Chapter 3

Days passed in a blur of feeding Emily, sleepless nights, and Maria' s quiet, competent help. Jessica was a rock, handling calls, bringing food, deflecting any unwanted intrusions.

Then the news broke.

It wasn' t about Olivia being rescued. It was about Ethan.

He' d been severely injured in a bombing near the US embassy in that South American country. He was alive, but critical. Apparently, he' d been "assisting" during the chaos.

My phone started ringing off the hook.

First, Carol, Ethan' s mother. Her voice was shrill, hysterical.

"Sarah! Oh, my God, Sarah! Ethan! Have you heard? You have to do something!"

"Hello, Carol," I said, my voice even. Emily was asleep in my arms.

"He' s hurt! Badly! You need to call your contacts! Get him evacuated! We need money, Sarah, for the best doctors!"

My contacts? I was a marketing strategist for a small software company. I didn' t have high-level government contacts. And my savings? Those were mine, and now Emily' s.

"Carol, Ethan made a choice to go there," I said calmly.

"What are you talking about? He was on a business trip! A vital one!" she shrieked.

"No, Carol. He went for Olivia. I told him if he left, he was on his own."

A stunned silence. Then, "How can you be so cruel? Your husband is fighting for his life!"

George, Ethan' s father, got on the line. His tone was more reserved but equally insistent.

"Sarah, this is not the time for whatever marital squabbles you' re having. Your duty is to your husband. We need to get him home."

"My duty," I repeated, the words tasting like ash. "My duty was to our child, who he abandoned me to have alone."

Then came calls from Ethan' s colleagues, vague friends, all echoing the same sentiment: Sarah will fix this. Sarah will pay.

Even my father, Michael, called. A perfunctory, brief conversation.

"Heard about Ethan. Tough situation. Let me know if there' s, you know, anything official I can do through channels. Though I doubt it."

"Thank you, Michael. I' m handling it," I said, which meant I was handling my life, not Ethan' s.

The barrage was relentless. They all expected me to crumble, to rush to save the man who hadn' t thought twice about leaving me at my most vulnerable.

They didn' t know me at all.

They didn' t understand the unshakeable resolve that had been forged in the fires of my parents' disastrous divorce.

I would not be my mother. I would not be ruined.

Emily stirred, and I rocked her gently. My focus was here, in my arms. Not thousands of miles away with a man who had made his bed.