Luna Ashford hurried into the hotel with her daughter, but Ollie’s fifth birthday party had already started.

Ethan Mercer was standing by his son’s side. The candlelight was soft and warm, washing over the child’s little face.

Ollie pressed his hands together and made his wish. "I want Chloe to be my new mommy."

Luna’s whole body gave a violent shake.

The rain outside was coming down like crazy. To keep her daughter and the birthday cake from getting soaked, she’d taken most of it herself. Half her body was drenched through.

Her wet clothes clung to her like a sheet of ice, wrapping tightly around her from head to toe.

Chloe Ashford let out a loud, easy laugh. "How many times do I have to say it? Don’t call me auntie. Call me Bro Sheng! Your dad and I are bros for life~ At most, I can be your second dad~"

Her laughter bounced around the private room.

Everyone sitting there was part of Chloe’s circle, all her close guy friends, and they instantly cracked up too. Still, out of everyone in the room, only Chloe would dare tease Ethan Mercer like this in public.

Ollie blinked his bright, shiny eyes and flashed Chloe a sweet, eager little smile, obviously trying to please her.

Chloe reached out and kneaded his soft cheek with a grin. "So what’s this all of a sudden? Why do you want a new mommy, huh?"

Ollie shot a quick glance at Ethan, then answered fast, "Because Daddy likes Bro Sheng!"

Chloe burst out laughing.

She scooped Ollie straight onto her lap, then casually threw an arm around Ethan’s shoulder.

Lifting her brow, she looked smug as anything. "See? Ollie’s got sharp eyes~"

Ethan frowned slightly and said to everyone there,

"Kids say random things. Don’t take it seriously."

He was making it clear they shouldn’t read too much into it.

But kids didn’t lie.

Everybody knew Ethan Mercer and Chloe Ashford had grown up together, childhood sweethearts in all but name.

Chloe had always run with the boys, rough around the edges, and Mr. and Mrs. Mercer had never liked her much.

Back when Luna was eighteen, the Ashford family had found her and brought her home. Carrying the family’s hopes, and a heart full of love, she married Ethan and gave him a son and a daughter.

Inside the private room, people were already egging things on:

"Who do you like more, your mom or Chloe?"

"I like Chloe the most! Mom? She's such a country bumpkin!"

A tiny, almost invisible sneer flashed through Chloe Ashford's eyes. Then she pulled Ollie into her arms and kissed his forehead like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Luna Ashford felt like all the blood in her body had turned to ice.

Ever since he was little, Ollie had hated physical contact.

Whenever Luna tried to hold him, he would dodge her, stiffen up, push away.

He took after his father that way—cold, distant, hard to get close to.

But right now, Ollie was sitting in Chloe's lap, smiling at her with open affection, soft and sweet.

And the look Ethan Mercer gave Chloe was one Luna had never once received from him.

Gentle. Tender. Almost painfully warm.

The three of them looked more like a real family.

"Mommy."

Her daughter's voice snapped her back.

Luna lowered her head to look at Issy, but tears had already blurred everything in front of her.

"What... what birthday wish does Issy want?" Her voice shook so badly it barely sounded like her own.

"Issy only wants Mommy!"

"What about Daddy and Ollie?"

A scalding tear splashed onto the back of Issy's hand. She instantly panicked.

"Mommy, don't cry. I'll go tell Ollie not to keep sticking to Auntie all the time."

Issy and Ollie were twins. When Luna gave birth to them, she had hemorrhaged badly. Lying in the delivery room, pale and half-conscious, she had called Ethan.

The one who answered was Chloe.

"Ethan went to buy popcorn. He's with me at Disneyland watching the fireworks, so just focus on having the baby, okay~"

The crack of fireworks seemed to explode right beside Luna's ears all over again.

From that day on, her heart was basically wrecked.

Luna Ashford held Issy’s hand and pushed open the private room door.

The whole place went dead quiet.

"Mrs. Mercer? Why are you here?"

This was clearly her son and daughter’s birthday party, yet the second she showed up, everyone looked surprised.

Like Luna Ashford had no business being here at all.

Chloe Ashford had Ollie tucked in her arms, holding him close like a silent claim, like she was making her position crystal clear without saying a word.

Luna Ashford set the cake box on the table. Rainwater still clung to her face, not even wiped away yet.

