Chapter 1
My husband watched his mistress press her heel into my eight-month pregnant belly and smiled over his wine. He didn’t know my father was about to walk through the door.
I was standing in my own dining room in Houston when Vanessa blocked the doorway.
She had one hand on her hip and my husband’s wine bottle in the other.
“Move,” I told her.
She laughed and looked at my husband.
“Daniel, your wife is still giving me orders.”
Daniel leaned back in his chair and swirled his red wine.
“She’ll calm down when she realizes this house isn’t hers anymore.”
I stared at him.
“You brought her here?”
Vanessa stepped closer until I could smell her perfume.
“He brought me here weeks ago.”
My hand went to my stomach.
The baby kicked hard, like even he felt the danger.
“I’m eight months pregnant,” I said. “If you have anything left to say, say it and leave.”
Vanessa’s smile turned cruel.
“You still think being pregnant makes you important.”
Daniel took a sip and didn’t even look ashamed.
“Dad already warned you not to start drama,” he said.
I looked at my husband like he was a stranger.
“Your father would never allow this.”
Vanessa suddenly shoved my shoulder.
I stumbled backward and grabbed the edge of the table.
Then she lifted her foot and drove her heel into my stomach.
Pain tore through me so fast I couldn’t scream at first.
I collapsed to my knees.
“My baby,” I gasped.
Vanessa looked down at me with disgust.
“Maybe now you’ll stop acting like a victim.”
Daniel sat there holding his glass, watching me curl around my belly.
Then he actually smiled.
“You always did love an audience.”
I started crying and reached toward him.
“Please help me.”
He raised the glass to his lips.
That was when the front door burst open.
“Olivia?” my father shouted.
His voice thundered through the house.
He rushed in, saw me on the floor, and dropped to his knees beside me.
“Dad,” I sobbed.
His hands shook as he helped me up.
Then Vanessa said, “She’s faking it.”
Daniel laughed under his breath.
“She’s good at that.”
My father slowly stood.
He looked at my tear-streaked face, then at Vanessa’s heel, then at Daniel’s wine glass.
“You humiliated my daughter while she’s carrying your child?”
Neither of them answered.
Vanessa rolled her eyes.
“She should be grateful he kept her around this long.”
My father punched Vanessa so hard she crashed into the sideboard.
Daniel jumped up, but my father hit him next.
The wine glass shattered across the floor.
Daniel staggered back, holding his jaw.
May you like
My father stepped between me and both of them.
Then he looked at Daniel and said, “Before you say one more word, you’d better explain why your lawyer just called me saying the DNA test came back this morning.”
