Chapter 3
His office was on the 48th floor.
I stood by the floor–to–ceiling windows, watching the rain weave delicate patterns across the glass. Each droplet traced its path, mirroring the tangled scars etched deep within my heart.
The ultrasound paper on the desk was crumpled in my hand.
Six weeks. A new life.
What I once thought would be a surprise now felt like a cruel irony.
The elevator dinged.
શ્રી
He walked in, impeccably dressed in a sharp
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suit.
He paused for a second when his eyes met mine, flashed his familiar, effortless smile. “What are you doing here so late?”
“Sign here.” I slammed the acquisition plan onto his desk.
He picked it up, glanced at it, and his smile deepened. “So, you’ve found out.”
“Why are you doing this to us?”
“Why?” He walked to the bar and poured himself a drink. “You don’t really think I’ve fallen for you, do you?”
The clink of the glass against the marble countertop echoed through the room.
“So everything that’s happened over the past
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apter
three months… it was a lie?”
“Of course it was real.” He took a sip of his drink. “I really have been using you.”
Lightning flashed outside, illuminating his mischievous smile.
“The first time I saw you at the hospital, I knew you were the perfect opening,” he said, swirling his glass. “Innocent, naïve, holding on to ridiculous fantasies about love.”
“Enough!”
“Your father is too stubborn, refusing to sell the hospital,” he continued, unfazed. “But you, you’re different. You’re so easily moved.”
I remembered his tenderness when he first asked me out.
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The gentlemanly way he
Ove me home.
The sincerity in his eyes when he proposed.
It was all just a game
“The cardiac surgery department at Cleveland Medical Center is number one in the state. It nets over a hundred million in profit every year,” he said, putting his glass down. “Such a gold mine–I’m taking it.”
“You won’t get away with it” I glared at him. “I’ll expose all this evidence..”
“To your father?” He interrupted me. “Do you think he could handle the blow?”
I suddenly remembered the recent chest pains my father had been suffering.
“And besides,” he stepped closer, lifting my
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chin with his fingers, “even if you tell him, who would believe you? People will just say you’re getting back at your ex–husband for abandoning you.”
I jerked my face away from his touch. “We’re not divorced.”
“Not yet,” he grinned even more widely. “Once the acquisition is done, I’ll be engaged to the daughter of the director at Mayo Clinic.”
My vision went dark.
So even this was part of his plan.
“I’m pregnant…” I heard my voice tremble.
His expression brightened suddenly. “Oh? That’s perfect. This child will get your father to sign faster.”
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“What… what did you say?”
“Think about it.” He leaned casually against the desk. “If the old director finds out that his grandson’s father is about to abandon his own daughter…”
“You’re cruel.”
“This is business,” he adjusted his tie. “But don’t worry, once I get the shares, I’ll make sure you receive a generous alimony.”
I turned and ran.
His voice echoed behind me. “Don’t do something stupid–for the child’s sake.”
The elevator was too slow. I bolted for the stairwell, rushing down flight after flight, tears blurring my vision.
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I burst out of the building, the rain instantly soaking through my clothes.
I sped down the road, the wipers useless against the heavy rain, the blurry streetlights, and the blinding car headlights.
Images from the past three months flooded my mind:
His gentle smile.
His good morning kiss.
He said he’d love me forever.
It was all lies.
A truck came speeding from the right.
I saw the blinding headlights, but I couldn’t summon the strength to move out of their
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way.
Maybe this way, it would all end.
The screech of brakes cut through the stormy night as the world began to spin.
I closed my eyes.
I’m sorry, Dad. I’m sorry, baby.
Turns out, I’m even more useless than I thought.
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