Chapter 1

On my first day as general manager of the Midwest regional office, HR manager Rachel Morgan came to see me.

"Ms. Hayes, there's a special leave request that needs your approval."

"Sales director Ethan Cole. He wants to extend his paternity leave by twenty days."

My stomach dropped.

Ethan Cole was my husband. A baby. With someone else. Since when?

I'd come back from New York headquarters to surprise him.

Turns out, I was the one in for a surprise.

I opened the system and pulled up the request.

The cursor slid to the Approve button. I clicked.

Then I opened his personnel file and hit Termination.

Enjoy your paternity leave, Ethan.

You're fired.

...

I closed the request page.

"Rachel, what's this Ethan Cole like around the office?"

Rachel looked like she'd been waiting for this. The second I asked, she was off.

"Ms. Hayes, Ethan's practically the office's model husband."

"He's well-liked, and his numbers are top-notch."

"And the best part? He absolutely dotes on his wife."

I turned the pen between my fingers.

Rachel kept going.

"You just got here, so you wouldn't know."

"Every time we have a team-building event, or the year-end dinner—"

"Ethan always brings his wife."

"The way those two look at each other—honestly, it's a little much."

My pen stopped.

"Is that so? What does his wife look like?"

Rachel immediately pulled out her phone.

"I've got a photo. Took it at the last team-building thing."

She held up a group shot.

Ethan stood dead center, arm around a very pregnant woman.

Both of them beaming.

My stomach turned over.

I'd never seen this woman before in my life.

But the way Ethan looked at her—I knew that look.

Back when we first started dating, he used to look at me like that every single day.

After we got married, it just... stopped.

I told myself it was the pressure. The long hours.

Turns out, all that tenderness was going to someone else.

"What's her name?"

"Sophia Bennett." Rachel put her phone away. "I hear she's a dance teacher."

"Sweet, soft-spoken type."

"Ethan gives her whatever she wants."

"Last time, Sophia had her eye on a Chanel bag. Ethan didn't even blink—just swiped his card."

"Several thousand dollars. Not a second thought."

My mouth twitched.

That Chanel bag? I bought it last month on a business trip to Paris. Hadn't even had the chance to use it yet.

Ethan said a big client's wife had a birthday coming up and he needed a gift fast.

So he took the bag. Said he'd buy me a better one when his bonus came in next month.

And I believed him.

What a dutiful wife I'd been.

I tossed the pen onto the desk.

"That's enough. You can go."

After Rachel left, the only sound in my office was my own breathing.

I picked up my phone and dialed Ethan.

It rang for a long time before he picked up.

"Hey, babe." His voice sounded tired.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"Where else? Out meeting clients."

I gripped the phone tighter.

"I'm coming home tonight."

There was a pause on the other end.

"Really? Why didn't you say so earlier?"

His voice rose a little. He sounded pleasantly surprised.

"I'll run out and get groceries, make your favorite pot roast."

He hadn't even finished his sentence when I heard it—a baby crying.

Faint. But unmistakable.

"Babe, something's come up. I've gotta go."