Chapter 4 - THE ULTRASOUND BOX
Grace packed one suitcase.
She refused to let her brothers do it for her.
"I am leaving on my feet," she said.
Ethan followed her upstairs.
Marcus followed Ethan.
"Grace, I didn't know about the baby."
She folded a sweater.
"Would it have changed the affair?"
He had no answer.
"It was a mistake."
"The affair or the slap?"
"Don't do that."
Grace looked at him.
"My cheek is red, Ethan."
"That part is not complicated."
He lowered his voice.
"Lauren got inside my head."
Marcus said from the doorway, "Amazing how your hand became her responsibility."
Grace closed the suitcase.
Ethan saw the ultrasound box.
"Can I see it?"
For one second, she almost saw the man she had married.
Then she remembered Lauren downstairs.
"No."
A shout came from the first floor.
"ETHAN!"
They ran down.
Caleb stood beside the table holding Lauren's phone.
A message glowed on the screen.
He hit her.
Good.
Do not let him apologize before she leaves.
Ethan stared.
"Who sent that?"
Grace saw the initials on the contact.
V.P.
"Victor Pierce."
Ethan frowned.
Lauren went pale.
Grace knew the name.
Victor owned Pierce Urban Partners.
The company competing with Walker Development for the $140 million Southgate project.
Grace looked at Lauren.
"You weren't only sleeping with my husband."
Caleb scrolled through the messages.
There were references to debt, Wren, Southgate, and "getting Grace out."
Grace felt ice settle in her chest.
"You were working him."
Lauren's expression finally cracked.
Then Grace's stomach tightened sharply.
Nathan caught her before she stumbled.
"Hospital."
Ethan moved toward her.
Marcus blocked him.
Grace held her belly and looked at the man she had loved for five years.
May you like
"You stay here."
"For once, Ethan, live with what you did."
