Chapter 1

Caleb and I had been married for five years when his first love posted a wedding photo on social media.

The caption read: "Day 9,999 with my favorite guy. Finally took our wedding photos! The candlelight dinner tonight was so sweet!"

Our mutual friends flooded the comments with well-wishes for their eternal happiness.

I stared at the screen, stunned by Caleb's affectionate expression in the photo.

Without a word, I snapped a picture of our marriage certificate and posted it, tagging both Caleb and his little obsession.

Less than two minutes later, my phone shrieked. Caleb's voice was a roar the second I picked up.

"Avery! Madelaine just got divorced. What's the harm in taking a few photos to help her get back at her ex? Did you have to post our certificate just to make her feel worse?"

"Are you that desperate to tell the world I'm married to such a petty, small-minded woman? You want my friends to laugh at me?"

A moment later, Madelaine posted again, tagging me specifically: "Caleb just bought me a massive rock to cheer me up."

I rubbed the plain, thin band on my ring finger over and over, letting out a cold laugh.

This marriage was over.

1

Today was our fifth wedding anniversary.

Caleb had mentioned he wanted a candlelight dinner, so I took the afternoon off to prepare everything at home.

I even reminded him this morning to come back early.

I watched the candles burn down to nubs as the food on the table grew cold, but Caleb never showed.

Bored and feeling a sink in my gut, I opened Instagram, only to see him in a wedding shoot with Madelaine.

So, he wasn't too busy to answer my calls; he was too busy playing groom for someone else.

The dinner he wanted wasn't for me.

I looked at the congratulations in the comments and felt the absurdity of it all.

I posted our certificate, tagged them, and was immediately met with Caleb's verbal assault.

It was twelve-thirty in the morning when he finally walked through the front door.

He was carrying a cake box. Seeing the melted wax on the table and the untouched food, he frowned deeply.

"Avery, are you a child? Playing with candles while you eat? You're going to burn the house down. And why make so much food if you can't finish it? What a waste."

I stood up, exhausted, and began putting the cold dishes into the fridge.

"Caleb, do you even know what day it is?"

"What day? Don't tell me it's our anniversary or something."

My hand paused over a plate. After a few seconds, I said quietly, "No, it's not."

He let out a sigh of relief.

"I thought so. I'm pretty sure our anniversary is next month. I don't get why people obsess over these dates anyway."

He had never gotten the date right. He hadn't even celebrated my birthday properly once in five years.

People called him a typical guy who wasn't good with details, but he remembered Madelaine's birthday perfectly.

He knew exactly how many days they'd known each other. He even knew when to remind her to drink ginger tea during her cycle.

Caleb sat at the table and pushed the cake box toward me.

"Madelaine bought this for you. She wanted to apologize. See? You went out of your way to provoke her, and she's the one saying sorry. She's much more graceful than you."

He opened the box to reveal a mango mousse cake.

"Look at this. Loaded with fresh mangoes. She really went all out to be nice."

I stared at it and let out a sharp laugh before dumping the entire thing into the trash can.

Caleb slammed his hand on the table and stood up.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Madelaine was crying because of you today! She went to the bakery specifically to get you a peace offering, and you're being this ungrateful?"

I have a severe mango allergy. A single bite would send me into anaphylactic shock, covered in hives and struggling for air.

Madelaine knew. At our wedding, she had deliberately tried to hand me a glass that had held mango juice, hoping to ruin my day.

Caleb knew it, too.

"I can't eat mangoes!" I shouted, my body trembling as I looked at the trash.

He didn't listen. He grabbed my wrist with one hand and fumbled for his phone with the other.

"You're the one who needs to apologize! I'm calling her right now. You're going to say sorry."

I struggled, screaming for him to let go. He was so much stronger than me. In the scuffle, his elbow slammed hard into my abdomen.

I doubled over instantly. A sharp, searing pain radiated through my gut, like a thousand needles stabbing every nerve.

The pain was so intense I couldn't even stand straight. Caleb's expression shifted to panic when he saw my face.

He quickly tucked his phone away and helped me into a chair.

Ever since the loss of my unborn child, my body had been fragile. I couldn't take a hit like that.

It had only been a month since I lost the three-month pregnancy.