Chapter 1 The Reveal (Pt1)

• DAPHNE
• They’d been talking all night long; shoulders almost touching as they moved about the room together. I knew there was nothing more to it than a CEO and his secretary, but I still couldn’t help the twinge of jealousy which rose up in my chest whenever Micah bent down to whisper something in Lori’s ear.
• Micah Reign was my husband of over four years now, and Lori was his secretary. The event we were currently at was an end-of-the-year party for Micah’s company. One would think Micah didn’t want me there with how he’d ignored me most of the night.
• “Are you okay, Miss Daphne? You haven’t eaten much.”
• The sound of a voice coming next to me made Daphne draw her gaze away from her husband and his secretary to the man seated next to her. The heavy alcohol breath that hit her face made me recoil slightly, wrinkling my nose.
• “I’m not hungry. Thank you, Mr. Adams.” With those words, I pushed her chair back and made my way to the restroom. After locking herself in one of the cubicles, I dry heaved into the toilet bowl. There was a reason I hadn’t been able to eat.
• “You good in there?” A fond smile crept onto my face as I stroked my belly through the fabric of my gown gently, trying to feel the life that was growing in there. At the beginning of the week, a hospital visit confirmed that I was pregnant.
• It was coming after four years of trying for a baby, and I was over the moon. Micah had been busy with work all week, so I sat on the good news with the plan to tell him today after the party. “Our little family is going to be complete because of you,” I whispered to herself.
• Just as I was about to flush the toilet, I heard my name and froze.
• “Did you see Daphne’s face?” A female voice asked. “Nobody wants her here. Why doesn’t she just get the memo?” It was a voice I recognized. One of the women at the table I just left.
• “I know right,” another recognizable female voice agreed before laughing. “Do you think she knows about Lori and the baby? She must be faking it in order to keep Micah by her side?”
• “I think so too. So pathetic.”
• After those final words, the ladies seemed to have left the restroom because it went silent. My hand was still poised on the toilet handle, but I was yet to flush. In my chest, my heart was beating wildly as I replayed the conversation I just overheard.
• “Lori? Her baby? What’s going on?”
• The party was already starting to wind down when I came out of the restroom. Scanning the room, I found the person I was looking for. Micah was seated at a table, and what would you have it, Lori was right there next to him. For the first time ever, I stared at the secretary’s baby bump with eyes of suspicion. What did those women mean by their comments? If what those women–
• “No! Micah would never cheat on me. He would never do that to me!” I strongly reminded herself, shaking out those stray thoughts before walking over to their table. From the start, I hadn’t been enjoying the party, but the restroom conversation put an even bigger damper on my mood.
• “I want to leave now, Micah. Will you take me home?” I was interrupting what was obviously a conversation between Micah and Lori, but at that moment, I didn’t care.
• What I didn’t expect was that Micah’s gaze would harden as he turned to me. “Can’t you see the party is still ongoing?” The annoyed tone he spoke with made my eyes widen with surprise. I heard a snicker from Lori.
• Ignoring her, I forced on a smile. “Micah, there’s something I want to tell you when we get home. Some good news.”
• Instead of standing up, Micah said, “Ask the driver to send you home. I’ll wait until everyone has gone home before leaving.” Then with those dismissive words, he turned his face away from me.
• The ride home was quiet, but my thoughts were running wild. Micah and Lori…Lori and Micah…In the past, Micah and Lori used to be lovers. Actually, she was his first love, but they’d broken up way before Micah met me.
• Whenever I brought up a complaint about how he was spending so much time with Lori traveling on business trips, Micah was always defensive, reminding me that she was nothing more than a friend and his secretary. Then, one day Lori announced that she was in a relationship and was having a baby, which completely washed away my worries.
• If I wasn’t sure of it before, she knew that Micah would never be with Lori who was pregnant with another man’s child. He was too proud to do that. In the past, I had brought up adopting, a thought Micah was quick to shoot down.
• “Mindless gossip.” I wrote of the conversation I heard earlier as she relaxed into her chair, putting those thoughts out of my mind. I must have fallen asleep because after a while, I was roused by my name being called.
• “Miss Daphne, we’re here.”
• Popping my eyes open, I met the eyes of the driver. I winced with an apology as I straightened my posture and grabbed my purse. Just as I opened the door and was about to alight the car, the driver started to speak. His tone was hesitant.
• “Mr. Reign asked me to give this to you.” The driver held a brown envelope in his right hand. Surprised, I raised my eyes to try and meet the driver’s gaze, but he was looking everywhere but at me.
• Weird. He’s usually cordial with me at least. There was no time to worry about that though. Collecting the envelope, I got out of the car, and entered the house. After kicking my heels to the side, I went into the kitchen. Grabbing a bottle of water and an envelope opener, I leaned against the kitchen counter.
• “What could this be?”
• My question was answered only seconds later. As I drew the white branded paper out of the envelope, the first thing I noticed was that it contained the name of the law company Micah used.
• “Why would–?” My question was never completed. Slowly, as I took in the contents of the paper, my eyes popped wide with shock. In that moment, I was unable to draw my gaze from the word DIVORCE. Micah wanted a divorce.