Chapter 1 - The perfect fifth birthday
If anyone had photographed the first hour of Leo’s fifth birthday party, they would have thought my life was perfect.
Maybe that was the cruelest part.
My name is Andrea Bennett. I was thirty years old, founder and majority owner of Bennett & Vale Jewelry, a company I had built from a rented studio into a brand with stores across several states.
The mansion where we lived outside Atlanta was mine.
The company was mine.
Most of the money supporting our lifestyle was mine.
But none of those things mattered as much to me as the little boy standing beside a five-tier birthday cake covered in blue sugar stars.
“Mommy, help!”
Leo grabbed my hand.
“You have to blow too.”
“It’s your birthday.”
“But there are five candles!”
I laughed and leaned closer.
“Fine. Teamwork.”
The guests counted down.
“Three! Two! One!”
Leo blew.
I pretended to help.
Everyone applauded.
He threw his arms around my neck.
“Best birthday ever!”
I kissed his cheek.
That was when I looked toward the empty chair beside mine.
Marco still wasn’t there.
My husband was forty minutes late.
Then fifty.
Then an hour.
I had called twice.
No answer.
I told myself not to worry.
Marco had always been careless with time.
Then, at exactly four o’clock, the mansion gates opened.
A black luxury sedan rolled into the circular drive.
Leo looked up.
“Daddy!”
He started running.
Then stopped.
Marco stepped from the car wearing a navy suit.
But a woman emerged from the other side.
Red dress.
Dark hair.
Smug smile.
Valerie Cole.
My former executive secretary.
The woman I had fired one month earlier after an internal audit revealed unauthorized company expenses.
She slipped her arm through Marco’s.
Not accidentally.
Possessively.
Then Marco kissed her temple.
In front of me.
In front of Leo.
In front of nearly eighty guests.
The music faded.
Conversations died.
I walked toward them.
“Marco.”
He smiled.
“Andrea.”
“What is she doing here?”
Valerie looked me up and down.
“Still dramatic, I see.”
“Leave.”
Marco laughed.
Then he walked directly toward the host and took the microphone.
My stomach tightened.
“Marco, don’t.”
He ignored me.
“Ladies and gentlemen, since everyone important is already here, Valerie and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to correct a lie that has lasted five years.”
I stared at him.
“What lie?”
Marco reached for Valerie.
Pulled her against him.
Then pointed toward our son.
“Valerie is Leo’s real mother.”
May you like
The entire garden erupted in gasps.
And beside me, my five-year-old son stopped smiling.
