Chapter 5 - THE THUMBS-UPI stared at the little blue icon.
A thumbs-up.
Such a stupid symbol.
So small.
So casual.
It ended my marriage more completely than the torn dress.
I looked at Dominic.
“Tell me your phone was in someone else’s hand.”
He didn’t.
“Tell me you didn’t see the message.”
Silence.
“Tell me something.”
His eyes were wet.
“I saw it.”
The room disappeared.
Not literally.
But that’s what it felt like.
The chandeliers.
The whispers.
The phones recording.
All of it faded.
There was only my husband.
The man who slept beside me.
The man who put his hand on my stomach every night and talked to our unborn daughter.
The man who had responded with a thumbs-up to a plan to have me arrested.
“Why?”
His mouth moved.
Nothing came out.
Then finally—
“I was angry.”
I blinked.
“That’s your answer?”
“We had fought that morning.”
I almost didn’t remember.
Then I did.
He wanted me to sign something.
A “routine family document.”
I refused because I was late for my doctor’s appointment.
He sulked.
I left.
That was it.
That was the fight.
“You were angry because I wouldn’t sign paperwork.”
“I didn’t know Chloe would actually—”
I stepped toward him.
“No.”
He stopped.
“Don’t make your mistake smaller because the result got ugly.”
His face went red.
For once, he didn’t have a response.
My father stood beside me.
“Vivienne, we should leave.”
I looked at him.
“I’m not done.”
He didn’t argue.
That was one of the things I loved about my father.
He could control a boardroom full of billionaires.
He could not control me.
He had learned that when I was fourteen.
Chloe suddenly grabbed her ring from the floor.
“This wedding is over.”
Her groom, Nathan, spoke for the first time.
“Yes.”
Everyone turned.
Nathan had been standing near the stage the whole time.
Pale.
Still.
Almost invisible.
Chloe looked relieved.
“Thank God.”
Nathan shook his head.
“No.”
He removed his wedding band.
Her relief vanished.
“I meant us.”
The room erupted in whispers.
Chloe stared at him.
“Don’t do this.”
Nathan’s voice was quiet.
“You accused an innocent woman of stealing.”
“She lied about who she was!”
Nathan looked confused.
“That has nothing to do with anything.”
“She made fools of us!”
“No.”
He looked around the ballroom.
“You did that yourself.”
Chloe slapped him.
His head turned.
A collective gasp followed.
Nathan slowly looked back at her.
He didn’t raise his voice.
He just handed his ring to the wedding planner.
“I’ll have my attorney contact yours.”
Chloe lunged for him.
Security blocked her.
She screamed.
Eleanor started shouting at Nathan.
Dominic sat down again.
Amanda cried harder.
My father rubbed his forehead.
And I—
I started laughing.
Not because it was funny.
Because the whole thing had become so absurd my body apparently gave up.
Then another contraction hit.
This one was real.
Sharp.
Deep.
I grabbed the edge of a table.
My father was beside me immediately.
“Vivienne?”
I breathed through my teeth.
“Give me a second.”
Dominic stood.
“What’s wrong?”
I looked down.
A small splash hit the marble near my shoe.
Everyone went silent.
My heart stopped.
Then I heard the wedding planner whisper,
May you like
“Oh my God.”
My water had broken.
