Chapter 2

Cali Massey POV:

The application for the Highlands fellowship still existed, buried deep in my old emails. It required total isolation, no contact with the outside world. Perfect. It was exactly what I needed. A place to shed the skin of the woman Chase had made me.

I confirmed my acceptance, the digital ping feeling like a lifeline. I called a discreet moving company, arranging for my personal compositions, my piano, and a few essential belongings to be shipped to a storage unit. Everything else, the remnants of our life together, had to go.

I walked back into what had once been our home, a cold fury bubbling inside me. Every piece of furniture, every framed photograph, every trinket that spoke of 'us' felt like a lie. I marched to the living room, grabbed a vase Chase had bought me on our honeymoon, and hurled it against the fireplace. The ceramic exploded, a satisfying crack echoing through the silent house. Then another, and another. My hands, once delicate on piano keys, felt powerful, destructive. I overturned tables, ripped curtains from their rods, tore down paintings. Each act of destruction was a release, a chipping away at the ornate prison I' d unknowingly lived in.

Emptying the house of his presence became my mission. I packed my clothes, my scores, my notebooks. I left behind the expensive jewelry, the gifts he' d showered me with – tokens of a hollow affection. I wanted nothing that linked me to him. Not anymore.

Chase didn't come home that night. Or the next. He was with Hayden. With his son.

When he finally returned, three days later, the house was already an empty shell. He walked in, his suit rumpled, a faint scent of cheap floral perfume clinging to his shirt. He looked tired, but his eyes held a strange, forced cheerfulness.

"Cali, sweetheart," he said, his voice a little too loud in the cavernous space. He moved to embrace me, his arms reaching.

I stiffened, my body rigid as stone. The perfume, Hayden' s perfume, hit me like a wave. It settled in my throat, thick and cloying. A wave of nausea, sharp and sudden, rolled through me.

I pushed him away, a primal revulsion seizing me. "Don't touch me." My voice was flat, devoid of emotion.

He paused, his hands dropping to his sides. His brow furrowed with a practiced concern. "Cali, what's wrong? You seem... off. Has something happened?" His eyes, usually so sharp and calculating, seemed genuinely bewildered. The audacity of it stole my breath.

"What's wrong?" I repeated, a bitter laugh bubbling up. "You really want to know what's wrong, Chase?"

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Look, I know I've been busy lately. Work has been insane. But I brought you something." He pulled a small, velvet box from his pocket, presenting it with a flourish. "A little something from my 'business trip' to Paris."

I stared at the box, then at him. Paris. He'd said he was in Paris, negotiating a crucial deal. My mind replayed the e-vite, the park, the small boy, Hayden. The lies were so thick, so pervasive, I felt like I was drowning in them. He expected me to believe this. To smile, to thank him, to forgive his absence as a necessity of his important life.

The anger was a cold, hard lump in my stomach. But beneath it, a crushing weariness. I was beyond rage. I was just... done. "Chase," I said, my voice dangerously soft, "I want a baby."

His eyes widened, his practiced smile faltered. A flicker of panic, quickly replaced by a weary patience, crossed his face. "Cali, we've talked about this. You know I want a family with you, more than anything. But my career..."

"Has been at a 'critical juncture' for five years," I finished for him, my voice rising slightly. "And yet, somehow, it hasn't stopped you from having a child with someone else."

His phone rang, a shrill jingle in the sudden silence. It was a private number, no caller ID. He glanced at it, then at me, his face paling. "It's... it's work. Top secret." He fumbled for an excuse, his eyes darting around the empty living room. "I have to take this. I'll be in the study." He turned and almost ran, the phone pressed tightly to his ear.

His hurried kiss on my forehead, before he fled, felt like a brand of betrayal. I watched his retreating back, the sound of his hushed voice, undoubtedly lying to Hayden about me now, drifting from the study. The facade he showed the world, the facade he showed me, was cracked, irrevocably broken.

I sank onto the cold floor, the last vestiges of my strength draining away. He had always been so adamant about waiting, about his career. And all the while, he' d already built a family. The injustice of it was a bitter taste in my mouth.

My eyes fell on his messenger bag, carelessly tossed on a chair. A corner of something metallic glinted. Another phone. His burner phone.

My heart pounded. I picked it up, my fingers shaking. The screen lit up, a text message from Hayden. "Thinking of you, babe. Our little man asks for you." A picture of Dallas, smiling, was attached.

He wasn't just a cheat. He was a monster. He had allowed me to grieve for a child that never was, while he reveled in the joy of a secret family. The pain, raw and searing, was too much.

My vision blurred with tears. My stomach clenched, a sharp, twisting pain. A sudden, overwhelming wave of nausea hit me, forcing bile into my throat. No, no, not again. The thought that had flickered in the hospital corridor now returned with a vengeance.

My period had been late. My body had felt... different. I' d dismissed it as stress, the chaos of my life. But the morning sickness, the cramps that had started a few days ago, the exhaustion.

Chase didn't come back to our bedroom that night. He must have fallen asleep in the study. I lay awake, curled on my side, the cramps intensifying, a cold dread seeping into my bones. The house was utterly silent, save for the frantic beat of my own heart.

The next morning, pale and trembling, I drove myself to the small clinic downtown. Alone. No husband, no friend. Just me. The doctor, a kind older woman, smiled warmly as she glanced at my chart.

"Congratulations, Mrs. Massey," she said, her voice gentle. "You're pregnant. About eight weeks along."

The words hung in the air, mocking me. Pregnant. Now. With his child. A cruel twist of fate I couldn't comprehend. My world, already shattered, splintered further still.

The doctor' s congratulatory smile faded as she noticed my ashen face. "Is everything alright, dear?"

I could only stare at her, my mouth dry, my eyes wide with disbelief. Alright? Nothing was alright. Everything was irrevocably, horribly, terribly wrong.