[David’s POV]The impact of those words was precise. “He can’t be without a father…” not “I need you,” not “we should be together,” but “he.”Pushing the child to the forefront, hiding herself behind the baby. That way, any refusal would amount to rejecting an unborn child, not rejecting her.I didn’t speak.I wasn’t thinking about how to respond; I was feeling something inside my body. It was heavy, pressing against my chest like a slab of lead. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what that slab of lead was… not anger, not sadness, not guilt.It was a more primal, more chaotic feeling. Like standing at a crossroads where you can’t see the end of either path, with someone pushing you from behind and someone pulling you from the front — you’re caught in the middle, unable to move.Camila’s smiling face flashed through my mind. Then Alice, heavy with child, head down, looking at documents in the conference room. Then the sky-blue treehouse in that old oak. Then the signed custody transfer
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