I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON

I waited five years for him to love me.

But love never came.

Instead, she returned, the girl Brandon never stopped loving… and a little boy who looks just like him. A child I should have given him.

I married Brandon Langford to save my father’s company. I gave him everything—my loyalty, my heart, my life. And he repaid me by suspending me from work and handing my project to her.

Clara, his first love, is back, taking everything I built, everything I thought I owned.

I’m done being a placeholder.

This time… I’m claiming my life.

ONE

THALIA

Shopping for sexy nightwear alone should have felt embarrassing.

Instead, I found myself smiling.

My fingers drifted over rows of silk and lace as I moved slowly through the boutique. Black lace sets, satin slips, delicate babydolls—each piece more daring than the last.

Tonight was special.

Just a few hours ago, my doctor had given me the news I had been waiting years to hear.

My hormone levels had finally stabilized.

After endless treatments, injections, and more hospital visits than I cared to count, my body was finally ready.

I could carry a baby.

Even thinking about it made my heart flutter with excitement. I had walked out of the hospital feeling lighter than I had in years, as if the future had suddenly opened in front of me.

And the first thing I did?

I drove straight to the mall.

My husband and I had been married for five years.

It hadn’t started the way most love stories did.

Ours was an arranged marriage—two families, one decision, and a future neither of us had truly chosen at the time.

In the beginning, everything between us had been polite.

Distant.

Careful.

We lived in the same house, shared the same space, but there had always been an invisible line neither of us crossed.

But over the years… things had changed.

Slowly.

Subtly.

The distance had softened into familiarity.

The silence into something more comfortable.

There were moments—quiet ones—that made me believe we were building something real.

Not perfect.

But real.

And maybe… that was enough.

Still, there had always been one thing missing.

A baby.

We had tried before, many times, but each attempt ended with disappointment and another round of treatments. Still, I had never stopped believing that one day things would work out for us.

And now, finally, it seemed possible.

Tonight felt like a new beginning.

If everything went well… maybe soon there would be three of us instead of two.

I picked up a black lace set and held it against myself, glancing at my reflection in the mirror across the aisle.

Pretty.

But not quite right.

Tonight deserved something a little more unforgettable.

I had already walked past the same displays twice, picking up different pieces and imagining Brandon’s reaction to each one.

Would he smile?

Would he pull me closer?

Would he look at me the way husbands looked at their wives in movies—like they