My Husband's Secret Son

York real estate tycoon, the kind of man you only read about in magazines. He gave me a life of unbelievable luxury,

ia," he'd say, his voice deep and sinc

on a rain-slicked r

t a dinosaur who ate too many tacos. The next, there was a deafen

al room. The first thing I saw was Andrew' s face,

?" I tried to sit up, but a sea

is grip tight, his ey

here was an accide

everything they could. Caleb... he didn't m

p of the machines, Andrew' s face-it all blurred. The last thing I remembered was a scream, a ra

hing in a hospital bed. Time had no meaning. Ther

ices outside my door. They were hushed, urg

ow, stripped of the grief I' d seen

"The liver was a perfect match, as we knew it would be. The t

Who wa

er matter?"

d. We'll list it in the report as a necessary pr

cold. Hyste

urned into my memory forever, the words tha

er when she wakes. My wi

when he arrived. Andrew had let him die. He had forbidden the doctors from saving my son. He had murdered Caleb to harve

streaming silently down my face, not from grief anymore, but from a cold, bottomless rage. I felt the

n that haunted my sleep. I' d wake up in a cold sweat, dreaming of cold steel instruments inside me, of an empt

of the grieving husband. He sat by my bed, holding my hand

feeling?" he asked, his voi

But I forced myself to look at him, to pla

Andrew? I ne

ouldn't put you through that. I had him... I had him cremate

the gaping wound where he had carved out our son' s life. I

words tasting like poison. "

s he did, my eyes fell on the braided leather bracelet on his wrist. Caleb

Caleb had chirped, showing of

it now. The symbol of our son's pure, unconditional lov

ns of my heart. I would endure this. I would play his game. And then I would destr

that bracelet burned behind my eyelids. The grieving wife was gone