Chapter 4

Adeline Campos POV:

The pain in my chest was so sharp, so sudden, it felt like my heart had physically cracked open. It was a searing agony that quickly gave way to a frightening, spreading numbness.

Before I could even process the photo, my phone buzzed again. A new message. From Brittny.

It was a video.

My thumb trembled as I pressed play. The camera was shaky, clearly filmed in secret. It showed Dorian sitting on a sofa, my sofa, in my house. Brittny' s son, Cael, was snuggled up next to him.

"Dorian?" Cael' s small voice piped up. "Can I call you Daddy?"

My breath hitched.

"I really like you," the little boy continued, his voice cloyingly sweet. "You' re so nice and you buy me toys and you protect my mommy. I wish you were my real daddy."

He looked up at Dorian with wide, pleading eyes. "Please? Can you be my daddy?"

Brittny' s voice came from off-camera, a fake, chiding tone. "Cael, don' t bother Dorian."

Dorian, my Dorian, just smiled. He reached out and ruffled the boy' s hair. "Don' t say that, Brittny. He' s not bothering me."

He looked down at Cael, his expression melting into one of tenderness, a look I hadn' t seen directed at me in months.

"You really want me to be your dad?" he asked softly.

The boy nodded enthusiastically.

Dorian' s smile widened. "Okay then," he said, his voice clear and firm. "From now on, I' m your daddy."

The video ended with Cael' s squeal of delight. A second later, a voice message from Brittny popped up.

"He' s mine now, Adeline. A man wants a family. He wants a child. Something you could never give him. You lose."

I played the voice message again. And again. The triumphant malice in her tone was a physical thing, coiling in my stomach.

"Addie, turn it off," Jaclyn said gently, her hand on my arm. She had come over the second I called her, my voice a strangled sob. "Don' t torture yourself."

She took a deep breath. "Addie... you have to tell him. Tell him you' re pregnant. This is his child. He' ll come back. I know he will."

I instinctively placed a hand on my still-flat stomach. The secret I had been holding for six weeks, a tiny flicker of hope I had planned to share with him as a surprise, a bridge to fix our broken marriage.

But now... the thought of using my baby, our baby, as a bargaining chip to win back a man who had so thoroughly betrayed me felt like sacrilege.

I thought of my own childhood, of being an unwanted burden, a pawn in a system that didn't care. I would not bring a child into a world of conflict and brokenness. I would not subject them to a father whose heart was divided.

"He doesn' t deserve to be a father to my child, Jacs," I whispered, the words tasting like ash. "He' s not worthy."

The confrontation I had been dreading happened two days later, at the hospital. I was there for my first prenatal appointment, my heart a confusing mix of terror and a fierce, protective love for the life inside me.

As I walked out of the obstetrician' s office, clutching the grainy ultrasound photo that was my entire world, I saw him.

Dorian. He was standing by the nurses' station, and holding his hand was Cael.

Dorian' s head snapped up as I approached. He saw me, and his eyes widened. He instinctively dropped Cael' s hand, taking a step toward me.

"Addie," he said, his voice hesitant. "What are you doing here? Are you sick?"

He saw the folded paper in my hand, the logo of the obstetrics department visible. His brow furrowed in confusion, and he started to move closer.

"Daddy, my tummy hurts!" Cael suddenly cried out, clutching his stomach and doubling over in a display of dramatic agony.

Dorian stopped, torn. He looked from my pale face to the wailing child.

"Addie, just... just wait a second," he said, his voice strained. He bent down to Cael. "What' s wrong, buddy?"

I just stood there, watching the man I loved choose, once again, to comfort another woman' s child over me. The scene was so grotesquely familiar, I almost felt a hysterical laugh bubble up in my throat.

"Dorian Warner, you goddamn bastard!" Jaclyn' s voice boomed through the hallway. She had been waiting for me by the elevators and had seen the whole thing.

She stormed toward us, her face a mask of fury. "You have no idea, do you? You have no idea what she' s going through!"

She pointed a shaking finger at me. "She' s pregnant, you idiot! That' s your baby she' s carrying!"

Before the words could even register on Dorian' s shocked face, Cael reacted. The little boy, coached by his mother to see me as the enemy, launched himself forward.

"You' re a liar!" he screamed, his face twisted in a snarl that was terrifying on a child so young. "You' re a monster! You' re trying to take my daddy away!"

Jaclyn tried to step in front of me, but I pushed her aside. It happened so fast. Cael, with all the force his small body could muster, rammed his head directly into my stomach.

A universe of pain exploded inside me. It was white-hot and absolute. My legs gave out, and I crumpled to the floor, the ultrasound photo fluttering from my grasp.

The pain was a living thing, a vicious claw tearing at my insides.

"You evil witch!" Cael shrieked, kicking at my side. "I hate you! I hate you!"

People were starting to stare, murmuring amongst themselves. "Look at that woman, fighting with a little boy." "What kind of person yells at a child like that?"

I looked up, my vision swimming. I saw Dorian, standing a few feet away, his face a mixture of shock and indecision. He was just... watching. Waiting for me to yield, to admit I was wrong, to be the monster they all thought I was.

"Dorian," I choked out, a wave of dizziness washing over me. "Help me."

I could feel something warm and wet spreading beneath me.

"Please," I gasped, my voice barely a whisper. "Get a doctor."

But Cael started wailing again, louder this time. "Daddy, it hurts! My tummy really, really hurts!"

Dorian' s face twisted in agony. He looked at me, lying bleeding on the floor. He looked at the hysterical child.

And he made his choice.

"Adeline," he said, his voice cold and distant. "You need to get a grip. Look what you' ve done. You' re scaring him."

He scooped Cael into his arms, turning his back on me.

"You need to seriously think about your behavior," he said over his shoulder, and then he walked away, leaving me there on the cold, hard floor, in a spreading pool of my own blood.

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