Chapter 1

I was supposed to be happy. Three years of marriage, a baby due in a month, and a husband everyone said adored me. Liam Miller, my childhood friend, my rock. He was supposed to be my happy ending after my ex-fiancé, Ethan, broke my heart.

But today, that illusion shattered.

After my prenatal check-up, I walked out of the hospital into the bright afternoon sun. That' s when I saw them. Liam and Ethan, my ex, were in the parking lot, their faces tight with anger. I hid behind a large pillar, my heart suddenly pounding.

"Ethan, why won' t you let me see Chloe!" Liam' s voice was raw, a sound I' d never heard from him.

"She' s my wife now. She has a fever. I' ll take care of her," Ethan shot back, blocking Liam' s path.

"Don' t forget," Liam snarled, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper that still carried to where I stood. "When Chloe needed a heart, I' m the one who made it happen. I arranged for someone to hit Olivia' s mom. I had the doctors secretly transplant her heart to Chloe. I saved her life."

The world tilted. My breath caught in my throat. My mother' s car accident… it wasn' t an accident.

"Then I sacrificed my own happiness," Liam continued, his voice thick with a twisted sort of pride. "I married Olivia, just to make sure you and Chloe could be together without any problems!"

He shoved Ethan hard.

Ethan stumbled back, a bitter laugh escaping him. "Liam, you' re a real simp. Killing Olivia' s mom just for Chloe. I' m impressed."

"What are you doing here anyway?" Ethan demanded.

The two men argued, their words a meaningless buzz in my ears. The truth was a physical blow, knocking the air from my lungs. My mother. He had her killed. For Chloe. My stepsister.

The man who rushed to my side in my darkest hour, who held my hand while my mother lay dying, who stayed up all night by her hospital bed… he was there to make sure her heart was successfully harvested.

The man who proposed after her funeral, kneeling with a diamond ring and promising to protect me forever, just as my mother would have wanted… he was doing it to keep me out of the way, to protect Chloe' s happiness with another man.

My mind spun, desperately clawing through memories, searching for signs I had missed. And they were everywhere, screaming at me now.

Every year on Chloe' s birthday, Liam would drag me to her party. He always picked out the most thoughtful, meticulous gift for her, spending more time on it than on any gift for me.

When Chloe got a simple cold, he was more anxious than anyone. He once left me standing on the side of the road in the rain to drive her to the emergency room because she said she felt dizzy.

He loved my waist-length hair. He loved my white dresses. I grew my hair for him. I filled my closet with white dresses for him. I never realized I was just a stand-in, a pathetic copy of Chloe' s signature "pure" style.

I thought his love for me was so deep it overflowed to my family. I was a fool. A complete and utter fool.

We had grown up together. We had shared a bed for three years. I was carrying his child. He was the foundation of my entire world, and he had just dynamited it.

When did he even fall in love with her? How had I never known?

My heart felt like it was tearing in half. A deep, penetrating cold spread through my limbs, and I started to tremble uncontrollably. This man, this monster, was not worthy of being my child' s father.

I don' t know how long I stood there, frozen. But eventually, the numbness gave way to a cold, hard resolve. I wiped the tears from my face with the back of my hand. My steps were unsteady, but I turned around and walked back into the hospital, back to the obstetrics and gynecology department.

The doctor' s office was quiet. I stood before her desk, my voice flat and empty.

"Doctor, I want an abortion."

The doctor looked up, her glasses perched on her nose. Her eyes widened in shock. "Olivia? What are you talking about? You' re eight months along. The baby is due in a few weeks."

She tried to talk me out of it. She spoke about the risks, about the baby being fully developed. She asked if Liam knew, if we had a fight. I just shook my head, my resolve a block of ice in my chest.

"I' m resolute," I said.

They eventually agreed. The procedure was a nightmare. Coming out of the operating room, I was a ghost of myself, pale and bleeding. My body felt hollowed out, like a building after a fire.

The doctor insisted I stay for observation. "You' ve lost a lot of blood, Olivia. It' s not safe."

But I gritted my teeth and signed the discharge papers. I couldn' t stay here. I had things to do.

I left the hospital and went straight to a gift shop. I bought a large, beautiful gift box, the kind you' d use for a wedding present.

Then I went back to the hospital, to a different wing. I paid a nurse to retrieve the small, lifeless body from the medical waste. I wrapped the bloody, fully formed fetus in a soft blanket and placed it carefully inside the box.

On my way home, I bought a fake silicone belly and strapped it under my dress.

Liam came home late, stumbling drunk. He wrapped his arms around me from behind, his usual routine. He kissed my forehead, his breath sour with alcohol.

"Olivia, I love you," he murmured into my hair. "I really, really love you…"

He leaned down, pressing his ear against my fake belly to listen for the baby' s heartbeat. He was too drunk, or maybe he just didn' t care enough to notice the silence, the lack of a familiar kick.

I pushed him away gently. My voice was soft, a perfect imitation of the wife he thought he had.

"What happened today? Why did you drink so much?"

His cheeks were flushed, his eyes hazy. "Because I' m happy…"

Happy. A bitter smile touched my lips. He was in pain because Chloe was another man' s wife, and he couldn' t even see her when she had a fever.

Liam didn' t notice my expression. He just stroked my belly, his touch making my skin crawl. "Olivia, is it just one more month? I' ve prepared a mystery gift for you and the baby. You' re both going to love it."

I forced my lips into a smile, my eyes probably red-rimmed and wild. "Really? What a coincidence."

I stood up and picked up the heavy box.

"I' ve also prepared a gift for you."