Chapter 1

When Lynn Taylor got off the plane, Suncrest City was being hammered by a torrential downpour.

Today was her son Ethan Green's sixth birthday.

She'd been working around the clock for two weeks straight on a project, all so she could make it back in time.

The rain made the roads slippery, and traffic on the elevated highway was a complete mess. Lynn was anxious, constantly checking the time.

The driver suddenly slammed on the brakes. The impact sent Lynn's forehead crashing into the seat in front of her, and everything went dark for a moment.

She didn't care about the pain—her first instinct was to hold tight to the cake box in her arms.

She'd ordered the cake a month in advance from Country Valeria, Ethan's favorite bakery. She'd specifically asked someone to stand in line for three days to get it.

"You're bleeding!" the driver said, turning to look at her.

Lynn touched her forehead. Her hand came away covered in blood.

"I'm fine. I'm in a hurry—can we keep going?"

"I have to wait for the traffic police—"

"Then I'll go on my own."

She left a stack of bills, pushed open the car door, and ran into the rain with the cake.

She couldn't run in heels, so she kicked them off and ran barefoot. Rain mixed with blood streamed into her eyes.

She kept the cake box clutched tightly to her chest the whole time, not letting a single drop of rain touch it.

By the time she reached the apartment complex, it was almost midnight. Lynn, out of breath, pressed the elevator button and watched the numbers climb floor by floor, her heart pounding hard.

Would Ethan be happy to see her?

Would her husband Gavin Green be surprised too?

She'd deliberately not told them she'd changed her flight—she wanted to see the look of surprise on their faces.

The elevator doors opened. She hurried to the apartment door and heard cheerful singing coming from inside:

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..."

Lynn's hand froze.

Through the door, she heard her son's laughter: "Sophie, make a wish! No wait, I make the wish, and you help me blow out the candles!"

"Okay, Ethan makes the wish, and I'll help you blow them out."

Lynn knew that voice all too well. It was her husband Gavin's first love, Sophie Reed.

"Ethan, stop bothering Sophie so much." Gavin's voice carried a smile, tender and affectionate in a way she'd never heard before.

Lynn stood outside the door. Her heart, which had been burning hot, grew cold bit by bit. With trembling hands, she opened the door.

All the lights in the living room were off, except for the candles on the cake.

The orange glow cast shadows of three people huddled together.

Like a happy family of three, leaning in together toward the candles on the cake.

Ethan had his hands pressed together, eyes closed, his face showing a happiness Lynn had never seen before.

The three of them blew out the candles together.

The lights came on.

Sophie was the first to notice the person at the door. She froze for a moment. "Lynn?"

Gavin looked up and saw her, clearly startled. "How come you're back? Didn't you say you wouldn't be back until next week?"

Lynn looked at the three of them, looking exactly like a family. She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but her throat felt blocked.

After a moment, she managed to say hoarsely, "I... changed my flight. I wanted to surprise Ethan."

Gavin's brow furrowed slightly. He didn't say anything.

When Ethan saw her, the smile that had filled his face slowly disappeared.

He moved closer to Sophie, looking at Lynn warily.

Sophie stood up with a smile. "Since you're back, I'll head out now."

She turned and ruffled Ethan's hair, saying reluctantly, "Ethan, I'll come see you again tomorrow."

But Ethan grabbed her hand, frowning. "Don't go!"

Then he turned and glared at Lynn. "Why did you come back? When it was just me and Dad and Sophie, we were so happy, and now that you're back, Sophie has to leave!"

Lynn's face went pale in an instant, her lips trembling slightly.

She couldn't believe these words were coming from the son she'd carried for ten months and given birth to with such difficulty.

"Ethan, don't talk to your mother like that," Gavin said in a low voice, though there wasn't much real reproach in his tone.

Ethan didn't listen. He gripped Sophie's hand even tighter, his eyes filled with disgust. "I hate you! Why isn't Sophie my mom? I wish Sophie was my mom instead!"

Lynn felt like she'd been punched in the face. She swayed.

Her fingers gripping the cake box turned white with pressure.

She'd raised Ethan with her own hands. Because he was premature, his health had always been weaker than other children's—he'd run fevers and get sick every few days.

Back then, Gavin's company was just starting up, and she was the only one shuttling back and forth between home and the hospital with the infant in her arms.

And there were countless nights when she'd stayed up with him until dawn.

