His Secret Child, My Shattered Dreams

and the silence was deafening. Every framed photo on the wall, every piece of furniture we' d picked out, felt like a prop in a pla

I heard his k

d in, loosening his tie. "Sorry I'm late, had to stay for a consult

urned my head away. The kiss lande

le faltering. "Everything o

" My voice was flat

? The intern? Her name's Chloe Davis. Just a kid, really. Her family's

t was the same tone he used with his patients, the one that

dangerously low. "At the cli

ed by a man cornered. "Ava, it's not what you think. I'm h

t lie to me, Ethan. I saw your face. And I saw the br

rmchair opposite me, running a hand through his perfectly styl

ong?"

yes. He stared at the

ile he was building a new life with someone else. My mind raced, connecting dots that

he memory hitting me with sickening c

r admission of guil

" I demanded, m

d at me, his eye

ed and stressed. He had called me from his hotel room, telling me how much he missed me, how he couldn't wait

per. All the strength had gone ou

en. It just... did. My parents... you know how they are. The pressure for a grandc

He was blaming their obses

itying tone. "They said I was failing my family, that our name wou

betrayal by painting me as the problem. My refusal to have a child was not a choice we

t we shared-it all dissolved into a pathetic, selfish excuse. The

child growing inside me, the one I had finally found the courage to want, was conceiv

voice steady now, rein

t? Ava, we can work thr

akness I had mistaken for kindness for five years. "You love the idea of me, the e

in the air. "And Ethan?" I added, without looking back.