Chapter 2

2

Merrick and I first crossed paths during my parents' bitter divorce.

My mother had hired him as her attorney.

Back when I was in college, my father had an affair.

He and his mistress tried to hide marital assets before my mother finally uncovered the truth.

She had been blindsided, unable to believe the devoted man she spent her life with could betray her like that.

After the tears and screams, Mom chose to fight back in court to claim what was rightfully ours.

Merrick fought for her for six grueling months and won the case.

During those six months, I fell head over heels for him.

My mother got everything she deserved.

Yet right after the victory, her body gave out.

Years of running the family business had completely ruined her health.

By the time the doctors caught it, her stomach cancer was already terminal.

On her deathbed, my mother clutched my hand tightly.

"Never give all your love to a man," she whispered.

"Never expect lifelong loyalty from a marriage certificate. And never believe a man's promise to love you forever."

Yet I still fell blindly into love.

Merrick had always been gentle, considerate, and protective.

I offered him my bare, vulnerable heart without holding anything back.

The day I walked down the aisle with him, I felt like the luckiest woman alive.

I foolishly believed my warmth could thaw his guarded heart.

Three years of tender care and devotion.

Yet none of it could weigh against a single phone call from his ex.

The doctor informed me that my body was extremely frail, making pregnancy nearly impossible to sustain.

More importantly, they gave me my diagnosis.

Late-stage liver cancer.

And that day, Merrick never returned to pick me up from the hospital.