Chapter 6

When we arrived, Julian gave me a quick pat on the shoulder. "I'll park the car. You go on ahead."

As I searched for the private room, I turned a corner and unexpectedly spotted Victoria with a man I didn't recognize. The two of them were all over each other.

"Honey, don't worry. Nothing ever happened between Liam and me. He doesn't even know the baby isn't his. That idiot has no idea I've been playing him this whole time!

"Since he wants to be a father so badly, let him. He can raise our child for us while we sit back and enjoy the benefits. And while we're at it, we can get our hands on his money too.

"Once he has nothing left to give us, the three of us can leave and never come back!"

The man broke into a huge grin and praised Victoria for being so clever.

I had just stumbled onto one hell of a scandal. Victoria was already married. This whole time, she'd been deceiving Liam and using him for his money.

I immediately pulled out my phone and started recording, so I'd have proof.

I laughed bitterly to myself. So this was the woman Liam had put on a pedestal all these years. He had no idea she was rotten to the core.

And for a child who wasn't even his, Liam had thrown away his own flesh and blood. I couldn't help wondering how he'd react when he finally learned the truth.

After I finished recording, I realized Liam's private room was right around the corner. I was about to go in when I heard his friends laughing inside.

"Damn, Liam. Only you would have the guts to go after your best friend's little sister!"

"Wait, are you seriously going to marry Natalie? What about Victoria? You two finally got together after all these years."

Then Liam's dismissive voice came through the door.

"Natalie and I were never serious. She's been giving me attitude lately, so I'll just promise to marry her and keep her happy for now. She's easy enough to fool anyway."

So in his eyes, I'd never been anything more than a toy.

Before I could process what I'd heard, Julian came up behind me after parking the car. "Natalie, why are you still out here?"

He took my arm and pushed open the door.

The room had been buzzing with conversation, but the moment we walked in, everyone fell silent. Liam stiffened for a split second before quickly forcing a smile.

He pulled me into his arms and raised his voice. "Everyone, I have an announcement. Natalie is actually the woman I've been dating for the past five years. We're getting married in three days!"

Julian stared at us in shock, while everyone else looked as though they'd already known and quickly joined in.

I shoved Liam away and said coldly, "I'm not marrying you. We're already over."

Liam took two steps toward me, a smug smile tugging at his lips. "You're pregnant with my child, and you're still throwing a fit? If we don't get married, what are you going to do? Raise our baby without a father?"

I looked up at him. "How did you know?"

Liam chuckled, looking far too pleased with himself, as if he had me right where he wanted me.

"After you left, a friend of mine from the hospital called and mentioned seeing you there for a prenatal checkup. Then I remembered the pregnancy paperwork you dropped that day.

"It wasn't hard to put two and two together. Natalie, no matter how mad you are at me, you can't use our baby to get back at me, can you?"

So he thought the baby was his trump card.

Too bad I'd already ended the pregnancy. And if he'd bothered to read that paperwork before tearing it up, he would've realized it wasn't from a prenatal checkup at all. It was from my D&C.

Julian stood there speechless, still trying to process everything.

Liam, meanwhile, looked certain he'd won. He stepped forward and reached for me.

I shoved him away again and scoffed. Then I pulled up my medical record on my phone and held it out for him to see.

"Then I guess you didn't know I'd already had an abortion. Give it up, Liam. I'm never marrying you!"