Chapter 3

"She believes anything he tells her. A few sweet words and she's happy again."

I stood still. Celeste was talking to someone on the phone.

"He told me he was bored with her. She spent years trying to give him a baby, as if that would help. And then she went along with IVF. How else could Adrian and I have made our bet?"

A bet.

I looked down at the appointment slip in my hand.

"Once I win, he owes me another wish," she said. "She still thinks she's carrying his baby. I picked a random donor from the sperm bank. I can't wait to see her face when the baby doesn't look anything like him."

For a few seconds, I couldn't seem to breathe through my nose. I opened my mouth and drew in air, trying to make sense of what I'd heard.

The injections. The pills. The bruises I'd hidden under loose shirts. Adrian telling me to be patient, to trust him, while Celeste asked how I was feeling and pretended to hope with me.

I didn't know how she could have done what she was claiming. I had no donor's name, no explanation of what had happened at the clinic. But I had heard her say that she and my husband had made a game out of it.

I'd believed we were trying to have a child together. They had been waiting for the moment I found out they were laughing at me.

The stairwell door opened.

Celeste saw me standing there, one hand still resting on my belly.