"Julian. Tell her. Between the two of us, who's really the other woman?"
His gaze dropped. His lips pressed into a hard line. He didn't say a single word.
I let out a quiet, bitter laugh and took out my phone, unlocking my private album.
"Since he won't say it, I will."
"Take a good look, Miss Barnes. Between the two of us, who is the third wheel?"
Grace's entire body went rigid. Her head snapped up, eyes flooding with disbelief as she turned to Julian.
"You told me I was your first love. You lied to me!"
She screamed, stumbling backward.
Her foot slipped, and she crashed against the edge of a planter.
Julian's face drained of color. He lunged forward, catching Grace before she hit the ground, her face white as paper.
She shoved at him wildly. "Get away from me! Don't touch me!"
"I'll get rid of this baby. I won't let my child be a homewrecker's child!"
Julian's eyes rimmed red. He scooped her up, arms locked tight around her waist, his voice thick with anguish.
"Don't talk like that. You're my wife. You and this baby are my whole world."
I reached out instinctively to stop him, but his shoulder slammed into me and sent me sprawling to the ground. He looked down at me, his expression dark as a storm.
"You knew Grace was pregnant, and you still said those things to provoke her!"
"If anything happens to her or the baby, I will never forgive you."
I lay on the wet ground. A shard of broken glass on the pavement had driven itself into my arm, and blood soaked through my sleeve in seconds.
I watched his retreating back, that unwavering, merciless back, and it felt like a fist had closed around my heart and was crushing it to pulp.
But Julian... I gave you a daughter too.
I drifted into a strange, fractured dream.
The sky blazed with fireworks, brilliant and blinding, and Julian knelt before me on one knee, a simple ring cradled in his palms, his eyes full of reverence.
"Gertie, the luckiest thing that ever happened to me was meeting you. Falling in love with you."
"Will you marry me?"
The scene shattered. In its place was Julian holding Grace, walking away without a backward glance, and the image seared into my eyes like staring into the sun.
I sobbed, crying out through the haze.
"Julian, don't leave me..."
My eyes flew open. A warm hand was pressed firmly over mine.
Julian sat at the edge of the hospital bed, brows drawn tight, holding down the spot where the IV needle pierced my skin.