viewed me as a glorified, unpaid maid.

Between the cooking, the cleaning, and raising Annie, I had no life of my own left.

He forgot that before we married, I was a top-tier graduate from a prestigious university. I was a rising executive.

But after the wedding, I just became "Mrs. Salinger." I became Annie's mom.

Since Silas insisted, Lexi stopped pretending to be polite. She turned to me with a smirk.

"Mrs. Salinger, let me help you in the kitchen. I'd hate to be a burden."

I hadn't said a single word. I just watched them perform their little play.

When I didn't move, Silas's face darkened with annoyance.

Before he could snap at me again, I walked to the table. I picked up the folder and handed him the divorce papers.

"Sign these. We can pick a day to finalize the paperwork at the courthouse. After that, we're done."

Silas didn't even glance at the pages. He slapped them onto the floor.