Ollie lifted his head. Chloe Ashford’s makeup was neat and flawless, her dark hair soft and fluffy around her shoulders.

Then he looked at Luna Ashford. His little mouth instantly puffed up in annoyance.

Luna Ashford opened the cake box. On the cake she had made by hand, she had spent the whole afternoon drawing cartoon versions of Ollie and Issy herself.

When she cut the cake into two halves, her fingers were shaking.

Luna Ashford pushed one half toward Ollie.

"Ollie, I’m here to make your birthday wish come true. Starting today, I’m not your mommy anymore."

"What the hell are you doing?"

Ethan Mercer snapped coldly.

Luna Ashford looked at him. There was no more attachment left in her eyes, not even a trace. "We’re getting divorced. Issy comes with me. Ollie stays with you."

"Mommy, are you just throwing a tantrum?" Ollie was way too mature for his age. The way he looked at Luna Ashford was exactly like Ethan Mercer—cold, distant, almost identical.

"Can you stop being so dramatic? I don’t even like spending my birthday with you, because you’re always nagging me about what I eat."

Ollie looked at the cake with the cartoon faces on it.

So ugly.

"And one more thing—I’m sick of the cake you made! Today I want the cake Chloe brought me!"

Issy instantly called out, "Ollie! You can’t just eat cake from outside. You’ll have an allergic reaction!"

"There’s barely any milk in that cake." Chloe Ashford’s tone sharpened, with a clear hint of blame. "Ollie’s a boy. Don’t raise him like he’s made of glass. He’s allergic to milk in the first place because Luna’s been way too overcareful and never let him have any."

Chloe lowered her head and asked the boy in her arms softly, "Ollie, do you trust me? You need to eat more cake with dairy in it. That’s how you build immunity. Then later on, you won’t be allergic to milk anymore."

Ollie nodded hard without hesitation. "I trust Chloe. Mommy’s from the countryside. She doesn’t know anything."

Luna smiled, but it looked shattered, like it might fall apart any second. Every breath she took carried that rusty, metallic taste in her nose.

She had been married to Ethan Mercer for seven years, and still had never warmed his heart.

She had raised Ollie for five years. The child she had carried in her own body, flesh and blood torn from herself, had now become the blade stabbing straight back into her chest.

"If you don’t like the cake I made, then throw it away." Her throat felt like it had been sliced by glass, and all she could taste was blood and sweetness mixed together.

"Ollie, all this time, whatever you wanted, I did everything I could to give it to you. Since you want a new mom, then fine—I’ll make room for Chloe Ashford."

She looked at her son and said, "This is the last time Mommy will wish you a happy birthday."

Luna took Issy’s hand and said gently, "Let’s go."

Her son, her husband—she wanted neither anymore.

"Luna Ashford." Ethan stopped her, his cold, handsome face darkening like frost had settled over it. "You’re seriously taking a kid’s words like that?"

"Yeah," she said. "I am. Tomorrow, three in the afternoon. Rongjiang Civil Affairs Bureau. Don’t be late."

Luna looked at Ethan, the man she had loved for seven whole years. There was nothing left in her eyes now except resolve.

She turned away, only to see a tall, broad-shouldered man standing at the doorway.

The light fell across his sharply cut features. He was watching her with narrowed eyes, like he was enjoying the drama and waiting for the next twist.

Luna recognized him at once—Adrian Calloway, the top crown prince of the capital circle. On the surface, Ethan got along with him just fine, but behind the scenes, the two of them had never really been on the same page.

For Ollie and Issy’s birthday, Ethan had invited a whole room of high society names. Still, Luna hadn’t expected him to actually get someone like Adrian Calloway to show up.

Chloe Ashford quickly set Ollie back into the child seat, then shot her hand high into the air and waved like crazy. "Hey! Adrian Calloway, I called and you actually showed up that fast!"

"I'm not here because of you," Adrian said flatly, not even sparing Chloe a glance.

His eyes swept past her and looked farther back.

Luna Ashford was already gone.

The corner of Adrian’s mouth lifted a little, and a faint, intoxicating dimple appeared above the slant of his smile.

He looked at Ethan Mercer and asked, "So your wife’s really divorcing you? Then from now on... do I need to change how I address her?"

"She’s not divorcing me." Ethan’s tone was calm, firm, and absolute.