Chapter 5

My hand dropped to my belly, beyond my control.

Here, inside me, grew the child Quinn had schemed so hard to prevent.

"What exactly went wrong this time, that you actually managed to get pregnant."

Brooklyn watched my movement, the amusement in her eyes slowly curdling into something cold and cruel.

"But it doesn't matter."

Her gaze flicked to the corner of the surgery appointment slip poking out of my bag.

"Looks like you've got some sense after all. You've already decided not to keep it. Callie, since you're going to deal with it, do it cleanly."

"Don't even dream of using this child to steal what belongs to me."

...

Sitting at my mother's bedside, I was still hesitating over how to bring it up.

She took my hand. Her palm was cold, her grip weak.

"This time... did it go smoothly?"

I lowered my head, unable to meet her eyes.

"It went fine."

But she seemed to see straight through me, her fingers brushing gently over the back of my hand.

"Callie, you're not happy."

The smile I'd forced onto my face froze in an instant.

"I am."

"I'm the one who gave birth to you."

Her voice was frail, yet strangely certain.

"How could I not tell whether my own daughter is happy?"

Tears rushed to my eyes.

I turned my head away in a hurry, not wanting her to see.

She didn't press about what had happened at the wedding. She only tightened her hold on my hand.

"I always used to think I had to see you married with my own eyes before I go."

"I thought that as long as someone would marry you, take care of you, I could rest easy."

She paused, catching her breath a few times.

"But if this marriage leaves you drowning in misery, then I'd rather you never marry at all."

"I wanted to see you married. I didn't want to force you to spend your whole life's happiness just to fulfill a wish of mine."

I couldn't hold back anymore. I leaned down and wrapped my arms around her.

"Mom... I'm sorry."

"Silly girl, you have nothing to be sorry for."

She stroked my hair softly, comforting me the way she had when I was little.

"You've lived for other people far too long."

"The rest of your life, you should choose the road that truly makes you happy."

I buried myself against her, tears soaking silently into the edge of the blanket.

Her voice grew fainter and fainter:

"From now on, whether I'm still here or not, you have to take good care of yourself."

"Don't ever make yourself suffer for any man."

Walking out of her hospital room, I sent Wayne Rowe a text.

【I'm pregnant. Let's call off the wedding. I'm sorry.】

The reply came instantly.

【Why call it off?】

I froze.

His next message came through:

【The one I want to marry is you.】

【Your past, the hurt you've been through, all of it is part of your life.】

【Three days from now, I'll come for you.】

A sting rose at the corners of my eyes. I closed them, and one piece at a time, I tore the miscarriage surgery appointment slip apart.

The one in the wrong was Quinn. The child was innocent.

He was my child, a treasure fate had handed me the moment I decided to leave the wrong man.

Back home, I began clearing everything out of the villa.

Quinn's portraits, Quinn's clothes and shoes, the dishes Quinn had used...

Everything connected to Quinn, I boxed up and threw out.

The villa was in my name. If anyone should be moving out, it was Quinn.

Once I'd finished clearing it, I put the villa on the market.

This place was tainted now. I didn't want it anymore.

Just like Quinn was tainted now, and I didn't want him either.

I'd just started upstairs for a nap.

The bedroom door slammed open, the lock jolted clean off, the panel crashing hard against the wall. Quinn stood in the doorway, breathing heavily, his face twisted with rage.

"Callie, the way you act one thing to my face and another behind my back—it makes me sick." His voice dropped to something terrifying. "Brooklyn was kidnapped, she nearly lost the baby. How can you be this vicious?"