His first wife had just passed away. He'd been drowning in grief, with no idea how to care for a two-year-old on his own.
So he started asking me for advice—me, with my background in early childhood education.
I'd been forced to raise my younger brother since I was a child. As a way of repaying Edmund's kindness, I often helped him look after Felix.
My stepmother's cruelty. My father's neglect.
They had carved something deep into me—a desperate hunger for love and a bone-deep belief that I didn't deserve it.
And Edmund was the first person who had ever shown me respect. The first person who had ever protected me.
Even knowing he was millions of dollars in debt, even knowing his heart still belonged to his dead wife, I said yes when he asked me to marry him.
I even quit the job I loved so I could take better care of Felix.
But I never imagined that five years of devotion and sacrifice would amount to this.
In his eyes, I was nothing more than a free nanny.
In his heart, I didn't even rank as high as his dead wife's sister.
I was just an outsider.
While I stood there, frozen, Edmund's startled voice cut through the silence.
"Louisa—when did you get back?"