I almost died closing a deal for my husband. He was busy taking another woman to her pregnancy checkup.
*****
“Oh my God, that’s Harrison James. The heir of James Group! He’s here with his girlfriend for a pregnancy checkup.”
“Pregnancy checkup? Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. She’s twelve weeks along.” The nurse could barely hide her excitement. “She started bleeding this morning. Mr. James carried her in himself.”
Lydia Grace stood in the corner of the hospital lobby, her fingers clenched white around her crutch.
Her husband, Harrison James, walked right past her in a black suit. In his arms was a woman.
Lydia stopped breathing.
A dull pain spread through her chest, slow at first, then crushing.
The baby was twelve weeks along.
That meant two months ago.
Two months ago, Harrison had told her he was leaving for a week-long business trip. She had packed his suitcase herself. She had ironed every one of his shirts.
Before Lydia could even move, Harrison had already disappeared down the hall.
The TV in the lobby played the news in a flat, professional voice. “...a flight to Benton City suffered a tragic accident during landing. The death toll has risen to 136. Only three passengers survived.”
Lydia was one of those three survivors.
She had taken that flight for James Group. She had spent days in Derven locking down a medical expo deal that had kept Harrison up for days. Then, on her way home, the plane went down.
Harrison ran James Group. News that big would have reached him within minutes. A man who read market reports and headlines over breakfast couldn’t have missed it.
But Lydia had been in the hospital for two days.
He never came.
He never called.
And every call she made to him went unanswered.
Lydia stared at the hallway where Harrison had vanished. Her heart clenched hard.
So he really had cheated ?
“Can you imagine being lucky enough to become Mr. James’s girlfriend?”
“I already looked her up. Here, see if this is her.”
The nurse glanced at the phone. “Yep, that’s her! Oh my God. Isn’t that Josephine Carter, the second daughter of the Carter family?”
Josephine Carter.
Even after Lydia finished her discharge papers and sat inside the van sent by the housekeeper, she couldn’t calm down.
The half-open window pushed cold air over her pale face. She searched every keyword she could think of, but found no public connection between the Carter family and the James family.
After returning to the James estate, Lydia made one phone call, then the unease in her chest grew heavier by the minute.
Lydia tried calling Harrison again.
This time, the call actually went through.
She forgot how to breathe. Her fingers tightened around the phone.
“Harrison,” she said, forcing her voice to stay steady. “When you’re done being busy, can you come home? I need to talk to you in person.”
Lydia didn’t know how long had passed before the bedroom door opened.
Harrison stood in the doorway, loosening his tie. His tone was impatient. “What is it?”
“Where have you been these past two days?” Lydia sat up, her voice hoarse.
Harrison paused.
In three years, she had never questioned him.
“There was a problem at the Ironvale branch.”
“Really?” A dry laugh slipped from her throat. “I asked Robin Lane. Your schedule had no flight to Ironvale.”
The room went dead quiet.
“What are you trying to say?” Harrison asked coldly.
“I’m saying I saw you.” Lydia pushed herself up with her crutch and looked straight at him. “At the hospital. You carried Josephine Carter into the OB department. Harrison, when did you two start sleeping together?”
His face darkened. “You followed me?”
“I was admitted to the same hospital. Don’t pretend you didn’t know.”
Harrison didn’t ask what had happened to her.
He only narrowed his eyes, annoyed, as though she were the problem.
Three years of marriage, and this was the first time Lydia had demanded an answer from him. Yet there was no guilt on his face. Only irritation at being bothered.
Lydia tightened her grip on the crutch. Her voice trembled despite her trying to steady it. “Your mother keeps blaming me for not having a baby. But now you got another woman pregnant. Tell me, where exactly am I supposed to put my dignity?”
The cruel joke was that in three years of marriage, they had never had sex.
Harrison had never wanted to touch her.
He looked down at her, his voice ice-cold. “Josephine isn’t some other woman. I’ve known her for over twenty years. She was overseas for five years, and we lost contact.”
Childhood sweethearts.
No wonder all the tenderness Lydia had begged for had gone to someone else.
“So you two got back together,” Lydia said.
Harrison hesitated. He didn’t answer. His eyes grew darker. “Did you forget why I chose you to be Mrs. James in the first place?”
Lydia’s throat tightened.
She hadn’t forgotten.
She would never forget.
Too many people in the James family wanted the heir position. Harrison’s grandmother, Nancy, wanted him married with a child to secure his place.
Lydia had once saved Nancy’s life. And when Nancy made the offer, Lydia agreed to the deal because she had already fallen for Harrison.
At Harrison’s request, Lydia hid the marriage from the public. She stayed out of his private life. She shut down the boutique she had built with her own hands. She became his secretary.
