Then I looked at Julian.
I searched his face for something.
Regret.
Shame.
Pain.
Anything.
He was still looking at his phone.
That was when my heart stopped fighting for him.
Three years of patience.
Three years of devotion.
Three years of sitting at the end of tables, sleeping alone, smiling through insults, and waiting for the man I married to remember me.
All of it ended in that room.
I placed my hand over my stomach.
Four tiny lives were just beginning inside me, though I did not know yet there were four.
I only knew I was pregnant.
I only knew I had planned to tell him.
I only knew I would never give that secret to a family that saw human beings as investments, mistakes, or threats.
Arthur expected tears.
He expected begging.
Maybe even anger.
Instead, I smiled.
A small, calm smile.
It unsettled him.
“Fine,” I said.
One word.
Cold as winter.
Quiet as a grave.
I picked up the pen.
I signed every page.
Nora Vance.
With each stroke of the pen, I felt the Sterling name leave my skin.
When I finished, I took the check and placed it in my pocket.
Arthur stared at me.
For the first time since I had known him, he looked uncertain.
Julian finally looked up.
His brow furrowed slightly, as if my silence disturbed him more than my suffering ever had.