Chapter 1

After my husband was in a car accident, I was in the late stages of pregnancy, yet I still took care of him.

After three sleepless days and nights, he finally woke up.

The first person he saw was my best friend, Sophie.

He called her “Honey.”

Sophie covered her mouth and cried, hurriedly denying it. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why this is happening…”

Ethan’s mother waved me away. “He thinks Sophie is his wife. Don’t upset him.”

I told him I was his wife and that I was carrying his child.

Ethan frowned. “I don’t know you. Don’t try to scam me with some kid.”

Sophie held his hand. He naturally intertwined his fingers with hers.

They looked so perfect together. So natural.

I didn’t make a scene.

I simply drafted a divorce agreement.

Before I left, I sent Ethan one final message:

“Amnesia is a good thing. The baby will take my last name. You don’t need to remember anymore.”

Then I turned off my phone.

From that moment on, I vanished.

“Ms. Bennett, your placenta is positioned too low. This is a high-risk pregnancy. You must come in for regular checkups. If your emotions fluctuate too much, you could suffer a major hemorrhage at any time.”

The doctor removed his glasses and glanced at the empty chair beside me.

“Where’s your family?”

“I don’t have any family.”

I took the examination report, folded it neatly, and tucked it into my bag.

I stopped in front of an ATM, inserted my card, and entered my PIN.

Four words appeared on the screen:

**Account frozen.**

I tried another card.

The result was the same.

My phone vibrated. A message came from an unfamiliar number. There was no name attached, but I knew the way it spoke far too well.

“Claire, where did you run off to? Ethan couldn’t find your card, so he had it canceled for now. Don’t be mad, okay?”

Sophie.

I didn’t reply.

She called me directly.

I hesitated for three seconds before answering.

“Claire! Why did you leave without telling anyone? Ethan may not remember you, but we’ve all been worried about you—”

“Get to the point.”

There was silence on the other end for two seconds.

Then Sophie laughed.

“The point is that Ethan transferred the house into my name.”

My hand didn’t shake.

The baby kicked me once.

I leaned against the metal partition beside the ATM, my back pressed against the cold surface.

“Claire, let me be honest with you.” Sophie’s tone suddenly changed. “It’s better that you left. Ethan was always supposed to be mine. He should have been mine since college. You were the one who got in the middle and delayed us for all these years.”

“Now fate has finally opened Ethan’s eyes and made him forget you.”

“What else could it be if not destiny?”

I listened until she finished. I waited another two seconds to make sure she had nothing else to say.

“Sophie.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re right. It is destiny.”

I hung up.

Standing in the November wind, I touched the pocket of my coat.

My divorce certificate. My ID. A bus card.

Thirty-seven dollars left.

I crossed the street to a convenience store and bought a bottle of water and a rice ball. The girl at the register glanced at my stomach and slipped an extra pack of tissues into my bag.

“Are you alone, miss? Do you need me to call you a ride?”

“No, thank you.”

I sat on the steps outside the store and ate the rice ball one bite at a time.

My phone rang again.

This time it was Ethan’s mother, Margaret.

“Claire, where are you?”

“That has nothing to do with you anymore.”

“Listen to me.” Margaret lowered her voice. “I’ll have Ethan transfer you fifty thousand dollars as compensation. Take the money, terminate the pregnancy, and start over clean. ”

I bit into the last piece of rice ball and nearly choked.

“I’m eight months pregnant, and you want me to terminate?”

“It’s an induced delivery. It’s not unheard of. You’re still young. You can have another child later. Keeping this baby will only burden you, and Ethan doesn’t even acknowledge—”

“Mrs. Carter.”

I cut her off.

“I’m already divorced. The baby is mine. This child has nothing to do with your family. If you call me about this again, I’ll contact the police.”

“You—”

I hung up and blocked the number.

The wind slipped inside my collar. I hunched my shoulders.

When I stood up, my vision went black for a moment.

I grabbed the convenience store’s glass door and slowly crouched down.

The girl from the register rushed outside.

“Miss! What’s wrong? Should I call 911? You’re so pale—”

“I’m fine.” I waved her off and took a deep breath, waiting for the contraction to pass. “Low blood sugar. I just need a minute.”

She clearly didn’t believe me. She pulled me inside, unfolded a chair in the break room, and made me sit down.

When she handed me a cup of hot water, I suddenly felt like crying.

I forced the tears back.

My phone lit up again.

It wasn’t a call.

It was a message from Ethan.

I hadn’t deleted his number.

There was only one message—a photo.

Sophie was leaning against the hospital bed, her head resting on Ethan’s shoulder. His hand was placed on the back of her head. His expression was gentle, as if he were looking at a precious treasure he had finally recovered.

I knew that look.

On the night we got married, he had looked at me the same way.

Below the photo was a message typed by Sophie from Ethan’s phone:

“Claire, he asked me to tell you this: I don’t care who the baby belongs to. Stop pestering him. He only recognizes one wife.”

I turned my phone face down and placed it on my knees.

The baby kicked again.

Not hard. Just enough to make sure I was still there.

“I’m here.” I lowered my head and touched my stomach. My voice was so soft that only I could hear it. “Mommy’s here.”

The fluorescent lights in the store hummed overhead.

I sat in that folding chair for a long time—so long that the girl’s shift ended.

The wind picked up outside.

I still had to leave.

The moment I stood up, I understood one thing clearly.

From now on, I was on my own.