After he turned three, Ethan's health gradually improved, and Gavin's company got on track. Only then did Gavin have time to pay attention to his son.

And it was for Gavin's company that she'd started traveling frequently for work, helping to negotiate overseas business deals. But she never expected that her son would grow more and more attached to Gavin, while his relationship with her grew more and more distant.

Sophie crouched down now, gently coaxing Ethan: "You can't say that. Your mom loves you. She knew it was your birthday today and rushed back specially. You can't say things like that and hurt her feelings."

She looked up at Lynn, her gaze falling on the cake box in Lynn's hands, and said with a smile, "Did Lynn bring a cake too? Why don't we blow out the candles again? Ethan can make another wish."

Ethan clearly didn't want to, but since both Dad and Sophie were saying so, he could only nod reluctantly.

Sophie took the cake box from Lynn's hands and opened it.

The cake was ruined. The bumpy journey and the car accident earlier had caused all the delicate cream flowers to collapse, and the chocolate decorations had broken into several pieces, lying crooked in the cream.

"It's ugly," Ethan said, wrinkling his nose and muttering with disgust.

Lynn's knuckles went white. Her heart ached again.

Sophie smiled, trying to smooth things over. "It's not ugly at all. I'm sure the cake Mom bought tastes great too."

She picked up a small fork from the side and put a small piece in her mouth.

But the next second, her face went pale.

"What's wrong?" Gavin noticed something was off and asked with concern.

Sophie didn't speak. She covered her mouth, her face growing paler and paler, her breathing becoming rapid.

Gavin snatched the cake from her hand and looked at the label on the cake box.

The label read: Classic Mango Mousse.

His face darkened immediately. His gaze shot toward Lynn like a knife. "You didn't know Sophie is allergic to mango?"

Lynn opened her mouth. "I didn't know..."

"You didn't know?" Gavin laughed coldly. "How many times has she eaten at our house? And now you're telling me you didn't know?"

"I really didn't know..." Lynn frowned, trying to explain. She was basically never home when Sophie came over for meals—how would she know about a mango allergy?

Gavin looked at her, his eyes full of disappointment. "Even if you don't like Sophie, you shouldn't use such underhanded methods to hurt her!"

"Dad, what's wrong with Sophie?" Ethan was crying now too, holding onto Sophie's hand and not letting go.

Sophie's face had turned red, and she said with difficulty, "I'm fine... Gavin, don't blame Lynn... She probably really forgot..."

"Don't talk."

Gavin scooped her up in his arms, then turned to look at Lynn, his gaze as cold as ice. "If anything happens to Sophie, I will never forgive you!"

Lynn stood there, her heart sinking straight down.

If Sophie was allergic to mango, why did she eat that bite of cake just now...

As her thoughts swirled in confusion, Ethan suddenly rushed at her and pushed hard on her stomach.

"You're a bad person! You tried to kill Sophie! I hate you!"

He'd used all his strength as a child. Lynn stumbled backward from the push and crashed hard into the shoe cabinet behind her.

The wound on her forehead split open again. Blood ran down her cheek and dripped onto her white shirt.

Gavin didn't even glance at her. He carried Sophie and strode quickly toward the door.

Ethan followed behind. After running a few steps, he turned back and glared at her fiercely. "I never want to see you again!"

The door slammed shut with a bang.

The living room fell silent.

Lynn sat on the floor, staring at the closed door.

Blood dripped onto the back of her hand, drop by drop, but she didn't even notice.

Her forehead felt like it was splitting open, but it didn't compare to even one ten-thousandth of the pain in her heart.

After a long while, she slowly stood up and looked at the empty living room.

On the wall hung a photo from Ethan's first birthday. In it, she was holding Ethan, and Gavin stood behind her. It was their only family photo.

The cake box still lay open on the floor, the ugly cake tilted inside, the cream a complete mess.

She bent down, closed the box, picked it up, and threw it in the trash.

Lynn walked into the bathroom, wanting to clean her wound.

The mirror reflected her disheveled face, pale without a trace of color, blood smeared across half of it.

She looked at herself in the mirror and suddenly felt very unfamiliar.

Was this her?

That girl who'd fallen for Gavin at eighteen, pursued him for eight years, been married to him for six years, and loved him for a full fourteen years—that foolish girl.

It was time for this to end.

Her eyes gradually grew firm. She took out her phone and dialed a number.

"Attorney Nelson? It's me, Lynn."

Her voice was very calm. "I need you to draft a divorce agreement for me."