Chapter 5

By the time Julian reached the lounge, I was already gone.

When he tried to destroy the male model, he learned something even worse. I'd taken the model with me. I'd put him on a retainer.

Something in Julian's chest gave out. He couldn't pull air in.

I flew out of the country to take care of my body.

I heard later that Julian went to my parents' house looking for me.

My family had always been Team Julian.

I grew up in a trailer park. I'd never had anything. My family's whole strategy was to pin our hopes on my looks and my marrying up, so I could pull the rest of them out.

Growing up like that had made me clear-eyed. From the day I turned eighteen, I had one goal. Become someone with enough social intelligence to marry rich and use that marriage as a launchpad.

Once I married Julian, everyone in my family leveled up.

My brother became a regional manager at Sterling Holdings.

My sister married into the Pemberton family through one of his introductions.

My parents retired to an estate in Greenwich.

Years ago, when the first cheating scandal broke and I made noise about it, my own family called me ungrateful.

They said I was being greedy. They said Julian was the family's golden goose. They said every man strays. They said I was petty, unable to see the bigger picture.

They told me, over and over, to make peace with Chloe. As long as the money flowed, why did it matter how many women he slept with?

Before I married him, I'd thought the same way.

But I fell in love with him.

And once a woman falls in love, she can't stomach her husband in another woman's bed.

The marriage hadn't been a loss. I'd walked out with more money than I could spend in several lifetimes.

What Julian didn't know was that I'd blocked every one of my relatives on every platform.

This time no one could guilt me into staying. No one could use family against me.

Julian's fury eventually curdled into something smaller. Fear. The fear of someone who's been left behind.

He made finding me his full-time job.

Chloe didn't like that. She wanted to reassert her hold.

She booked an abortion. Sent him a video of herself on the gurney, about to go in.

In the video she cried, "Julian, I'm ending it now. After this, we're done."

He panicked.

At thirty-five, the want for a child was consuming him.

Worse, he was terrified that if he lost this one, he'd never have another.

He was greedy. He wanted the child. He also wanted me back.

He made it to the hospital in record time and pulled her off the gurney.

She'd bet right.

She kept crying, accusing him. "What is this? You want it both ways?"

"Julian. I was young once. I didn't ask for anything. I became your mistress. That's all I wanted."

"But now I've grown up. I'm having a baby. I don't want my child growing up with people whispering about his mother the way they whisper about me."

"You keep saying you love me. Is this how you love? What's so damn special about Mira?"

"You're divorced and you're still tearing up the world looking for her. Why can't we just be together? If you won't marry me, then stay away from me and my child."

She was genuinely hurt. The more she said, the more incensed she got.

When she tried to force him to choose between the child and me, he hesitated.

She lost it. "What is so amazing about her? You haven't touched her in years and you still can't let her go."

"If she's that perfect, why did you bother with me in the first place?"

Julian's chest was tight. He knew he was greedy. He couldn't help it. He couldn't give up either woman.

He understood her breakdown. He knew he'd earned it.

When he stayed silent, she grabbed his collar and shook him.

"Say something. Say something."

"What's so special about a plain little secretary who fell into a rich man's bed? What does she have?"

All the pressure he'd been swallowing for weeks came out at once. He shoved her hand off his collar and shouted into her face.

"She's just better. I can't live without her. She's the most important person in my life."