"Anthony, Victoria Mason will never shake that label. Not in this lifetime. What the two of you have will always disgust people."
"And you don't get to mention my baby. Ever."
"Nora, shut your mouth!"
Anthony's brows twisted into a hard knot as he barked the words. His eyes were sheets of ice, and in them there was not a single trace of guilt.
"This is between you and me. It has nothing to do with Victoria."
He lowered his voice, looking down at me with naked threat in his eyes.
"You've been working yourself to the bone all these years just to pay for your foster mother's heart surgery, haven't you?"
"I hear they've already found a matching donor?"
My heart slammed to a stop. Every drop of blood in my body seemed to freeze solid.
I'd been an orphan for as long as I could remember. Margaret Whitfield had taken me in despite the whispers and sideways glances from everyone around her. She survived by collecting recyclables, picking up odd jobs, pinching every penny, raising me bit by bit on almost nothing.
When Anthony and I first started dating, I never let him drive me home. I was terrified he'd look at me and my family the same way everyone else did, with that mixture of pity and contempt.
But when he found out the truth, he cried.
He pulled me into his arms, one hand stroking my hair, his voice breaking.
"Nora, I'm going to work so hard. I'll give you the best life. I'll take care of your mom. And I'll make every single person who ever looked down on you choke on their words."
And he did.
When he proposed, he hired the most prestigious event planning team in the city and built a sea of ten thousand roses. It was the talk of the town. Overnight, I became the woman everyone envied.
He bought us a house and put my name on the deed. He found doctors for Margaret, managed her treatment plan, covered every medical bill without blinking.
All those people who had sneered at me, who had mocked me behind my back, suddenly lined up to congratulate me, falling over themselves with flattery.
Back then, they used to whisper that Anthony must have done something terrible to feel guilty about, that it was the only explanation for why he treated me so well.
I was drowning in it, certain that a love like ours would never change.
Then Victoria wedged herself between us and shattered that dream to pieces.