Chapter 4

I just need Mom.

When I heard that, my heart ached.

Silas had been gone a full five years. So long that looking at his face now, he almost seemed like a stranger.

I'd long since thought of myself as a widow.

I took Ivy to the office with me.

She was so good. While I worked through files, she sat quietly beside me and drew.

Headquarters had recently started looking for an executive director for the London branch.

It was the perfect springboard to get out of all this and take my daughter away from New York.

Except for the time I spent with Ivy, I'd poured everything I had into my work.

When I first found out I was pregnant, all my friends thought I'd fall apart completely.

But I didn't.

I climbed like a madwoman, because I knew one thing for certain: only with enough money of my own would I have the power to keep my daughter with me—and to tell that man to get out of my life whenever I wanted.

When I finished up and was about to take Ivy home, I checked my phone and found a ridiculous number of missed calls.

I called my best friend Tessa back. She picked up on the first ring.

"Vera! Fuck, where the hell have you been?!" Tessa's voice was shaking with panic. "Where are you? Don't scare me like that!"

"I'm at the office working on a proposal. What's going on?" I was totally lost.

Tessa let out a huge breath. "You scared the shit out of me. Silas just called me like a lunatic asking if you were going to kill yourself. He's out tearing the whole city apart looking for you."

I laughed coldly. "Let him look."

I'd just hung up when I looked up and found Silas standing in front of me like a wall.

His eyes were bloodshot, and stubble had come in along his jaw.

"Vera, I've been looking for you all afternoon." His voice was rough.

I frowned. "Why?"

"I was afraid you were angry." He was staring at me.

"Because of Cecilia?" The corner of my mouth twitched. "I get it. Single moms have it hard, so of course you should be with them. I don't have a problem with it."

That shut Silas up.

I ignored him and took Ivy straight home.

Once I'd gotten Ivy to sleep, I went back out.

Silas was waiting by the door like a ghost. "Where are you going? I'll come with you."

"No need." I shook my head.

He followed me anyway, stubborn. Then he suddenly reached out, grabbed my hand hard, and tried to lace his fingers through mine.

In that instant, my stomach heaved.

I shoved him away, ran to the nearest trash can, and dry-heaved so hard tears ran down my face.

It was pure physical nausea. My body was violently rejecting his touch.

Silas went white and hurried after me. "Are you sick?" His hand went straight to my forehead.

I jerked away like I'd been shocked.

His hand hung frozen in the air. It was a long moment before it slowly dropped.

"Don't touch me." I wiped my mouth, my face cold.

Then his phone rang again.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the screen: Cecilia.

Silas glanced at it and declined the call.

It rang again right away, relentless.

I pointed at his phone. "Go do what you need to do. I've got things to do too."

That afternoon, I sat in the office of the best divorce attorney in Manhattan.

"Ms. Hayes, given that he abandoned his family obligations for five years, your chances of leaving him with nothing and getting full custody are excellent." The lawyer slid a stack of papers across the desk.

I nodded. "If he signs without a fight, I don't want to go to court. It's too ugly."

I took the freshly printed divorce agreement and tucked it into my bag.