Every mention of the baby drove a spike through me.
After all, this was Natalie's child with someone else. And that someone was Andrew—a man who showed zero sign of being father material.
Natalie went paler, but the fire in her eyes burned hotter. She released Andrew's hand and stood, facing me. Despite having to look up, she didn't back down an inch. "Richard, I don't need your fake concern. You're only saying this because you want me to leave with you. But I won't go back. I refuse to let you trample my feelings anymore."
"Watch your words, Natalie." I moved closer, voice grinding through clenched teeth. The cops and paramedics seemed to sense the tension, their movements quieting, eyes darting over. "When have I ever trampled your feelings? Everything I've given you—people would kill for it."
"Yes, kill for it!" She laughed, the sound uglier than crying. "So I should be grateful, right? Thank you for controlling my career, interfering with my social life, and now hurting my friends to 'remind' me to behave? Richard, this isn't living. It's captivity!"
Captivity. That word detonated something in me.
"Then what do you want, Natalie?!" I lost the last shred of composure, my voice echoing through the alley, drawing more stares. "You think that guy who can't even handle a few streetpunks can give you and your baby security? A future? Don't be naive!"
Natalie swayed slightly. Her voice dropped, trembling.
"You've got it backwards, Richard. I married you because I was naive. I was so naive I thought having a baby might fix our marriage. But now I'm not naive anymore! You never cared about me or the baby. So why do you keep demanding I come back? You just can't stand losing control!"
The mention of the child Natalie and I lost cracked open months of pent-up emotion.
"When did I say I didn't care about you and the baby? Natalie, you never told me you were pregnant! I didn't know what I'd lost until after the miscarriage! Didn't I try to stop you when you filed for divorce? Damn it, if I didn't care, would I have come to Las Vegas? Would I accept another man's child as my heir? I've compromised this far for you. Why do you keep trying to run?"
"Natalie, we were married two years, and it took you two months to get pregnant by someone else. You're the one who betrayed this marriage! All you need to do is fix this mistake. I promise not to hold it against you. What more do you want?"
Christ, I'd never lost it like this in public.
But this whole situation was driving me insane.
How could Natalie move on with someone else so fast after losing our baby? Did she love Andrew now? Was that why she was so desperate to leave? Freedom. My control. All excuses. The real reason was simple. Natalie had fallen for someone else.
That realization made me crazy with jealousy and reckless with words.
"Natalie, let me be clear. Staying with some useless guy like that, the kid won't amount to anything either. Better to just get rid of—"
Shit. Richard, what the hell are you saying?! No matter how jealous, how angry, that's her baby. You know losing the last one destroyed her. How could you—
I tried to backtrack, undo the damage. "I'm sorry, I—"
"Richard! How could you say that!" Natalie's chest heaved. "This is your child! You'd actually tell me to get rid of him? I was right about you. You could never be a good father. Divorcing you was the smartest decision I ever made!"
What was Natalie saying?
My child?
She was carrying my baby?
The noise of the alley, the flashing lights—everything vanished.
My world narrowed to Natalie's blazing blue eyes.
Her words were twin bombs exploding in my brain, leaving only white noise. My ears rang. Blood rushed to my head, then instantly froze. I stood rooted, unable to process the meaning.
"What did you just say?"
Natalie looked like those words had drained her completely. She looked away, lips trembling, maybe wanting to take it back. But it was too late.
"Natalie," I grabbed her shoulders, probably hurting her, but I couldn't help it. "Say that again. Whose baby is it?"
She tried to pull away. I held tighter, forcing her to look at me.
