Chapter 1

I lived with my CEO boyfriend for three years. Every day, I'd make him a homemade lunch and bring it to his company.

The young receptionists all knew me. They'd see me and smile, "Here comes Mrs. Blackwood!"

I'd smile back, never correcting them.

I'd walk toward his office, insulated bag in hand.

Passing by the break room, I heard voices.

"Ethan, how many times a day should I take this pill?"

The woman's voice was sweet, a little coy.

Then came Ethan Blackwood's voice: "Once a day is enough. Don't forget."

I stopped dead.

The break room door was slightly ajar. Through the crack, I saw the box.

Plan B, the emergency contraceptive pill.

My blood rushed to my head.

I pushed the door open hard.

Both of them spun around.

Ethan saw me and froze. "Skylar, what are you doing here?"

I didn't answer him. My gaze fixed on the woman.

She looked around twenty-three or twenty-four, with long hair and light makeup. Her features weren't strikingly beautiful, but put together, they gave her a fragile, delicate air.

She saw me, and the smile on her face stiffened for a second before quickly returning to normal.

She clutched the pill box in her hand, hiding it behind her back. "I'm Ethan's secretary, Ashley Miller."

I ignored her. I looked at Ethan.

"You bought her emergency contraception?"

Ethan's brows furrowed. "Let me explain."

"Explain what?" I cut him off. "Explain why you're buying your secretary emergency contraception? Or explain what kind of relationship you two have that requires you to buy her this?"

Ashley's face went white. She took a step forward, her voice soft. "You've got it all wrong. My boyfriend is out of state, and I went to see him today. I forgot to bring my pills and was worried, so I asked Ethan to buy them for me."

I looked at her. "Your boyfriend is out of state, and you ask another man to buy you emergency contraception?"

Her eyes welled up. "I... I was too embarrassed to let anyone else know..."

"But you weren't embarrassed to let your boss know?"

She couldn't answer.

Ethan walked over and grabbed my arm. "Alright, let's talk outside."

I shook off his hand. "No need to talk outside. Let's clear things up right here." I looked at him. "Ethan, I'm asking you, do you know what emergency contraception is for?"

He was silent for a moment. "Yes."

"And you still bought it for her?"

He frowned, looking like he was in a tough spot. "She begged me, what could I do?"

"She begs you, and you just help her?" I laughed. "If she begged you to marry her, would you?"

Ethan's face changed. "Skylar, don't be so unreasonable."

Unreasonable.

Those four words felt like a bucket of cold water dumped over my head.

I looked at him for a long time.

Three years. I started dating him at twenty-four, now I'm twenty-seven. The best three years of my life.

He failed his startup twice. I stayed with him. My paycheck paid for our rent. I bought him clothes. I treated his business partners to dinner.

He finally succeeded with his third startup, and the company was finally stable.

Just last week, I went to look at wedding dresses, tried on several, and sent him pictures.

He said they looked good, and that he'd go with me to pick one once he wasn't so busy.

But now, for another woman, he was calling me unreasonable.

I set the insulated bag on the floor. "If you're not going to drink the soup, just throw it away."

I turned and walked out.

Ethan followed, catching me at the elevator.

"Skylar, will you please just listen to me explain?"

"You already explained." My voice was calm. I watched our two reflections in the elevator doors. "You bought her emergency contraception, because she asked you to. That's it."

"Then why didn't she buy it herself? Why didn't she ask a female colleague to buy it for her? Why did she specifically ask you?"

He said nothing.

The elevator door opened. I stepped inside.

He stood outside, looking at me, his mouth opening, but nothing came out.

The moment the elevator door closed, I saw Ashley peek her head out of the break room, watching.

Back home, I sat on the couch, thinking for a long time.

I thought of all the little details from the past six months.

His overtime hours grew longer.

He answered more and more phone calls.

Sometimes he'd smile looking at his phone, and when I asked what he was looking at, he'd say it was just memes from a WhatsApp group.

He'd go on business trips, saying he was alone, but his suitcase would be missing two changes of clothes.

I told myself not to overthink it, to trust him.

After all, we had three years together. After all, we'd been through so much.

But today, I couldn't lie to myself anymore.

A man willing to buy emergency contraception for a woman.

What did that mean?

It meant their relationship had reached a point where they could discuss such a thing.

It meant that woman felt completely unguarded around him.

It meant he implicitly allowed that lack of guard.

My phone rang. It was Ethan.

I didn't answer.

He sent a SnapChat: "Skylar, pick up the phone, let's talk properly."

I didn't reply.

He sent another: "She really is just my secretary, don't overthink it."

I replied: "I'm not overthinking it. You've done too much."

He was silent for a long time.

Then he sent a message: "Are you breaking up with me?"

I stared at the words.

Three years. The first thing he asked when he'd upset me wasn't "Can you forgive me?" or "I'm sorry." It was "Are you breaking up with me?"

In his mind, the end result of this was a breakup.

He'd already made up his mind.

I replied: "Yes."