Chapter 1 BOOK ONE: Chapter 0001

•NATASHA•

"Happy Birthday, Kyle!" We exclaimed when my little boy came home from school. He closed the door behind him and scanned the room for a moment before he ran into his father's arms.

I had prepared his birthday lunch myself, wanting to celebrate his twelfth birthday and amazing grades at school.

I was proud of him, and seeing him grow gave me so much joy.

"Happy birthday, my boy. Tell me anything you want, and your father will make it happen," Richard muttered when he pulled away from their hug.

Kyle immediately looked around the room, searching for someone. "Where's Aunty Lorene? I thought she would take me out to get those cheeseburgers I like."

My chest tightened at the sound of her name. I felt my throat getting dry, and I swallowed.

Lorene was Richard's mistress, and everyone in that room knew it. He had brought her into the house twice, trying to make me believe that she was nothing but his assistant.

We had been married for thirteen years, and just when I thought my dear husband would be there for me through all our ups and downs, he went out and found someone while I was in and out of hospitals for heart surgery.

I leaned toward Kyle and gently touched his shoulder. "I made your favorite today, sweetheart. Beef stew with the cheesy garlic bread, just the way you like it. I even got the strawberry cake from that bakery you love."

Kyle barely looked at me. "I don't want that today, Mom. I want to go eat cheeseburgers with Aunty Lorene. She's more fun, and she actually understands me." His words landed like a slap, and I felt the sting spread through my chest before I could stop it.

Before I could respond, Richard's mother stepped forward, her arms folded across her chest. "Natasha, don't look so surprised. Lorene was the one who sat with Kyle every single day while you were stuck in that hospital bed. Of course the boy wants to be with her. She was there when it counted."

I opened my mouth to defend myself, but nothing came out. The words dried up in my throat like they always did whenever this family ganged up on me.

Richard placed a hand on Kyle's head and smiled. "It's his birthday. Let's give him exactly what he wants."

Before Richard's mother and sister left, they handed Kyle a stack of wrapped gifts, each one tied with a ribbon far too fancy for a twelve-year-old. Katie, Richard's sister, winked at him. "Wait until you see the surprise waiting for you when you get home tonight, Kyle. You're going to love it."

Richard pulled out his phone and dialed a number. "Lorene, get ready. We're coming to pick you up." He grabbed Kyle's hand and walked toward the door without a single glance back at me.

I stood frozen in the middle of the living room. My heart, still healing from surgery, cracked all over again. It took everything in me not to fall on my knees and scream.

I was okay with losing my husband to Lorene, but losing my son as well to her was tearing me apart. She was taking everything from me.

I looked around the living room, held back the tears that stung at the back of my eyes, and went upstairs.

I walked inside and closed the door behind me. For the first time in the last six months since Richard had brought Lorene home, I was ready to give it all up and leave him.

I still had the small house in Syracuse that my father and mother left in my name before they died five years ago in a car accident.

Even though I was already twenty-seven at the time, my parents looked out for me. My mother always told me that if it didn't work out with Richard, I could always come home with my son.

A few days before my father died, he gave me a little envelope, making me promise that I wouldn't open it until I needed his help and he wasn't around.

I had been staring at that envelope for the past five months, but I couldn't open it. I knew that I wasn't ready to leave Richard, so whatever was inside might not be of much help.

I found the envelope tucked between my clothes in the closet, and I quickly slid it into my handbag. I then took all my clothes off the hangers and out of the drawers.

I finished packing all my clothes, and when I reached the bottom drawer where my husband's ties were, I sat down on the floor. I scrambled through the ties until I found the one that I had bought him thirteen years ago during our honeymoon.

I loved him so much and could've given him the world if possible.

My brows knitted when I noticed an A4 envelope under the ties. I slipped it out and hesitated before opening it and taking out the single sheet of paper inside.

"Divorce" was the first thing that I saw on the paper before everything else. The date was just two weeks ago, when Richard had applied for a divorce.

I felt a cold shiver down my spine as I tried to process that he was really done with our marriage. After everything that we had been through, Richard was never going to fight for me.

At the back of the paper was Richard's handwriting that almost left me breathless.

Note: "I have done it, Lorene. Once my divorce from that useless hag is finalized, I will take you as my wife. Everything in my name will be yours after she leaves with nothing."

My cell phone rang after a moment, and I hesitated to take the call when I saw Richard's name on the screen.

"Richard."

"Please come and fetch Kyle from the address that I've sent you," he answered, sounding as if he were in a hurry. "Lorene is badly injured. So I need to be with her in the hospital."

"It's your son's birthday, Richard. Are you going to ditch Kyle for your side piece?" I scoffed, standing up from the floor.

"Kyle understands," he answered, his voice tightening. "Do you want me to leave her to be alone in that hospital? Look, I'll take Kyle out again tomorrow, but today I need to be there for Lorene. She twisted her ankle while running and has no one by her side. She has no family in New York, so stop nagging. You know that I hate nagging." He hung up the call.

I leaned my back against the wardrobe and exhaled, feeling speechless.

All I could think about was the countless times I was in the hospital alone in the past two years for surgery, and Richard couldn't leave Lorene's side after she had only twisted her ankle.

So, standing there, I realized that I had only one way out of Richard's life.