Chapter 3

I drove back to the city in a fog of cold rage. The moment I walked into the penthouse, I went straight to my office and pulled up a divorce agreement template on my computer. I would not spend another second being his fool.

I filled it out, my hands moving with a clarity I hadn't felt in years. I would take nothing. I just wanted out. My signature was a sharp, angry slash at the bottom of the page.

I printed it, stuffed it in an envelope, and walked out of the apartment, heading for my lawyer's office.

I almost collided with Dallas in the hallway. He was just getting off the elevator.

"Autumn," he said, a look of surprise on his face. "I was just coming to find you. We need to talk."

He guided me back into the apartment, his hand on my back sending a jolt of revulsion through me. He led me to the living room sofa, his expression serious and somber.

"I have to be honest with you," he began, his voice low and conspiratorial. "My parents... they' re putting pressure on me. About us not having a child. They're threatening to cut me off if I don't produce an heir."

I stared at him, my mind trying to process this new lie.

"They want me to divorce you," he continued, his eyes full of fake anguish. "They' ve already chosen a new bride for me. But it' s just for show, I swear. We' ll divorce, I' ll handle them, and then we can get married again. I would never leave you, Autumn. You know that."

I was so stunned by the audacity of his lie that I couldn't speak. He was still playing me. He actually thought I was stupid enough to believe this.

I looked at him, really looked at him. Dallas Fischer was a predator. He was charming, yes, but underneath it all, he was ruthless and entitled. He always got what he wanted, and he didn't care who he had to crush to get it.

He must have mistaken my silence for distress. He moved closer, taking my hands in his.

"I swear, Autumn, I've been completely faithful to you," he said, his voice a honeyed poison. "If I'm lying, may I be struck by lightning and die a horrible death."

The vow was so ridiculous, so utterly false, that a laugh bubbled up inside me. I choked it down.

"And to prove it to you," he added, his eyes earnest, "I'll get a vasectomy. We can adopt later, when my parents are off my back. I only want you."

A vasectomy. The man who had our son killed was now promising to get a vasectomy to prove his love. The irony was suffocating.

But his plan was perfect for me. A divorce was exactly what I wanted.

"Who did your parents choose?" I asked, my voice carefully neutral.

He hesitated for a fraction of a second. "Alanna David."

Of course. It was all falling into place.

I gave him a small, relieved smile. I let him see the tears welling in my eyes, the tears of a grateful, trusting wife.

"Okay, Dallas," I whispered. "If that's what we have to do."

I pulled the divorce agreement from my purse and signed it with a flourish, my earlier angry signature now replaced with a neat, clean one. I slid it across the coffee table to him.

"This is for the best," I said.

He looked relieved, a triumphant glint in his eyes. He thought he had me.

I watched him sign, a bitter taste in my mouth. I thought about the last five years. The endless visits to fertility doctors. The way his parents looked at me with disappointment every time I failed to get pregnant. The whispers behind my back at family gatherings.

I remembered one night, a few years ago. Dallas came home late, smelling of another woman's perfume. I found a hotel key card in his pocket. I wrote up a divorce agreement then, too. I was ready to leave, to walk away with my dignity.

But someone had his phone. They sent me a text, a picture of him and Alanna in a hotel room, pretending it was happening right then. They lured me there. I went, my heart in my throat, but I couldn't bring myself to open the door.

As I turned to leave, a body fell from the balcony above, landing just feet from me. The shock of it, the splatter of blood, made me stumble backward. I fell, hitting my head on the pavement. Dallas had rushed out, not to help the person who fell, but to laugh at me for being clumsy. He scooped me up, carried me home, and tore up the divorce papers.

He had Alanna with him even then. He had kept her hidden away, probably at that same mountain temple, for years. And I never knew. He had played me for a fool from the very beginning.

Dallas leaned in and kissed my forehead, his lips cool against my skin. "Don't worry," he murmured. "I have a surprise for you on our anniversary. It will make everything better."

I knew what the surprise was. The public humiliation. The video.

I pulled back, a cold smile on my face.

"I have a surprise for you too, Dallas," I said.

His eyes widened slightly, intrigued.

"I think you'll like it," I added.

He just smiled, confident and smug. He had no idea what was coming.