Chapter 2

"Mommy."

A child's call interrupted our conversation.

When I saw the little girl's face clearly, my whole body stiffened.

The girl looked a lot like Michael too. She seemed to be around four or five years old.

She ran to Vivian's side and acted spoiled.

"When is Daddy coming home? I miss him so much."

I looked at the baby boy in Vivian's arms, then at the little girl whining beside her, and the bitterness in my heart almost spilled over.

Michael and I had been married for years, but we had never had children.

Over the years, I had told him countless times that I wanted a child.

When we were newly married, Michael once held me and said,

"We're newlyweds. We haven't had enough time alone together yet. There's no rush to have children."

Later, before I was selected by the CIA for the mission, I became anxious and insisted that we try for a child before I left.

He agreed readily enough, but every time my ovulation window came, he would just so happen to be away on a business trip.

"I'm really too tired. Why do you think I'm working so hard? Isn't it to give you and our future child a better life?"

"We're both educated people. We can't let a child hold back our careers."

Later still, whenever I brought up having a child, he would repeatedly say that he was worried about my health and did not want childbirth to drag down my career.

For a time, I truly believed he did not like children.

So it turned out someone else had already given him children.

Vivian glanced down at her phone, her smile full of sweetness.

"My husband almost never goes out, and he never works overtime."

"Today really is just bad timing. I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you to wait a little longer."

At that, I was stunned again.

The two words Michael said to me most often were "working overtime."

If he did not answer the phone, he was working overtime.

If he could not come home to see me, he was working overtime.

Even last Christmas, he had been working overtime the entire time.

Three years ago, his mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. He said his project was at a critical stage and he had no way to take care of her, so he could only ask me to help.

I was so busy I could barely breathe.

But while his mother was ill, she jumped into a lake when the caregiver was not paying attention.

The hospital called my workplace directly.

I was truly swamped, so I asked Michael to go handle it.

But he still shirked it, saying he was working overtime. In the end, I was forced to go and deal with it for him, which delayed my CIA work.

Listening to Vivian, a bone-deep sense of helplessness swept through my entire body.

Vivian picked up her crying little son and stood.

"The baby is hungry. My home is nearby. If you don't mind, you can come wait there with me."

I stood up almost eagerly, but still made my tone sound casual.

"Do you live with his parents?"

Vivian shook her head. "His parents passed away a long time ago. It's just my parents at home. He treats my parents better than he would his own."

I picked at my nails, wondering how Michael's mother would feel if she heard those words.

When I lowered my head, my eyes accidentally caught a line of small print on Vivian's daughter's backpack:

Department of Defense Affiliated Elementary School.

Seeing me stop, Vivian smiled and explained,

"That's my older daughter's school."

"My husband is a Gold Star Family member, so under policy, they made a special exception and let our child attend that school."

Hearing the words "Gold Star Family," I looked up in confusion.

"Gold Star Family?"

Vivian nodded and sat down beside me.

"Yes. His sister was a martyr who died in service to the country."

After she said that, she caught sight of the small embroidered words on the cuff of my down jacket: New York Headquarters · Central Field Station. Her eyes immediately lit up.

"Oh, his sister used to work where you do."

"Her name was Sarah Carter. Do you know her? She died in the line of duty six years ago."

Those words struck me like a bolt from the blue. My body swayed, almost unable to stand.

How could I not know her?

I was the Sarah Carter she was talking about.

As his legal wife, I had somehow become his so-called sister.

It was truly ridiculous.

Seeing my face turn deathly pale, Vivian considerately stuffed a hand warmer into my hands.

"Did you get too cold outside? Here, warm your hands. Michael knows I get cold easily, so he stocked up on a lot of these."

Vivian's happy smile was like a red-hot branding iron, burning my chest again and again.

I struggled to steady my emotions and asked as if by accident, "How could they send someone to work in such a harsh place?"

Vivian smiled and said, "My husband's family has money, but what good is money? Without power or connections, people still bully you."

"So my husband stepped in himself and sent his sister there!"

That sentence became the final straw.

So back then, Michael had deliberately made me leave.

He had locked me away in that isolated CIA place for six whole years.

Knowing full well that I was my parents' only daughter, he still sent me away without hesitation.

So when my father died of a heart attack, I could not make it back in time to see him one last time because of work.

On one hand, Michael used my "Gold Star" status to let the illegitimate children he had with another woman enjoy national benefits.

On the other, he kept a beautiful woman by his side in another home, surrounded by children.

My voice trembled slightly.

"Have you... ever met his sister?"