Chapter 3

It felt as if we had gone back to how we used to be, and yet nothing was the same.

At the dinner table, I talked and talked, carrying the whole show like a one-woman performance, while he played the distant audience, tossing me a reply every now and then out of courtesy.

He no longer pulled me into his arms at night. And when I crawled into his embrace on my own, I felt like some clingy nuisance he had to tolerate.

I ignored his tender smile when he looked at his phone.

Ignored how he would drop everything and walk out the moment a call came in—even if we were still eating.

Even if I was waiting at the airport alone at midnight for him to pick me up.

Even if I passed out from low blood sugar on the side of the road and was rushed to the hospital, desperately needing him.

I ignored every sign of his drifting mind. And I threw every bit of myself into keeping him close—even my body.

As if only by clinging to him, feeling his warmth pressed against mine, I could keep lying to myself that he still loved me, that the only light I ever had in my life was still shining on me.

But every lie had its day of reckoning.

When I saw Edward and Melissa eating lunch together in his car, practically shoulder-to-shoulder, I still had my fresh pregnancy report tucked in my bag.

They got out of the car.

Edward immediately stepped in front of Melissa, shielding her. He looked at me sharply and warily.

My tears finally broke loose. Clenching my teeth, I asked, "Do you remember what you promised me?"

Edward never gave me an answer.

He shoved me aside, too busy taking the dizzy, wobbling Melissa home.

When Edward finally came home that night, he walked right past me in the living room, acted like I wasn't even there, and headed for his study.

My anger flared all over again, and I stopped him. "Don't you at least owe me an explanation?"

"Explain what?" Edward asked.

His coldness was killing me inside.

As if losing it, I grabbed his collar and yelled, "You promised me—you wouldn't go to her anymore. And yet you hid in the car with her at lunch, wiping her mouth, letting her kiss your cheek. You two looked exactly like a couple.

"Why? Why are you still seeing her? What did I do wrong? Why are you treating me like this?"

Edward stood there, his expression calm. He stared at me with empty eyes. "Lauren, have you ever cared about me?"

His words came out of nowhere and left me completely dazed.

He pried my hands off him and calmly straightened his clothes. "Every morning, Melissa puts off opening her shop just so she can make my favorite food and bring me lunch.

"She texts me to tell me to cut back on coffee, to stay off the alcohol, to eat dinner on time so I won't ruin my stomach.

"She sends me pictures of her flowers every day, hoping they'll cheer me up.

"When I'm with her, I just feel relaxed."

I watched as his icy gaze slowly melted into something soft.

I stood there, stunned. "That's all?"

Edward nodded firmly. "That's it."

I laughed, and my tears just came pouring down.

I had stood by Edward from nothing, all the way to where he was now.

And in the end, I lost to a lunch. To a single text message.

But if I didn't care about him, why would I have flown halfway across the country to Los Angeles just to seal that Atlantis deal he'd been losing sleep over?

Why would I have stayed up two nights straight, closed the project, and then fainted right in front of the clients?

They rushed me to the hospital, and that was when I found out I was pregnant.

I flew back at dawn, couldn't wait to tell him he was going to be a father, that our little family was finally heading toward something better.

But instead, he hit me with the hardest blow of my life, and it landed right on my stomach.

I doubled over, clutching my belly, already unable to stand straight.

Then, I almost hear Melissa's frail voice from a distance. She said, "Eddie... m-my stomach hurts... c-can you... come—"

Suddenly, the call cut off.

Impatience flashed across Edward's face.

He brushed past me toward the door, and that was when my body gave out. I collapsed onto the floor.

I clung desperately to his pant leg. "I'm pregnant... My stomach hurts... please... Just take me... to the hospital..."

But all I heard was a sharp laugh.

Edward said, "Lauren, you heard Melissa say she's hurting, so now you're pretending too? You'd even lie about being pregnant just to keep me here? Stop acting. I'm not buying it."

He walked out without even glancing back.

Blood was pooling beneath me, spreading across the floor. My phone was in the bag on the couch, yet somehow it felt a world away.

I crawled toward it inch by inch, hands shaking as I finally fished it out and called an ambulance.

My mind drifted, everything turning hazy.

Then I heard someone knocking. But they couldn't get in.

I dragged my blood-soaked body across the floor, pulled myself up just enough, and reached for the door handle.

When the door swung open, I saw people in white coats. My lips moved on their own. "My baby..."

And then my eyelids gave out completely. Darkness swallowed everything.