Page 140 of Say My Name

Her voice is quiet enough to strip the anger from mine.

“If you’re pregnant from this cycle, you tell me. I’ll be at every appointment. We’ll make every decision together, and I will be the father I promised to be.”

“And if I’m not?”

The words feel like stones in my mouth. “We stop trying.”

She stares at me.

“No more scheduled nights,” I say. “No more false windows. No more telling ourselves sex is part of a conception plan when we both know it stopped being that months ago.”

“You’re ending the agreement.”

“The sexual and conception arrangement ends tonight. I can’t keep sleeping with you while you plan a life that has no real place for me.”

Her chin lifts as if she can hold herself together through posture alone. “What about work?”

“Nothing changes at work. Your position is yours. You earned it. This conversation will never affect your career, your compensation, or your authority at Rowe Holdings.”

“I wasn’t suggesting you would retaliate.”

“I need you to hear me say it anyway. This stays between us. I won’t tell Cliff, and I won’t make you defend your choices to anyone. If there’s a child, I’ll honor every parental commitment I made. I’m not taking anything from you.”

“Except yourself.”

The words are so soft I almost miss them, but they find their mark. A clean, quiet cut.

I look at her. “You already built a future without me.”

“That isn’t what I want.”

Hope rises before I can stop it. “Then tell me what you do want.”

Her eyes meet mine.

For one second, I see it. The answer she knew last month. The one she nearly gave me in her bedroom when she said my name and looked at me like the truth had finally become impossible to deny.

“Dominic, I…”

I wait.

Her fear wins again.

“I don’t know how to do this,” she whispers.

I nod once, the movement stiff. I know she can’t. Not tonight. Maybe not ever. “I know.”

I retrieve my jacket from the back of the chair and walk toward the door. Each step feels wrong. I have spent years finding reasons to move closer to her; now leaving is the only honest choice left.

My hand closes around the knob.

“Dominic.”

I stop and turn.

She stands near the kitchen with her arms wrapped around herself again. Her eyes are wet now, and the sight cuts straight through me.

“I never meant to hurt you,” she says.