Part 1I Love You Too

The news broke without warning: Teddy Thorne, heir to the Thorne empire, was secretly married and had a daughter.

He held a press conference immediately.

"There is no secret marriage, and I do not have a daughter."

"It is common knowledge that I have been single for years."

I stared at his cold, indifferent face on the television. Then I looked at my daughter, who was hiding in the corner, crying softly in confusion and hurt.

In that moment, a years-long obsession shattered into dust.

When he came home that night, I didn't rush to the door with our daughter as I always did. I didn't wait with breathless anticipation for the reunion that was always more passionate than a honeymoon.

Instead, I opened the messages I'd received a few days ago.

A receipt for a vasectomy, dated six days prior, and a single sentence:

"Just say the word, and from now on, Penny will be my only child."

Tears streamed down my face as I typed my reply: "Come and get me. I can't stay here anymore."

* * *

I watched Teddy Thorne’s handsome, severe face on the screen, a strange sense of detachment washing over me. He was known for his cold demeanor and deep-seated inscrutability, a man who never let his true feelings show.

But he wasn't the work-obsessed ascetic the tabloids made him out to be.

Teddy was a man of intense appetites, with powerful needs.

Before he left on this business trip, he’d ignored my tears and pleas, tying my wrists with his silk tie and pinning me beneath him. Four times. I’d finally sunk my teeth into the side of his neck in a moment of overwhelmed frustration.

There was probably still a faint mark there.

The navy-blue tie he was wearing, the one with the subtle, intricate pattern, had been my anniversary gift to him.

This was the fourth year of our marriage.

We had a beautiful daughter.

She had just turned three.

And now, my husband—in name, at least—Teddy Thorne, had just used his coldest, most serious tone to announce to the world:

"There is no secret marriage, and I do not have a daughter."

He adjusted the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose. His dark eyes held a chilling light that seemed to pierce through the screen and land squarely on me.

"A word of advice to those with ulterior motives: don't delude yourselves. You will only end up humiliated."