Chapter 3

Just as the pain made me break into a cold sweat, the doorbell rang.

Seeing me sit there, Chloe went to open it.

"Hello, we received a report of a missing child..."

Before the officer could finish, Chloe cut him off frantically.

"No, we found him. Sorry for wasting your time."

She slammed the door shut.

Turning back to me, her face was twisted in rage. She screamed:

"Liam, are you crazy?! Why the hell did you call the cops? You did this on purpose, didn't you!"

"Carlos was right. You just wanted to terrorize me so I'd submit to you!"

She was about to keep screaming, but when she noticed my pale face, she stopped and took a few hesitant steps forward. But she quickly froze.

"Oh, please. Are you seriously faking it now?"

"You work out every day. You're telling me searching for a kid for two days made you this weak?"

"I get it. You're trying to copy Carlos to get my sympathy, aren't you?"

Looking at her sneering face, I felt a wave of disgust.

So Carlos being sterile meant he was fragile and needed protection, but me being genuinely hurt was just "faking it"?

He could play the victim to steal my child and enjoy everything that belonged to me, and she found it completely justified?

I gritted my teeth and wrapped a bandage around my shin, sinking back into my chair to catch my breath.

Seeing this, Chloe pulled a box of chocolates out of her purse and tossed it onto the table.

Her voice softened slightly.

"Here. Eat up."

"Carlos made me bring this back for you."

"He said Leo is safe with him, so you don't have to worry. Consider this box of chocolates his apology."

"Liam, we're doing this for the kid's sake."

"Just accept it. We can still be friends. You can visit Leo whenever you want."

I looked at the half-melted chocolates on the table, my heart turning to ice.

The packaging had clearly been opened. Most of the chocolates had melted together, exposing crushed almonds.

If I looked closely, I could even see bite marks on the corners of some pieces.

"No, thanks."

My voice was raspy. My throat burned.

Chloe didn't use to be like this. She used to love me. She knew all my likes and dislikes. She knew I had a life-threatening almond allergy—that I couldn't even touch them.

But ever since Carlos came back from abroad, she had become a completely different person.

Seeing me reject her offering, Chloe snatched the box and threw it at me. The sticky dark chocolate splattered all over my white shirt.

"Enough, Liam! Stop being so ungrateful!"

"If you keep throwing this tantrum, you'll never see Leo again."

"Don't forget, I'm the one who gave birth to him!"

I froze, the pain in my leg instantly forgotten.

I never thought the woman I had been married to for five years, the woman I loved deeply, would one day use our son to threaten me.

"I want to see Leo. Now."

The thought of little Leo being ripped away from his parents, crying out for his dad somewhere, sent a sharp pang through my chest.

Chloe smirked, thinking she finally had leverage over me.

She grabbed her phone to FaceTime Carlos.

"Sure. But you have to apologize to Carlos first."

I snapped my head up, utterly bewildered.

"You stole my son and gave him away, and now I have to apologize to *him* just to see my own kid?"

Chloe lost it. She hurled her phone at me.

"Your kid? Don't forget, he came out of my body! Without me, you wouldn't even have a son!"

"And as for Carlos?"

"Let me make one thing clear: he's my child, and I'll let whoever I want raise him!"

"If you don't want to apologize over the phone, fine. You can apologize to him in person!"

With that, she grabbed my hair and dragged me toward the door.

The sudden movement tore the wound on my leg open again. Fresh blood soaked through the bandage.