As soon as she closed the car door, the world's noise vanished.

Jessica Greene stared at the liver cancer diagnosis in her lap, her hazel eyes rimmed red. The paper trembled in her hands, crumpling beneath her grip.

The doctor had told her she'd missed the window for surgery-six months left, at best.

Today was the school's annual parent-child event. Out of the blue, Timothy

Lawson had told her she should come.

Seven years had passed since the day Timothy, once the untouchable darling of high society, became her husband.

In all those years, he'd never once brought her to a public event.

Once upon a time, that invitation would have sent her over the moon.

Even the housekeeper had beamed when she heard the news. "Mrs. Lawson, looks like Mr. Lawson finally wants to make things official!"

No one knew that ever since Jessica discovered his secret, she'd been quietly getting her affairs in order, preparing to leave him.

She hadn't planned to go to the school event at all.

But she couldn't bear the thought of disappointing her son.

She could shut Timothy out of her heart, but she couldn't do the same to Henry- the little boy she'd carried for nine long months.

Arriving at the school, Jessica took a notepad from her purse and wrote a neat line before handing it to the security guard.

Hello, I'm Henry Lawson's mom from Class 1-3. I'm here for the parent-child event -could you please let me in?

hair loosely swept up, and-for the first time in ages-the pearl earrings Timothy had

with; with a bit of effort,

their mom to look her best for

an

simply smiled and

Years ago, after a devastating trauma, she'd lost her voice. By now,

sign-in sheet, scanning it before giving Jessica

over.

thought.

parents already signed in. You can't just pretend

Henry is my

guard, exasperated, shoved the sign-in sheet toward her and jabbed

seized as she read the names in

to the sneers and

chest felt impossibly

guard's suspicion

was the name scrawled in Timothy's

even trying to hide

tidying Timothy's study, she'd found a slip

over.

had told her everything

Sheila's last name

their son was born, Timothy had insisted on the name

finally clicked. Today, Jessica's

from caring for Henry, she'd poured her remaining strength into this

the attorneys heard Timothy's

The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

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