Love After Broken Vows

The familiar weight of Miles' medication bottle pressed against my palm as I climbed the marble steps to his penthouse. Three months had passed since the transplant surgery—three months since I'd given him part of myself to save his life. The scar across my abdomen still pulled tight when I moved too quickly, a constant reminder of what I'd sacrificed for the man I loved.

I slipped my key into the lock, the soft click echoing in the pristine hallway. "Miles?" I called out, stepping inside. "I brought your evening dose—"

The words died in my throat.

A pair of designer heels lay carelessly kicked off near the entrance, their red soles gleaming like drops of blood against the white marble. Christian Louboutin. I'd seen April admiring them in a magazine just last week, circling the price with her manicured finger while sighing dramatically about how she "simply had to have them."

My heart began to hammer against my ribs as I moved deeper into the apartment. A silk scarf in April's signature shade of emerald green was draped across the Italian leather sofa, and the air itself seemed thick with her expensive perfume—that cloying floral scent she wore like armor.

I stood frozen in the hallway, the medication bottle slipping from my suddenly nerveless fingers. It hit the floor with a sharp rattle, pills scattering across the marble like tiny white accusations.

That's when I heard his voice.

"Don't be ridiculous, April." Miles' familiar baritone drifted from his study, warm with affection I'd never heard him use when speaking to me. "She's not a threat to anyone."

I pressed myself against the wall, my breath coming in shallow gasps. I shouldn't listen. I should leave, pretend I'd never come, never heard—

"But what if she finds out about us?" April's voice was honey-sweet, with that little tremor she used when she wanted sympathy. "What if she gets jealous and tries to cause trouble?"

Miles laughed. Actually laughed. The sound cut through me like a blade. "She's just Camryn. She's always been there, always will be. Don't worry about her—she knows her place."

The world tilted sideways. I gripped the wall for support, my knees threatening to buckle. Just Camryn. The words echoed in my skull, each repetition driving the knife deeper. She knows her place.

What was my place, exactly? The devoted fool who'd given him a kidney without hesitation? The woman who'd spent years loving him with everything I had, only to be dismissed as easily as yesterday's newspaper?

"You're so good to me," April purred, and I could picture her perfectly—draped across his desk chair, playing with her hair the way she did when she wanted something. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You'll never have to find out," Miles replied, his voice dropping to that intimate tone I'd dreamed of hearing directed at me. "I love you, April. More than I've ever loved anyone."

The medication bottle lay at my feet, its contents scattered