Chapter 1

It took five years of loving him before I learned the truth: half my life was worth nothing more than a ten-thousand-dollar bet.

In the labor room, I was enduring the excruciating pain of dilation.

My fiancé, Daniel Foster, who was supposed to be by my side, had been called away by a single phone call.

Through the haze of agony, I heard his friends laughing in the hallway.

"Told you. The second Chloe's golden retriever goes into labor, Daniel drops Emma in the delivery room like she doesn't exist."

"I win! Ten grand! Transfer it now!"

All the strength drained out of me in an instant. The baby got stuck in the birth canal. I couldn't push anymore.

The midwife's face changed in a heartbeat. She grabbed the phone and called Daniel.

It rang three times before he picked up.

He paused for a moment, then spoke in that same cool, detached voice he always used.

"I'm a clinical MD. I understand obstetric protocols perfectly well."

"The hospital has a top-tier specialist team. My being physically present serves no medical purpose beyond emotional comfort."

"But Chloe's golden retriever has a breech presentation. If it's not handled properly, both the mother and the puppies will die within minutes. I know how to weigh priorities."

"Emma giving birth is a normal physiological process. Once all her vitals are stable, I'll come back."

A life-or-death crisis. My body on the edge of the abyss.

And in that perfectly constructed logic of his, it still couldn't compete with another woman's pet dog giving birth.

I didn't scream. I didn't throw a fit.

I just lifted my trembling hand and hung up on him.

The baby didn't need to be born anymore.

And Daniel's wife? I wasn't going to be that either.

Three days after the surgery, the hospital room door finally opened.

Daniel walked to the foot of the bed and picked up the medical chart hanging there, as naturally as if he were making rounds.

When his eyes landed on the line that read "induced termination," his fingers paused mid-page for just a fraction of a second.

A flash of shock crossed the depths of his eyes.

But it lasted no more than a heartbeat before it vanished without a trace, so fast I almost thought I'd imagined it.

He set down the chart, walked over, and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Emma, feeling any better? Is the incision still hurting?"

I stared at that cool, unruffled face of his, my entire body shaking uncontrollably.

My voice came out so raw it nearly tore apart.

"Daniel, the baby is gone. I was hemorrhaging when I signed the consent form. I almost died."

Daniel frowned slightly, pulled a tissue from the box.

He wiped the dampness from the corner of my eye with gentle hands, his tone perfectly level.

"I know. I just read the chart."

He took my ice-cold hand in his.

"Emma, don't be too upset."

"From a prenatal medical standpoint, fetal developmental abnormalities leading to cardiac arrest are the result of natural selection. It means the embryo was never viable to begin with."

"You're still young. Terminating the pregnancy early actually minimizes the physical damage to your body."

I jerked my head up, staring at him in disbelief.

Three days ago in that delivery room, the baby was stuck in the birth canal, breech, and I was hemorrhaging.

Even though I was the one who signed the consent form for the termination with my own hand, the grief was destroying me.

And now, as the baby's father, Daniel had learned his child was gone and showed not a single flicker of emotion.

"Daniel, do you even have a heart?"

I yanked my hand away. Tears crashed onto the bedsheet.

"When I was in that delivery room in so much pain I thought I was dying, what were you doing?"

Daniel lowered his eyes and looked at his palm, still warm from holding mine. For once, he actually offered me an explanation.

"Chloe's golden retriever was having a difficult birth. Breech presentation, hemorrhaging too. I don't know veterinary medicine, but I had to be there to keep her emotionally stable."

"Keep her emotionally stable?"

I laughed in sheer fury, pointing at my own stomach.

"She needed to be emotionally stable. What about me?"

"Your fiancée was having an induced termination. Your child was bleeding out. And you went to comfort someone else over her dog?"

"When your friends bet ten thousand dollars on my life last night, did it ever cross your mind that I could die too?"

Daniel's expression darkened. He swept a cold glance across the friends lingering in the hospital room.

When he looked back at me, he sighed.

"Emma, can you please be rational about this?"

Daniel's voice rose half a note.

"My staying here would have served no practical purpose beyond sitting next to you in silence."

"Losing the baby was a normal physiological elimination. Once your body recovers, we can try again anytime. It'll be fine."

"But if that dog had died, Chloe might truly not have been able to hold herself together. Do you understand that?"