Chapter 1

The key turned smoothly in the lock, but the apartment was quiet. Maya Carter stepped into the foyer and dropped her leather tote on the entry table with a tired sigh. Her twelve hour shift in the pediatric emergency room had ended early because of a rare lull, but her legs still ached and a dull headache throbbed behind her eyes. All she wanted was a cold glass of water and the comfort of Ethan’s arms. His silver sedan was parked in its usual spot outside. She had smiled when she noticed it on her way in, assuming he had slipped away from his accounting firm to surprise her with dinner. She kicked off her flat shoes and walked quietly down the hardwood hallway toward the bedroom. Then she heard it. A high pitched giggle, followed by a low, breathless murmur. Maya stopped, her hand hovered over the bedroom door handle. For a moment, her mind scrambled for a reasonable explanation. Maybe the television was on and Ethan was watching some video. Then came the unmistakable rustle of bedsheets, followed by the thud of the headboard against the drywall. Her breath caught in her throat, her stomach churned as she pushed the door open. Hallway light spilled into the room, revealing two figures tangled together on the king sized mattress — the same sheets she had washed and folded just two days ago. Ethan was on top, his dark hair a mess, his shoulders bare. Beneath him lay a blonde woman whose eyes widened in panic the instant the door opened. Ethan froze. He turned his head, and the moment his eyes met Maya’s, color drained from his face, but only for a second. Maya couldn't speak. It felt as though someone had punched all air from her lungs. She stared at Ethan, waiting for horror to cross his face. Waiting for him to scramble for the sheets, for an apology or anything that might make sense of what she was seeing, but nothing came. Instead, Ethan slowly pushed himself upright and pulled the duvet over his waist. The woman scrambled over the other side of the bed, grabbed her dress from the floor, and rushed past Maya without saying a word. She disappeared into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her. "Maya," Ethan said, his voice strangely calm and almost irritated. "You weren't supposed to be home until eight." "Who was that?" Maya whispered. Her voice shook despite every effort to control it. "Ethan... what is this?" Ethan rubbed both palms over his face and released a long sigh. "What does it look like? I'm a man, Maya. I have needs." The casual way he said it hurt more than she expected it to. "Needs?" she repeated, a flash of anger cutting through the numbness. "We've been together for four years." "Yeah, four years!" Ethan snapped as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed. He didn't even bother reaching for a shirt before standing. "Four years of waiting, Maya. Four years of excuses. 'I'm not ready yet, Ethan.' 'I want to wait, Ethan.' I've been patient. More patient than any other guy would have been." "I told you how I felt from the beginning!" Maya choked out. Tears finally spilled over her lashes, running down her cheeks. "You said you understood. You said you loved me enough to respect my boundaries." "That was two years ago!" Ethan shouted, waving her words away. "You're twenty six, Maya! You're a doctor, for God's sake, not some naive teenager. How long did you expect me to sleep beside you, touch you, kiss you, without actually having s*x? That's not normal. You pushed me to this." "I pushed you?" the stupidity of his words made a broken laugh escape her throat. "You cheated on me in our bed because I wouldn't let you use my body before I was ready? And somehow that's my fault?" "If you gave me what I needed, I wouldn't have to look for it somewhere else," Ethan said coldly. He folded his arms and stepped toward her, his posture stiff. There wasn't even a hint of remorse on his face. "Be realistic. You built a wall between us. Don't act surprised because I finally walked around it." Maya stared at him. This was the same man she had spent four years loving. The man she believed was her safe place while she struggled through the brutal hours of medical residency. He wasn't ashamed nor sorry. He was standing there, trying to justify betraying her because she hadn't given him what he wanted on his timeline. The pain was heavy, burning raw in her chest, but something colder settled underneath it. She refused to scream or beg him for an explanation. And she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of watching her completely fall apart. "We're done," she said quietly. Ethan snorted. "Come on, Maya. Don't be dramatic. Where are you even going to go? You don't have time to find another place with your ER schedule." Maya said nothing. She reached for the silver chain around her neck, her fingers closing around the pendant resting against her collarbone. Ethan had given it to her for their third anniversary. She unclasped it. Then she stepped forward and tossed it onto the edge of the bed, and It landed with a tiny, pathetic thud against the rumpled sheets. "Keep it," she said softly before turning and walking out. "Maya! Stop being ridiculous!" Ethan shouted behind her. His bare feet pounded against the floorboards as Ethan kept talking. "If you walk out that door, don't expect me to come chasing after you!" Maya didn’t stop until she reached the entry table, grabbed her phone and purse, and opened the front door. She stepped into the carpeted corridor of the apartment complex and pulled the heavy door shut behind her. The lock clicked into place with a final thud. She walked down the hallway, her vision blurred by tears she refused to let fall. She didn't have her coat, a change of clothes or any of her medical reference books. She had nothing except her phone, her wallet, and the clothes she was wearing. Four years of her life had disappeared in less than ten minutes. When she reached the bank of elevators at the end of the hall, her hands were shaking so badly she could barely press the down button. She leaned her forehead against the cold metal wall and swallowed hard, fighting the dry heave rising in her throat. Then her phone vibrated sharply in her hand. Maya wiped her eyes with the back of her wrist and looked at the screen. It wasn't Ethan calling to beg her to come back. It wasn't anyone saved in her contacts. An unknown ten digit number stared back at her. Boston area code. She hesitated, her thumb hovering over the screen as the elevator doors slid open in front of her with a soft chime.