Chapter 4

James was supposed to take me to the airport, but he left after taking a phone call.

I found a seat by the window, watching the bustling crowds when a young woman approached me.

I had never seen her before, but I knew instantly who she was—Lily Moore, James’s little “canary.”

Lily reached out her hand. “Hi, I’m Lily Moore. I’d like to talk to you about James.”

I didn’t shake her hand. I didn’t have the strength, and frankly, the thought of touching her made me feel dirty.

I turned on the voice recorder on my phone and motioned for her to sit across from me.

"Go ahead, have a seat. I have a flight to catch, so you’ve got twenty minutes."

I studied the young girl closely—pretty, cute, radiating youth. It wasn’t hard to see why James liked her. Hell, even I could see the appeal.

Years of medication had left me feeling like an old woman.

"Anna Stevens, you know I’m with James now. Why haven’t you divorced him? He says he doesn’t love you. A loveless, sexless marriage—what’s the point?"

Too young, too bold. She ruined her pretty face the moment she opened her mouth.

"You’re the third woman to come to me with this story. All of you say James doesn’t love me, that you’re his one true love, and all of you beg me to leave him. If you’re so close to him, why not ask James to divorce me instead?"

Lily’s face flashed with disbelief, but she quickly tried to regain her composure.

"James is an adult. He can decide for himself whether he loves you or not, and if he wants to stay with you."

"You’re lying. James is with me all the time. There’s no way he’s seeing anyone else."

I wasn’t lying, though. Back in college, there was a girl who came to me, asking me to let James go. After James started at Carson Corp., another woman, arranged by his parents, tried to get between us. And now Lily Moore was the third.

"James tells me the same thing—that he only loves me, that there’s no one else. Now, who should I believe?"

I found a strange sense of amusement in this, watching Lily’s expressions shift from shock to anger. It was entertaining, really.

"You’re doing this on purpose. You refuse to divorce him so that our relationship can’t be public. Well, you won’t win." She spat out her words and instinctively placed a protective hand over her stomach.

Was this supposed to provoke me? I knew for a fact James hadn’t slept with her yet, so whose baby was she carrying?

"You’re here because James wouldn’t agree to divorce me, aren’t you? I bet you’ve cried, screamed, done everything to try and hold onto him. That’s why you got pregnant, right?"

"But Miss Moore, you seem to have forgotten—people in our circle keep mistresses all the time. Don’t like one? They’ll just find another. It’s cleaner than hiring a prostitute, and they don’t have to worry about catching something." Watching Lily’s face darken brought a surprising sense of relief to my troubled mind.

"But none of these canaries ever make it into the house." I looked her over, carefully evaluating the young woman sitting before me.

"You know why?"

I pointed at her head.

"Because they’re too stupid. Beautiful, stupid toys you can play with, but no man in his right mind would bring one home to ruin the family."

The display of emotions on her face was truly fascinating.

"James told me you can’t have children. The Carson family would never let you keep the title of Mrs. Carson. You’re going to be thrown out sooner or later." Her voice shook with rage.

"With today’s technology, James and I could have a child whenever we want. We could even select the best genes for the smartest baby. If you want to trade your womb for your future, that’s your business. But I doubt any illegitimate child of yours will ever enter the Carson home."

She wasn’t wrong—I couldn’t have children. But when we got married, we had agreed to use surrogacy by the time I turned 30.

"Oh, by the way, are you sure the baby’s James’s? You can do a DNA test at three months, you know."

"You...!" Lily trembled with anger and stormed off in a huff.

So, the baby wasn’t James’s after all.

Still too young, not nearly enough experience to stand her ground.

I saved the voice recording on my phone and went over to the airport café to request footage from their security cameras. If I was going to fight back, I needed to do it right.