Chapter 1

In the second year of my contract marriage to Ethan Wheeler, he terminated the agreement early.

On the anniversary of my mother's death, I accompanied aunt Lily to visit her grave.

Ethan stood at the far end of the cemetery, holding an umbrella for another woman.

Aunt Lily followed my gaze and sneered, tapping my forehead with her finger.

"I told you to hold onto him back then, but you insisted on clinging to your pathetic pride."

"Look at you now. Divorced, childless, and you didn't even keep the man. Who's going to marry you after this?"

I looked at my mother's photo on the tombstone, my voice barely audible.

"It's fine."

"He was never mine to begin with."

I didn't tell aunt Lily that I had tried to keep Ethan.

The night before the contract ended, I stood at his study door in my thin nightgown.

My lower abdomen still ached. I pressed my hand there, my voice hoarse.

"Ethan, can we not get divorced?"

Ethan stopped typing.

The room fell silent for a long time.

He saw my tears. He knew what I'd just lost.

But that moment of vulnerability wasn't enough to change his mind.

After a long pause, he closed his file, his tone indifferent.

"Serena Hart, getting too invested is the biggest taboo in a contractual arrangement."

"Leave with some dignity."

"Don't make me take back even the last bit of sympathy I have for you."

Only later did Ethan realize, too late, that when I asked "can we not get divorced," it was the only chance he'd ever have to keep me.