Chapter 1

Frida couldn't stop her hands from trembling nor could she change the shattered look in her eyes. She dragged her feet, exhausted from so many sleepless nights. She knocked a couple of times on the door to her husband’s office, needing to talk to him urgently. The doctor had made it clear: their daughter, Emma, needed a surgical procedure to save her life.

Gary looked up from his papers, surprised to see her. Ever since Emma had fallen ill, their relationship had frozen over. They were just a couple of acquaintances sharing a bed without touching, talking, or even exchanging a single caress.

“I spoke to the doctor…” Frida began, earning an annoyed and exasperated look from Gary. “Emma needs to undergo major surgery.”

“So what?” Gary asked irritably, glancing at his watch, counting the seconds until she would leave.

“The surgery is very expensive, but it will improve Emma’s prognosis…”

“Stop. That’s enough. I don’t want to hear anymore,” Gary said, curling his lip and looking away. Every time he tried to look at Frida, he was filled with hatred. “Just… Leave me alone. I need to think about it.”

“You need to think about it?!” She couldn’t understand her husband’s insensitive behavior. “She’s your daughter! She needs you! I need you!”

“Shut up! I can’t stand listening to you!” Gary exclaimed, getting up from his seat, appalled and growing more and more irritated. “I’m so tired of this! You only talk to me when Emma needs something! That’s the only way I exist to you!”

“Gary… That’s not true…”

“It is, and I’m done trying to ignore it! You’ve been so focused on being the best mom that you’ve forgotten you’re my wife and that I also need you!”

“Emma is the one who’s dying, and she needs you too…” Frida approached and placed her hand on Gary’s cheek, but he turned his face away, almost as if her touch was unpleasant and it burned him. “When Emma gets better, everything will go back to normal. You have to understand, I can’t abandon her…”

“What happened to the love and devotion you had for me when we were dating? What happened to the perfect wife who kept me company every day and gave herself to me every night?” he asked bitterly.

“She’s still here… but now, she’s taking care of our daughter, the fruit of our love… and she needs you more than ever,” Frida replied, trying to hold back her urge to cry.

“There’s someone else…”

Frida felt her heart break as she tried to understand her husband's words, unable to believe he was capable of this. But Gary finally felt liberated by admitting what had been torturing his soul for months. He knew his infidelity would hurt her, and that’s exactly what he wanted. He wanted to wound her and wipe away that weary smile, to end what was left of the relationship that had become a prison for him.

“What... What are you talking about?” Frida asked, afraid, praying she had misheard him.

“Are you deaf? Are you so tired that you can’t even comprehend something so simple?” Gary asked through clenched teeth, full of hate and resentment. “Do you want me to spell it out for you? Fine! Aida comforted me when you left me alone. She made me smile when you decided to ignore that I existed. And now, she’s expecting my child, the product of the love that has blossomed between us.”

He didn’t take his eyes off Frida, savoring how she fell to pieces in front of him. “She’s six months pregnant, and with any luck, it won’t be a sickly child.”

Frida lowered her gaze, letting the tears flow. She unconsciously placed her hand over her heart, wondering if it was still beating.

“Six months pregnant?” She tried to smile, but the pain contorted her mouth, preventing the smile from forming as her tears kept streaming down her face. “The same amount of time Emma has been sick. Are you sure you threw yourself into her arms because of my absence and you’re not just using Emma as an excuse?”

“I’m not going to argue with you,” Gary responded angrily. He knew that long before Emma had gotten sick, he had started to feel something for Aida. She was younger than Frida and more cheerful. He couldn’t understand how they could be so different when they were best friends.

Suddenly, the door opened. It was Aida, clad in a bright red pantsuit that showed off her rounded belly. She looked proud and was all smiles, and not even Gary’s warning glance made her stop. She walked up to him and kissed him sweetly.

“Hey, handsome… It’s time to go for lunch. Where are you taking me today?” she asked, drawing out her words and looking at him with that mischievous gaze that quelled his anger.

“I asked Gary to hire you even though you didn’t know how to do anything…” Frida spoke quietly, alerting Aida, who immediately turned around in surprise.

“Frida…” The color drained from her cheeks, and her hands rested protectively over her belly.

“You are my best friend. I helped you when you needed it most… and this is how you repay me?”

“Don’t drag Aida into this,” Gary replied, shielding his lover behind him. “It’s not her fault that you abandoned me.”

“I abandoned you?!” Frida exclaimed in anger, her voice weakening from the sobs that escaped her throat.

“You forgot me, pushed me aside… and all for a lost cause. Just look at everything you’ve done for Emma, and it hasn’t helped at all. I see how hard you try, how you stay up all night, and how you wear yourself out. But in the end, nothing changes. Aren’t you tired of wasting your life? Don’t you regret pushing me aside? What will happen when all of this is over and you realize what you’ve lost?”

“She’s your daughter!” Frida screamed, her throat hoarse.

“She’s my daughter, but I’m realistic… and you should start being realistic too.”

“You’re not realistic! You’re selfish! And a damned, cheating, son of a bitch! That’s what you are!” She approached him furiously, but even though she wanted very much to hit him, she stopped. She felt too small and insignificant in front of him.

“Get out of my office and my life, Frida. I’ll send you the divorce papers through my lawyers. Don’t expect a single cent from me until we reach an agreement,” Gary said with a cold, resentful look, eager to get rid of Frida as soon as possible so that he could start his new life with Aida.

“Don’t worry. I don’t want a single cent from you. I don’t want your help or pity. In fact, I don’t want anything at all from a man as disgusting, selfish, and vile as you…”

“Shut up, Frida. That’s your envy talking!” Aida interrupted, offended by the way Frida was speaking to Gary. “Now that you know what you’re going to lose, you just want to hurt him,” she added, emboldened by feeling protected and knowing that now, she would be the wife, not the mistress. She had nothing left to envy of her friend, who had always boasted about having a perfect, carefree life. Now, that life was hers.

“Go to hell, both of you! I don’t need anything from you, Gary! I hope I never see you again in my life!” Frida shouted, in pain. The moment was terrible, full of hostility, tears, and frustration. “And as for you, my so-called ‘best friend’... Remember, easy come, easy go. Don’t be surprised when Gary replaces you with someone else.”

“That will never happen. I know how to take care of a man,” Aida replied, clinging to Gary’s arm and glaring at Frida.

“I hope you’re right. Otherwise, I’d love to watch you cry over a bastard who’s no good as a father, a husband, a partner, or anything!” Each word hurt, burning from her heart and tearing through her throat before finally leaving her mouth, and the emptiness in her chest grew.

“I’ll call security if you don’t leave right this second,” Gary said through clenched teeth, trying to contain his anger and resisting the urge to slap her to shut her up.

“Don’t bother. I’m leaving,” Frida replied, backing away toward the door, throwing one last look at the pair of traitors who saw her as if she were the real problem, not them.

“I’ll be staying at Aida’s house. I’ll live there while you move out of our home. I’ll give you a couple of days to find somewhere else to live.”

“I don’t need your fucking pity.”

“Always so proud…” Gary said with melancholy and pain. “Get out.”

Frida took off her wedding ring. Her happiest memories flashed before her eyes, reflected in the shine of the precious metal. She held it between her fingers for a moment before setting it down on the desk. Then, turning to leave, she abandoned her pride—humiliated, penniless, and with no support for Emma.

That afternoon, she hadn’t just lost her husband but also the hope of saving her daughter, and she couldn’t have felt more devastated.