His secret wife.
“That was the agreement,” Harrison said. “You’re the one crossing the line.”
“Yes.” Lydia lifted her chin. “People get greedy. Shocking, right?”
Her face was pale, almost bloodless. If not for the bitter curve of her lips, she would have looked completely broken.
Lydia stepped closer and placed her hand lightly on his chest.
“You asked what right I have to be Mrs. James.” Her voice shook, then steadied. “The first duty of Mrs. James is to give you a child. I’m only doing my job.”
Harrison clamped a hand around her wrist. His breathing changed. The room felt warmer, and a faint sweet scent hung in the air.
“What did you do?”
“I sprayed a little something in the room. Not much. It’ll fade soon.” Lydia’s eyes burned. “I want a child too.”
His jaw tightened. Even under the drug’s effect, rage filled his eyes. He refused to move closer.
“Lydia, you actually did this?” He forced the words through clenched teeth. “You disgust me.”
That sentence cut deeper than the plane crash ever had.
Lydia looked up at him through tears, holding on to the last pathetic piece of hope. “Being with me is that disgusting to you?”
“Yes.”
One word.
No pause. No mercy.
He shoved her hand away, grabbed his coat from the chair, and walked out.
The door slammed shut.
Lydia slid to the floor. Her nails dug into her palms.
Tears blurred her vision. Bitterness and grief filled her eyes.
So this was truly the end.
She opened her laptop and drafted the divorce agreement herself.
Early the next morning, Lydia asked the servants to carry her luggage downstairs. Then she took the elevator down.
“Wow, you actually survived.” Hazel barely looked up at her. “Braid my hair. Then drive me to school.”
Harrison’s mother, Linda James, was already dressed, her huge sapphire ring flashing on her finger.
“Good, you’re up.” Linda didn’t even glance at Lydia’s crutch. “After you fix Hazel’s hair, clean the guest room in the east wing. A new guest is moving in today.”
“Who?” Hazel asked, curious.
“Josephine.” Linda’s smile was smug. “She’s carrying Harrison’s baby. The estate is more comfortable. Better for her pregnancy.”
“She’s pregnant with my brother’s baby?” Hazel gasped.
“Of course.” Linda finally turned to Lydia. “You’ve been in this family for three years and couldn’t even produce one child. Josephine is the daughter-in-law I actually want.” She waved her hand. “Why are you standing there? Get to work.”
In the past, Lydia would have lowered her head and obeyed.
Because Nancy had been kind to her.
Because Lydia had kept waiting for the day Harrison would finally be moved.
But today, she looked Linda straight in the eye.
“No.”
Linda froze. “What did you say?”
“I said no. If Josephine Carter wants a room, she can clean it herself.” Lydia’s voice stayed calm, almost light. “Starting today, Harrison James and I have nothing to do with each other.”
Linda’s mouth fell open. “Say that again!”
“With pleasure.” Lydia smiled. “For three years, you all mocked me for not having a baby. Maybe Harrison should see a doctor. If a man can’t even touch his own wife, the problem may not be the woman.”
Hazel’s jaw dropped.
Linda’s face went from red to purple.
“You... you...”
“Tell him to divorce me,” Lydia said. “Oh, wait. I already signed the papers. You’re welcome.”
Lydia took her suitcase, passed them both, walked out the front door, and stepped into the cold morning air.
When she was almost at the gate, Linda snapped behind her, “Hazel, go upstairs and check if anything valuable is missing!”
A moment later, a scream burst from inside the house.
“Mom! There really is a divorce agreement in here!”
In the back seat of a taxi, Lydia opened her phone and sent her resignation email to Robin Lane.
The second she hit send, her hand trembled.
Not from sadness.
From a strange, dizzying relief.
She had nothing left to lose.
Outside the window, the city’s buildings slid past in the rain. This city had buried her dreams and drained every bit of love she had given.
Now, she was going to be herself again.
Lydia tapped on a number and called.
The call connected after one ring.
“Lydia?” The man’s voice was low and steady, but tight with emotion. “After three years, you’re finally willing to come back? Done pretending to be a nobody?”
At the familiar voice, Lydia couldn’t hold herself together anymore.
She looked at the city that had never bothered to learn who she really was. Her voice broke. “It’s over. Can you come get me?”
There was a brief silence.
Then came the scrape of a chair.
On the other end of the line, the man ordered someone nearby, “Cancel my entire schedule.”
Several hours later, a private jet landed at the airport.
Surrounded by bodyguards, a tall man in black walked toward Lydia.
The next second, he pulled her tightly into his arms.
“None of this was worth your tears,” he said, his voice firm and warm. “Come on. I’m taking you home.”
