The friend frowned. "Lisa, he's a married man. Aren't you worried about getting caught?"

Lisa scoffed, utterly unbothered. "Worried about what? He doesn't love his wife. He only stayed married because they cofounded the company and a divorce would look bad. The second I give him a son, he'll kick her to the curb."

"But what if he's playing you?"

"Playing me?" Lisa held up her hand, flashing the diamond ring. "A two-hundred-thousand-dollar ring. A house. That's not sincere enough for you? Besides, I'm about to win the grand prize at the Eternal Love Design Competition. That design..." She let out a sharp little laugh. "His wife can be as talented as she wants. In the end, all she did was sew my wedding dress."

Her friend still looked uneasy. "What if his wife finds out about the design..."

Lisa rubbed her belly, brazen as ever. "So what if she does? I've got his son. I've got everything he's given me. She's been out of the company's inner circle for years, turning into some washed-up housewife. She's got nothing. What's she going to fight me with?"

"Besides, that old woman has been married to him for three years and can't even pop out a single kid. I got pregnant on the first try, and it's a boy. Who do you think he's going to pick?"

The words "old woman" hit me like a slap. My hand clenched around the phone in my pocket, knuckles bone-white.

I wasn't even thirty. And in her mouth, I was the worn-out wife who didn't deserve Ralph Dickerson?

I swallowed the fury clawing up my chest and kept listening.

"He promised me that once the baby's born, he'll go public with us and make me Mrs. Dickerson." Lisa's face was glowing with anticipation, her voice dripping with arrogance. "I'll be a trophy wife. I'll never have to answer to anyone again."

"But right now... does his wife know you exist?" Her friend still looked uneasy.

"Probably not. Ralph puts on a perfect act at home. Not a single crack in the performance." Lisa laughed, smug and satisfied. "And even if she did find out, so what? I have a son. She can't give him one. I'm the one who wins in the end."

"Oh, and the Eternal Love Design Competition," she added, her tone turning even more contemptuous. "That design was hers to begin with, and now it's my award-winning entry. No matter how talented she is, she's nothing but a stepping stone for me."

Enough.

I couldn't listen to another word.