I didn't soften. I glanced at the message my assistant had just sent to my phone. "Cindy Pruitt. Middle school education. No formal domestic service training of any kind."

I flung the phone down in front of him. "Brendan Sanchez, this is who you're cheating on me with?"

His expression changed instantly, jaw clenched, words grinding through his teeth. "Debbie Henson, after everything, you're still questioning my loyalty?"

"I don't love you? Then why would I have married into your family?"

"Because of this arrangement, I barely speak to my parents anymore. Every relative I have laughs at me behind my back."

Yes. On that count, Brendan truly had been wronged. That was exactly why, when he said he wanted a child, I put myself through ninety-nine rounds of IVF.

I tapped the table and looked at him squarely. Despite everything, something in my chest still gave way.

"Fire Cindy Pruitt, and I'll pretend none of this ever happened."

Brendan had just turned thirty. His handsome face was smooth, unmarked by a single line. Yet for Cindy Pruitt alone, his brows knotted into a deep, tortured furrow.

"Debbie, can you please not put me in this position?"

"Cindy and I really have nothing going on. She's a village girl who barely finished school. You're a graduate from a top university, a CEO who commands boardrooms. I'd have to be out of my mind to have anything with her."

"Besides, it's not like you actually suffered. She said a few words to you. Is that really worth making a young girl lose her job?"

A beat of silence. Then his phone rang. He glanced at me, looking torn. "Debbie, I can't stay with you. Something urgent came up at the office. I need to go."

"Can you manage on your own? I can stay if you need me to."

I waved him off. "Work comes first. Go handle it. Call me if you can't sort it out."

I sat alone for a few minutes, then ignored the doctor's orders to rest and walked out of the clinic.

Right there, in the coffee shop by the entrance, Brendan and Cindy sat side by side.

Cindy was gently blowing on his coffee to cool it. "Mr. Sanchez, you've had it so hard. You gave that old woman the title of Mrs. Sanchez, and she can't even bother to show her husband a little kindness."

Brendan didn't pull away. He sighed. "If only everyone were as gentle as you. Debbie Henson... never mind. Forget I said anything."