CHAPTER 1 — The Silence After the Lie
The baby monitor fell silent, but the damage had already been done.
No one in the dining room moved.
Not even Margaret Bennett, who had built her entire life on control, could speak.
Olivia stood frozen, one hand still on her belly. Her breath came shallow, uneven—but she didn’t cry. Not yet. Her eyes stayed locked on Jason.
Jason’s face had gone pale.
“That… wasn’t—” he started.
But the monitor crackled again.
This time, only static.
Margaret slowly turned her head toward her son.
“What did you just say in there?”
Jason swallowed hard. “I didn’t mean—”
Olivia interrupted quietly.
“You didn’t mean to say you were hiding money from your mother… or that there’s another woman?”
The name hit the room like a dropped glass.
Margaret’s expression tightened.
“Jason.”
It wasn’t a question.
It was a warning.
Jason stood abruptly. His chair scraped loudly across the marble floor.
“We should all calm down.”
But no one was calm anymore.
May you like
Especially not Olivia.
Because something inside her had already broken—quietly, permanently.
