Chapter 1

I watched my husband's stepmother feed cake to my daughter, and something inside me snapped.

Harper's first birthday party. Perfect weather. Perfect decorations. Perfect lies.

The garden was full of people I used to call friends, all cooing over the birthday girl in her pink dress. Harper sat in Lexi's lap, golden curls catching the sunlight. They looked like a magazine ad. Mother and daughter. Same blue eyes. Same button nose. Same everything.

Except Lexi wasn't supposed to be the mother. I was.

A year ago, I would've cried seeing them together like this. Six months ago, I would've felt grateful. Lexi had "carried my baby" when my body couldn't. She'd been so generous, so selfless. Saint Lexi, giving me the gift of motherhood.

Now I just felt sick.

Colton stood behind them with his phone, recording every moment. My husband of five years, looking at his stepmother and our daughter like they were his whole world. Which, I guess, they were. Just not in the way anyone here thought.

"Madi, come get in the photo!" Lexi called out, her voice sweet as honey. She'd always called me Madi. Like we were sisters. Best friends.

I used to believe it.

I stood up. The movement caught Colton's attention. He smiled at me, that perfect smile that had fooled me for so long. "Babe, come on. Family photo."

Family. Right.

I walked toward them slowly. The conversations around me faded. I'd been planning this moment for two weeks, ever since the last DNA test came back. The third one. I'd hoped the first two were wrong. They weren't.

"Actually," I said, my voice carrying across the garden, "I have something to say first."

Colton lowered his phone. "Madi, what—"

"I want a divorce."

The garden went silent. Someone's wine glass clinked against a table. A kid laughed somewhere, not understanding.

Colton's smile froze. "What? Honey, this isn't funny—"

"Do I look like I'm joking?" I turned to face the crowd. Sixty people. Colton's family, colleagues, friends. My former friends. They all stared at me like I'd grown a second head. Good. Let them stare.

I looked back at Colton. "I want a divorce. And I'm taking everything."

His face went pale. "Madi, you're upset. Let's talk about this inside—"

"No." I cut him off. "We're done talking. We're done lying. All of us."

I turned to Lexi. She'd gone very still, Harper squirming in her arms. Those blue eyes—Harper's eyes, Lexi's eyes—watched me with something that might've been fear.

"Especially you," I said.

Lexi's voice came out small. "Madi, I don't understand—"

"Don't you?" I pulled the folder from my bag. I'd been carrying it all day, waiting for this moment. "Harper isn't mine. She's yours. Yours and Colton's."

The gasps were immediate. Someone dropped a plate. It shattered.

"That's insane," Colton said, but his voice shook. "Madi, you're not thinking clearly—"

"I'm thinking very clearly." I opened the folder and pulled out the papers. "DNA test. From GeneTech Labs. Harper shares fifty percent of her DNA with you, Colton. And fifty percent with Lexi."

I held up the report so everyone could see the highlighted numbers. "Zero percent with me. Because she was never mine. There was no surrogacy. No IVF. No embryo transfer. Just you two, fucking each other, and making me believe I was finally a mother."

The silence was deafening.

Colton reached for me. "You don't know what you're talking about—"

"Don't touch me." I stepped back. "I have three tests. Three different labs. They all say the same thing."

A woman I didn't know spoke up from the crowd. "But the surrogacy—didn't Lexi carry the baby for you?"

I laughed. It came out bitter. "That's what they told me. That's what I believed. For a whole year, I believed it."

I looked at Lexi. She was crying now, tears streaming down her face. Harper started to fuss, picking up on the tension. For a second—just a second—I felt that familiar urge to go to her, to comfort her.

Then I remembered she wasn't mine. She'd never been mine.

"You played me," I said, my voice steady despite the rage burning in my chest. "Both of you. You made me think I was infertile, broken, less than. You made me grateful. Grateful that Lexi would 'help' me have a baby. Grateful that my husband was so understanding. Grateful for scraps of affection while you two were—"

"Stop," Colton said, his voice sharp now. "You're embarrassing yourself."

"Am I?" I turned back to the crowd. "Embarrassing myself? Or embarrassing you?"

Sloane pushed through the crowd—Colton's older sister, one of the few people here I actually liked. "Madi, are you sure about this? DNA tests can be wrong—"

"Not three times." I handed her a copy of the report. "Look at it yourself."

She took it. I watched her face change as she read. Shock. Anger. Understanding.

"Oh my God," she whispered. She looked at her brother like she'd never seen him before. "Colton. What did you do?"

He ignored her. His eyes were fixed on me. "Madi, please. Let's go inside and discuss this like adults—"

"We're not discussing anything." I crossed my arms. "I already filed for divorce. I already froze our joint accounts. I already contacted a lawyer. This isn't a discussion. This is me telling you I'm done."

The crowd erupted in whispers. Phones came out. I'd expected that. Let them record. Let them post it. I wanted witnesses.

Lexi finally spoke, her voice breaking. "Madi, please, let me explain—"

She reached for my hand.

I pulled away. "Don't touch me."