Chapter 1: The Betrayal Behind the Door

My best friend, Pilar, was notorious. She’d slept with her share of men.

The talk all over Manhattan was that any man Pilar set her sights on, she had.

My husband, Reed Ferraro, always dismissed the rumors.

“Just wait,” he’d say. “One day, a man is going to break her heart.”

And then, one day, something did happen.

Pilar had nine abortions, all for the same mysterious man.

By the tenth pregnancy, her doctor told her that her body wouldn't survive another.

“My relationship with him… it’s complicated,” she told me.

“Just focus on being the baby’s godmother,” she’d added with a weak smile.

She had just given birth and looked utterly drained.

My heart ached for her, and I slipped into the hospital bathroom to hide my tears.

That’s when I heard their voices through the door—Pilar and Reed.

“We have to keep this from Fernanda.”

“Her parents just died,” Reed said, his voice low.

“If she finds out about us now, it’ll destroy her.”

I stood frozen behind the door, my mind a complete blank.

“And she can never know,” Pilar added, “that we were sleeping together before you and she even met.”

“I did her father wrong,” Reed murmured.

“That day, he was so angry after our argument that his heart condition flared up.”

“That’s why he lost control of the car…”

“And then at the funeral home… you were like a madman, insisting we…”

I clamped a hand over my mouth, terrified of making a sound.

Reed’s voice was a low warning.

“Keep your mouth shut, and Fernanda will never have to know.”

I stood there for a long time before I finally pushed the door open.

A champagne cork popped. The room was filled with people, all here to celebrate.

Friends and family smiled, congratulating me on becoming the baby’s godmother.

And then I understood.

They all knew.

I was the only one who had been kept in the dark.

Reed smiled at me. “Fernanda, congratulations. You have a godson now.”

I clutched the ultrasound photo in my pocket, my knuckles white, as tears streamed down my face.

The two most important people in my life had betrayed me. And it started long before today.

…

“Fernanda, is this all a bit overwhelming? Why the tears?”

Reed smiled, reaching out to brush a tear from the corner of my eye.

A few stray pieces of confetti dotted his shoulder.

Reed’s mother, Diana, stepped forward and took my hand, her smile warm but her eyes cool.

“You two have been married for eight years with no children. It’s not a bad thing, taking in a child like this.”

“Maybe it’ll even help you have one of your own.”

In my pocket was the positive pregnancy test from that morning.

Now, it felt like a cruel joke.

“You really thought this through, didn’t you, Reed?”

“You want me to be the godmother to *your* child with *her*?”

The smile vanished from Reed’s face. He reached for me.

“Fernanda, the baby was an accident. I don’t have feelings for her.”

Pilar’s eyes filled with tears.

“Fernanda, Reed… he has certain preferences. In bed.”

“He didn’t want to hurt you, so he—”

“We were only sleeping together. You’re the one he’s always loved.”

I looked at the two of them, a chill spreading through my chest.

If Pilar’s family hadn’t paid for my education, I never would have escaped that dead-end public school in Queens, let alone gotten into Columbia.

If Reed hadn’t mentored me, I never would have climbed from an entry-level associate to a partner in my own right, finally finding my footing in Manhattan.

And the two people who had helped me the most had been lying to me for years.

When the room fell silent, Diana quickly spoke up.

“The doctor said that if Pilar didn’t have this baby, she might never be able to become a mother.”

Our mutual friends chimed in, urging me not to make a scene, telling me what’s done is done.

My control finally snapped.

“Eight whole years,” I shouted. “You were sleeping together right under my nose.”

“How could you do this to me?”

Crying, Pilar held the baby out toward me, her voice shaking.

“Fernanda, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”

“Yell at me. Hate me. But the baby is innocent.”

I recoiled, taking a step back.

Pilar cried out as her hands went slack. The baby fell.

“Careful!”

Reed was faster. He lunged, catching the newborn just in time.

The infant immediately burst into tears. Reed’s brow furrowed as he patted the baby’s back over and over.

Pilar collapsed onto the floor, sobbing.

“Fernanda, I know I have no right to ask you for anything.”

“If you want, I’ll leave. I’m only begging you… don’t let this child grow up without a home.”

“You and Reed can raise him as your own, all right?”

A surge of pure rage washed over me.

*Slap.*

I struck Pilar hard across the face.

A moment later, blood began to pool on the floor beneath her.

“Pilar!”

Reed’s face went rigid. He slammed the call button.

Nurses rushed in and wheeled Pilar toward the emergency room.

I grabbed Reed’s sleeve, my grip desperate.

“Reed, I’m not letting you go.”

“If you don’t explain everything, right now, we are finished.”

Reed stopped and looked down at me, his eyes filled with disappointment.

“Fernanda, I always thought you were kind.”

“She just gave birth. Do you have to push her like this, right now?”

Tears streamed down my face.

“But she slept with my husband.”

Reed’s expression turned to ice. He pried my fingers from his sleeve.

“Don’t forget, without her family, you might still be waiting tables in some diner.”

“You should learn some gratitude.”

He shoved me away and strode toward the emergency room.

I stumbled backward, the edge of a table slamming hard into my lower back.

My vision swam, and I slid to the floor.

A warm liquid trickled down my legs.

Just before I lost consciousness, I heard someone shout.

“Oh my God, she’s bleeding!”