Chapter 3

Joshua's POV

Renee didn't come home that night, but I didn't waste my time worrying about her safety. I already knew where she'd gone from Chad's Instagram posts.

After leaving the hospital that afternoon, they had gone straight to Chad's house to share the news with his family.

In one photo, Chad's mother was holding Renee's hand affectionately as she spoke to her. Renee had one hand resting on her belly, a gentle smile on her face.

In the six years we'd been together, Renee had only met my family once, and that was after she accepted my proposal.

Even though our families lived less than half an hour apart, she had never wanted to come home with me or suggested visiting my parents.

She always said she didn't like spending time with older people. She felt she had to watch everything she said and did around them, and it made her uncomfortable.

Even on that one visit, she'd been nothing more than distant and polite. She was nowhere near as warm and affectionate as she was in the photo with Chad's family.

I lowered my eyes, swallowing the bitterness I felt, and turned off my phone.

The next day, I met up with a few friends and told them the wedding was off.

Renee hadn't even wanted a wedding to begin with. She called it a hassle and hated all the meaningless fanfare. I felt she deserved better, so I pushed for at least a simple ceremony. She eventually caved, agreeing to a small wedding with just our closest friends.

Everyone around us knew how much I loved her, so they were shocked when they heard that the wedding had been canceled.

"You've been crazy about Renee," one of them said. "You finally got to marry her. Can you really just walk away like that?"

A dull ache spread through my chest.

Could I really walk away like that? Of course not.

I'd spent more than ten years pursuing her before she finally agreed to marry me. Letting go of feelings I'd held for so long wasn't easy.

But deep down, I had always known our relationship was lopsided. I was just a shadow following behind her. She had never slowed her pace for me or even bothered to look back at me.

I used to tell myself it didn't matter. If I could spend years winning her over and get her to agree to marry me, I could spend a little more time earning a place in her heart.

We had the rest of our lives ahead of us. I was willing to wait for the day she would open her heart to me completely.

But everything changed six months ago, when Chad came into the picture.

That was when I realized Renee wasn't cold to everyone. She was always smiling when she was with Chad, yet she'd never looked at me that way.

Back then, I'd tried to reassure myself that he was just her college friend who had once saved her life. She owed him a debt of gratitude, so she was only trying to repay him. That was all.

But I never imagined that after Chad's heart surgery failed, she'd actually agree to have his child so he could carry on his family line.

Worse, while pretending to ask for my consent, she'd already gone through with the insemination behind my back.

That was when I finally realized Renee and I had no future together. No matter how hard it was to let go of everything we'd shared over the years, I had to walk away.

I didn't tell my friends the real reason for the cancellation. I just told them I was starting a full-time research job in a lab soon and would be out of touch for long stretches. To make it up to them, I stayed out with them until midnight.

When I got back, Renee had only just arrived home herself.

The moment she smelled the alcohol and cigarette smoke on me, she furrowed her brows, took a few quick steps back, and covered her nose and mouth.

"Stay away from me. That smell makes me sick," she complained.

I noticed her hand instinctively resting over her stomach. I gave a short, hollow laugh. That gesture was so obvious. She wasn't even trying to hide the pregnancy from me anymore.

But since she hadn't chosen to tell me herself, I wasn't about to bring it up. Without responding to her, I went to take a shower.

When I came out, Renee was typing away on her phone, a smile on her face. I looked away and headed to the bedroom to sleep.

But she suddenly called out to me, "I need to talk to you."

I stopped in my tracks. The last time she'd said those words was a month ago, when she first brought up having Chad's baby. That had led to weeks of arguments between us.

Now that she was already pregnant, I wondered what she could possibly want to discuss with me.