"They taught me that love was supposed to be unconditional. That mothers always forgive. That family comes first, no matter what.

They were wrong.

I was Emily Thompson—veterinarian, wife, mother. I gave up my career to support my husband's failing farm. I spent eight years nursing my asthmatic son, building a life around their needs, sacrificing my dreams for their comfort.

Then they chose a stranger over me.

When a beautiful liar claiming cancer came into our home, my husband believed her over his wife of eight years. My eight-year-old son wished she was his real mother. They traded me for a fraud, and expected me to quietly disappear.

Instead, I chose myself.

Some women forgive. Some women fight for their families. Some women break down and beg for a second chance.

I became the woman who builds an empire from the ashes of betrayal.


No Second Chances

Emily
Three weeks since the divorce papers were signed, three weeks since I'd watched Jack's taillights disappear down the gravel road with Noah clinging to the passenger window.
The silence that followed had been deafening at first—no morning chatter over breakfast, no asthma inhaler reminders, n...

Chapter 5