Chapter 1

Five months into my pregnancy, I received a letter from my past self — written five years ago.

The pages were filled with hope for the future.

"Dear Serena, have you married Ethan, the one who loves you most?"

"Are you two happy now? Do you have children?"

"Do you still remember your most important promise to each other?"

I stood there in a daze, unable to recall what that so-called promise even was.

The sounds from the bedroom grew unmistakably clear. Ethan walked out with his arms around his secretary, her skin covered with marks.

"Kiki doesn't like the peach-flavored ones. Go downstairs and buy a new box."

He paused, his gaze dropping to my swollen belly. When he spoke again, there was something almost charitable in his tone.

"Stop playing games. After you have the baby, you can still be Mrs. Whitmore."

I glanced down at the letter in my hand, picked up a pen, and wrote my reply to the girl I used to be.

"Loving him was enough. There's no reason to hold on to how it ends."

After all, the Ethan who had once emptied his savings to pull me back from the edge of death — that man had died the day he first cheated, two years ago.