On her son’s birthday, Nora Sullivan saw a post on Moments.
Her former best friend, Willa Donovan, was leaning her head against a man’s shoulder. The two of them were holding a little boy in their arms, the three pressed close together, with the caption: "How is this not a family of three?"
Nora’s heart gave a violent shudder.
If she hadn’t known the people in that photo, she probably would’ve left a blessing.
Too bad she knew them all too well. The man was her husband of six years. The child was the son she had nearly died bringing into this world...
Her fingers trembling, she zoomed in on the picture. But on Cedric Thornwood and Adrian Thornwood’s faces, there wasn’t the slightest sign of being forced. It was all real, open, wholehearted happiness.
On the table, the Ultraman birthday cake had already melted into a sad, unrecognizable mess. The dozen or so dishes she had spent hours preparing had gone completely cold, just like her heart.
Kindergarten ended at three-thirty. Four and a half hours had passed, and neither of them had come home.
They wouldn’t answer her calls. They ignored her texts. Every message she sent vanished like a stone dropped into the ocean.
So the people she had been waiting for were busy celebrating a birthday with Willa, tossing her aside like she didn’t matter.
Even Adrian, before she had realized it, had already chosen Willa too.
Like father, like son. Even their taste in who they cared about was exactly the same.
After being let down again and again, Nora had gone past heartbreak. She felt numb.
Expressionless, she left a comment under the post: "You three look great together."
Then she took a screenshot, saved it, and posted it to her own Moments with the caption: "They really do look like a family with my husband and son."
Over the years, Willa had pulled this kind of petty stunt nonstop. Every single one of those posts had been visible only to Nora, like she was deliberately trying to gross her out and get under her skin.
This time, Nora wanted their mutual friends to see exactly how badly Willa wanted to steal someone else’s place.
The very next second, Willa deleted the post.
Nora laughed.
She got to her feet and told the housekeeper, "Throw it all away."
The food had gone cold, stripped of the smell and flavor it had fresh out of the pan. Their marriage was the same—bland, dead, nothing left to hold on to.
If it couldn’t be kept, then fine. Throw it away.
Back upstairs, Nora Sullivan had just finished her shower and stepped out of the bathroom when a rush of hurried footsteps came from outside. Before she could even get to the door, it was kicked open with a bang.
Cedric Thornwood stood there with a dark face, his whole body carrying that low, stormy pressure. He grabbed her wrist hard. "Willa finally started doing a little better. Why would you go out of your way to upset her?"
"Upset her?" Nora gave a cold laugh. For a second, she felt like the man she had lived with for six years was a total stranger. "Who exactly was provoking who? Or did you already forget what you promised me yesterday?"
She lifted her phone and shoved the chat screen in front of him. It was the conversation from the day before, the one where Cedric had clearly said he would come home to celebrate their son’s birthday.
A flicker of guilt crossed his eyes. His tone softened a little. "Something unexpected came up. I forgot to tell you in time. But that still doesn’t mean you should target Willa."
Tell you.
That word sounded ridiculous.
That was the kind of word a boss used with an employee.
In Cedric’s world, even if Willa Donovan had been the one to throw the first punch, Nora still had no right to hit back. She was supposed to do what she had always done—swallow it, keep quiet, act like nothing happened.