Chapter 1

My fingers tremble as I step out of the car, the weight of the moment pressing down on me. The mansion looms ahead, its grandeur a stark reminder of everything I’ve lost.

I still can’t believe it’s over. That after all this time, I’m finally free. The divorce papers sit heavily in my handbag, the final proof of the end. I’m here to deliver them—and to pick up Liam.

The house is eerily quiet as I step inside, the familiar scent of polished wood and expensive cologne wrapping around me. I follow the sound of hushed voices toward the kitchen but freeze just outside the doorway.

Their words slice through me like ice.

“Why can’t we all live together, Daddy?” Liam’s voice is small, uncertain.

My hand flies to my chest, my heart shattering at the sadness in his tone. I’d give anything to take his pain away, but this divorce was inevitable.

Our marriage was a mistake. Every single part of it. It just took me too long to realize.

“You know why, Liam,” Ethan Blackwood replies, his voice softer than I’ve ever heard it.

That’s the cruel irony. In all the years we were married, he never spoke to me like that. His words to me were always cold, flat, devoid of emotion.

“But why?” Liam presses.

“Sometimes things just… don’t work out,” Ethan mutters.

I can picture his expression—the slight frown, the way he’s trying to deflect before Liam asks the one question I dread.

But my son is relentless.

“Do you love Mommy?”

The air leaves my lungs. I press my back against the wall, my pulse roaring in my ears as I wait for his answer.

I already know it. I’ve always known. Everyone does—except Liam.

The truth is, Ethan never loved me. Not once. Not even for a second.

But still, I need to hear him say it. Will he lie to our son? Or will he finally speak the truth?

He hesitates. “Liam…”

“Do you love her or not?” Liam demands, his voice firm.

Ethan exhales sharply. “I love her for giving me you,” he finally says.

It’s not an answer. It’s a deflection.

I squeeze my eyes shut as pain floods through me. After all this time, it still hurts. A foolish part of me had hoped, just this once, he’d say something different.

He never told me he loved me. Not when we married. Not when I gave birth to Liam. Not in all the years that followed.

Our marriage was a prison. Just him, me, and the ghost of the woman he truly loved—the one he could never let go.

Tears sting my eyes, but I blink them away. I’m done crying over a man who never wanted me.

“Eavesdropping is rude, Sophia.”

His deep voice cuts through the silence, snapping me back to reality. I straighten my shoulders and step into the kitchen.

Ethan stands by the counter, his piercing grey eyes locking onto me with disdain. My ex-husband. The man who destroyed my heart a thousand times over.

My gaze shifts to Liam—my joy, my light. He has Ethan’s striking features but my warm brown hair.

“Hi,” I say softly.

“Mommy!” Liam abandons his half-eaten sandwich and rushes to me, wrapping his arms around my waist. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too, sweetheart,” I murmur, kissing his forehead before he pulls away.

Standing here feels wrong. This was never my home. Not really.

Ethan built this house for her. Every detail, every color—it was all for the woman he couldn’t have.

I should’ve known then that he’d never love me.

“What are you doing here?” Ethan snaps, glancing at his watch. “You promised not to interrupt my time with Liam.”

“I know,” I say, forcing calm into my voice. “But the divorce papers are finalized. I thought I’d bring your copy while picking Liam up.”

His expression hardens. Every time he looks at me like that, another piece of me breaks.

I’ve loved him my entire life. And it meant nothing to him.

“Liam, go upstairs,” Ethan grits out. “Your mother and I need to talk.”

Liam glances between us before nodding. “No fighting,” he warns before leaving.

The second he’s gone, Ethan slams his fist onto the counter. “You could’ve sent the damn papers to my office!”

“Ethan—”

“No!” he snarls. “You turned my life upside down nine years ago, and now you do it again? Was this your revenge? Taking my son because I couldn’t love you?”

His words hit like bullets. Each one tearing through me.

“Just get out,” he growls. “I’ll bring Liam home when I’m done.”

I set the papers down, my hands shaking. My phone rings—Mother.

I answer, dread coiling in my stomach.

“Get to the hospital now!” she cries. “Your father’s been shot!”

The phone slips from my fingers.

Ethan’s voice cuts through the haze. “What happened?”

I look up, my heart pounding. “My father’s been shot.”