Chapter 1

The day Julian's plane supposedly crashed into the ocean, I shattered. I jumped into the churning water after it, only to be rescued and then told it was just an April Fool's joke.

Before I lost consciousness, I heard the taunting voice of his mistress.

"Julian, sweetie," Chloe purred, "your wife, Aria, is absolutely madly in love with you. She'd go completely ballistic if she knew you were playing this trick on her, wouldn't she?"

He chuckled, a light, dismissive sound.

"Go ballistic? Aria's been so quiet, like a mouse since the baby. Just don't let her find out about this, alright? This was just my final test of her devotion."

Everyone around them laughed, promising they wouldn't breathe a word.

I lay on the stretcher, unable to shed another tear.

Julian didn't know it, but this was my last chance for him, too.My love for him was officially zeroed out.

I woke up in a hospital bed, a perfectly peeled apple sitting on the bedside table.

Usually, when I got sick, Blake never even bothered to show up. He’d just send his assistant with a pile of expensive supplements.

Seeing the indifferent expression on my face, he picked up a slice of apple and held it to my lips.

“Happy I didn’t die, are we?”

I turned my head away, catching a glimpse of a faint mark on his neck. My voice was calm.

“Blake, let’s get a divorce.”

His hand paused, then he popped the apple slice into his mouth.

He crunched on it loudly, his eyes filled with mockery.

Then, right in front of me, he made a call.

Soon after, his assistant brought Leo in.

Leo had grown taller in the few months I hadn't seen him.

But he was still distant from me.

Less than a month after I gave birth to Leo, Mr. Smith took him away.

I only got to see him on holidays when we had dinner at the family estate.

I knew exactly why Blake had brought Leo here.

In the past, whenever he’d gone too far with his antics outside, and I’d stew in silence, refusing to speak to him, he’d send our son to placate me.

I can’t count how many times he’d pulled that stunt.

But now, that old trick of his? It no longer works on me, not anymore.

Seeing Leo, who had rounded out a bit, I didn’t smile.

Leo frowned in displeasure, a spitting image of a miniature Blake, and even the way he said my name carried Blake’s dismissive tone.

“Zara Clark, you’re still so uptight and boring. Daddy, I don’t want to be here. I want to go back and have Ms. Riley play building LEGOs with me…”

Ms. Riley?

No wonder he never called me Mom. He’d already found someone else to be his mother.

Blake’s eyes turned icy.

Leo obediently shut his mouth and burrowed into my arms.

“Daddy was mean to me!”

Usually, I’d defend Leo, but this time, I pushed him away.

“Go tell your Ms. Riley about it.”

Those two faces, so eerily identical, froze.

I continued, my voice firm.

“Blake Smith, I’m serious about the divorce. I’m not joking.”

A flicker of anger crossed his eyes, quickly turning into a sneer on his lips.

“You’re playing with fire, Zara. Push me too far, and you’ll regret it. You’ll never see our son again.”

No wonder he hadn’t reacted when I first mentioned divorce. He must have thought I was just playing games.

I remembered last year, when he’d gotten caught up in a scandal with a minor celebrity who ended up in the hospital with a serious internal bleeding incident that landed her in the ER, and I tried to divorce him.

He locked me in a room and didn’t let me see Leo for six months.

That’s when I finally learned my lesson.

It was also then that I finally realized I couldn’t love him anymore.

“Blake, I’m moving out of the Smith house once I’m discharged.”

I stated again, my gaze locked directly with his.

Noticing that I wasn’t just throwing a fit, his expression turned grim.

“You want a divorce? Let’s see if you even have the guts to pull it off.”

Only after he left with Leo did I pick up my phone and text that unfamiliar number.

“I’ve thought it over. I’ll leave after the dance competition next week.”

After being discharged from the hospital, I returned to the Smith family estate to pack a small bag, then headed straight to the dance studio.

Since I’d made my decision, I didn’t want any more tangled connections with Blake.

The moment I walked in, I was met with a chorus of complicated stares.