Chapter 2

After hanging up, I started packing. As I moved my things, I realized the house felt half-empty instantly.

It hit me then that Winslow had barely been home lately. He claimed he was busy with his company's upcoming IPO.

As his personal assistant, Bianca was with him twenty-four hours a day. They ate together and worked late together.

Whenever I expressed my discomfort, Winslow would darken his face. "Sonya, Bianca is essential to my career. Stop being so petty and narrow-minded."

So, I had buried my feelings deep inside.

I ignored the way they acted far too close in public. I ignored the whispers from his employees who thought Bianca was the one who truly belonged by his side.

I endured it all because I couldn't bear to lose him.

To me, Winslow was the only light in a very dark life.

When we first met, my mother had just passed away from a long illness. Not long after, my father married his first love and brought her into our home.

Life in the Reed household became a nightmare. My father only cared about his new wife and their child. He saw me as a living reminder of his past mistakes and treated me with nothing but coldness.

During those days, I felt like I was drowning. I was on the verge of a total breakdown.

Then Winslow appeared.

He took my hand and promised me a future. "Sonya, stay with me. I'll give you the home you've always wanted."

And so, I gave him my heart.

In our second year together, my name was mysteriously missing from the list for a prestigious study abroad program. Winslow seemed more devastated than I was, running around trying to find a way to fix it.

A professor who admired my work offered to help me get back on track.

But seeing how much Winslow would miss me, I turned the professor down.

The professor told me I would regret it.

At the time, looking at Winslow's happy face, I didn't have a single regret. All I wanted was a love that belonged solely to me.

I don't know when that love started to slip away.

Maybe it was when I was lying in a hospital bed with acute appendicitis, while Winslow was out stargazing with Bianca.

Maybe it was on the anniversary of my mother's death, when he left me alone to go see a movie with her.

Or maybe it was when I suffered an unexpected loss of our baby.

He had looked at me and said, "It happened, Sonya. Just be more careful next time."

Right after saying that, he took Bianca skiing because she told him she'd been having nightmares.

Back then, I told myself I would give him one last chance.

I told myself that if he left me alone one more time, I would walk away forever.