Chapter 3

My chest tightened at the sight.

I'd chosen every one of those things for my baby. They were all I had left of the future I'd once imagined for us.

And now Soren was destroying them right in front of me.

Anger finally overwhelmed me. "Soren, get your damn feet off those! They're for my baby!"

"Oh, sorry, Callum. I didn't notice."

There wasn't a trace of remorse in his voice. If anything, he pressed down harder, grinding another toy beneath his shoe as he stared straight at me, the challenge in his eyes unmistakable.

I lunged forward, desperate to get my baby's things out from under his feet.

I hadn't even touched Soren when he suddenly stumbled backward. With a startled cry, he hit the floor hard.

Of course.

Elara rushed to him immediately and helped him up before turning a cold glare on me. "If you're angry, take it out on me! Soren is seriously ill. How could you hurt him?"

Soren sagged against her, clutching lightly at her sleeve. His eyes reddened as he spoke. "Elara, don't blame Callum. He has every right to be angry.

"If I hadn't gotten cancer, you never would've gone through with the procedure so that my cloned embryo could give me a second chance at life…

"Maybe it'd be better if I just died. At least then I wouldn't be here ruining your marriage and making Callum hate me."

Soren pulled away from Elara and rushed toward the window, making a dramatic show of trying to climb out.

Elara immediately grabbed him and pulled him back, holding him tightly as she turned on me with pure hatred in her eyes. "If anything happens to Soren because of you, I'll get rid of your baby!

"Why should I even have a child with someone like you? If the baby takes after you, it'll only grow up to hurt people too.

"Besides, it's not like this is my only chance to have a child. If I lose yours, I'll still have Soren's."

Ever since she'd gotten pregnant, Elara had learned exactly how much our baby meant to me. And she'd been using that against me ever since.

All Soren had to do was say he was afraid of being alone at night, and Elara would abandon me, even when I was burning up with a fever, to stay with him.

Whenever I tried to stop her, she'd threaten to do something that could endanger the pregnancy.

She'd done the same thing when she decided to go through with the cloning procedure. Every time I objected, she would use our baby to force me into backing down.

So I'd played along, hoping I could still change her mind. I kept reminding her of the risks, explaining what the doctors had told us, praying that eventually she'd realize what she was putting our child through.

But I'd underestimated how far she was willing to go for Soren.

Nothing I said mattered. She went through with the embryo transfer anyway.

And now she was using our baby against me again. She still thought I'd give in, just like I always had before.

This time, I only looked at her coldly. "You don't get to use our baby against me anymore. Because our baby is already dead."

Elara froze, her eyes widening. "What did you just say? The baby... is dead?"

Soren immediately jumped in. "Callum, I know you're angry, but don't say something like that just to hurt Elara. The baby hasn't done anything wrong."

His words seemed to snap Elara out of her shock. Disbelief quickly gave way to anger.

"Callum, have you seriously sunk this low? You're wishing our own baby dead just because you're upset with me? That's disgusting. You don't deserve to call yourself that baby's father!"

I had no interest in arguing with her. Without saying a single word, I pulled out my phone and opened the medical report the doctor had sent me.

"Here. The baby didn't survive. It happened the day you had the embryo transfer."

Elara stared at the report. The anger vanished from her face. For several seconds, she didn't move at all.

Her lips parted as if she wanted to say something. But before she could, Soren cut in. "Callum, come on. With technology these days, faking a medical report isn't exactly difficult. I know you hate me, but do you really have to take it this far?"

It was a pathetic performance. Yet, Elara believed him. Of course she did.

It didn't matter what I said or how much proof I put in front of her. The moment Soren opened his mouth, his words mattered more than mine.

It always had. When it came down to the two of us, Elara had never truly been on my side. Her expression darkened as she stared at me, her brows drawn tight.