Chapter 3

"Who is it?" Ryan called out as he walked to the door and pulled it open. The moment he saw me, every expression on his face froze.

His breathing quickened.

"N-Nathan..."

Expressionless, I shoved past him and walked inside.

Just then, Claire stepped out of the bathroom. The towel in her hand slipped from her fingers and hit the floor with a soft thud. Disbelief flashed across her face.

I looked around the house.

Only then did I realize that traces of Claire were everywhere. Her belongings were scattered throughout the rooms.

The countertops were covered with photographs of her and Ryan together.

The two of us stood on opposite sides of the living room, staring at each other.

I forced a smile, struggling to suppress my emotions. My hands and feet were ice cold.

"Weren't you the one who said you hadn't lied to me about anything? Then what exactly is all of this?"

Claire finally reacted. The color drained from her face almost instantly as she rushed toward me and grabbed my shoulders.

"Nathan, listen to me. Let me explain. It's not what you think!"

At that distance, Ryan's scent clinging to her was impossible to miss. Every trace of it scraped against nerves that were already close to breaking.

"Let go of me!" I shook her off.

The sharp crack of a slap exploded through the room. Claire's head snapped to the side, and her cheek immediately began to swell.

Ryan lunged forward and shoved me hard. "Are you crazy?! How can you hit her?!"

The force of the shove sent me stumbling backward.

Claire immediately rushed to protect me instead. She turned and roared at Ryan, "Get upstairs! You have no right to touch him!"

After a brief moment of shock, Ryan let out a bitter laugh.

"He's already found out. Do you really think you can go back to how things were before? Claire, I'm the one who truly loves you!"

Her expression darkened. "Go upstairs!"

Ryan didn't move. It was almost as if he had been waiting for the day I found out.

"Nathan, Claire is pregnant with my child."

Claire's eyes widened, and her voice sharpened with warning as she said, "Ryan! Shut up!"

I looked at her, mockery filling my eyes.

"What are you afraid of? Let him talk. I'd like to hear just how many things there are that I still don't know."

"Nathan..." Ryan let out a cold laugh. There was a hint of triumph in it, but his voice was thick with emotion.

"The night you graduated from college, she told you she was going to Riverton's university district to work on a project with her advisor. She was here with me."

"Ryan!" Claire shouted.

He ignored her.

"The ideas for your wedding venue two days ago? Those were mine. The things she said to you? Those were my words, too. She just memorized them and repeated them back to you.

"And the baby? This isn't the first one. There were two before this. She just didn't keep them."

With every word he spoke, the color drained from my face.

The truth was even crueler than I had imagined.

I gasped for air, my breathing becoming ragged. Then I collapsed to the floor.

I had heart disease as a child and underwent surgery. It simply hadn't returned all these years.

Claire knew that. In that moment, she couldn't spare another thought for anything else. Panic covered her face as she rushed me to the hospital.

When I woke up again, it was already dark outside.

Claire sat beside the bed with her forehead resting in her hands. She looked utterly defeated.

The moment she saw me wake up, she rushed over.

"You're awake? Are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere?"

I looked at her indifferently without speaking.

After a long silence, she bent down to look at me.

"Nathan, I did all of this for your sake. You can't have children. Rather than raising a child with no blood relationship to either of us, why not raise one that's biologically mine?

"You understand I meant well, right?"

My eyes widened.

I could hardly believe what I was hearing.

So my pain, the torture of being toyed with for half my life, meant absolutely nothing to her.

She even believed she was doing this for my own good.

I closed my eyes, and my entire body trembled.

"Get out. Get out!"

Claire pressed her lips tightly together before stepping forward and pulling the blanket back over me.

"I'll come see you tomorrow. Calm down first. Don't get upset."

As soon as she left, the hospital room door opened again. Ryan walked in, almost as though he were here for revenge.

"Oh, right. There's one more thing you should know."