Page 73 of Vance | AllFreeNovel

My fingers tighten around the test until the plastic creaks, my anger coming on slowly, but burning just as deep. It isn’t explosive. This is worse. It settles beneath my ribs, tangled with hurt and disbelief, hardening into a quiet fury. It’s a cold, calculated rage that feels more dangerous than any outburst I’ve ever had.

This isn’t a decision I will allow her to make. She doesn’t get to unilaterally decide that our child—a piece of me—will be raised without me. She is mine. Every inch of her belongs to me. And now, this perfect, fragile creation growing inside her is a living, breathing anchor tying her to me for the rest of her life. It’s a bond she cannot sever, a connection that transcends her fear and her foolish pride.

My thumb brushes over the little result window and the two blue lines that have changed everything. I have spent three days thinking the worst thing Sophia could take from me was herself. I was wrong. She took my future: our child.

She can run from me, but I don’t care where she goes… I will find her. It doesn’t matter how far she went. My resources are infinite, my reach is long, and my motivation is now a force of nature. I will turn over every stone, peel back every layer of her life until I find her.

I will burn this entire fucking city to the ground to bring her home. If she thinks she can hide, she’s mistaken. If she thinks she can start a new life, she’s fucking delusional. There is no life without me. There is no life for our child that doesn’t have me at its center.

I pull out my phone—my fingers moving with a calm certainty that belies the storm raging inside me and the liquor coursing through my veins—and text my brothers.

Find her. I don’t care what you have to do or who you have to threaten. Find my wife. Find the mother of my child and bring her home.

Three dots appear on the screen, my brothers replying in turn. They’ll find her. They have to. Because I can’t spend another night in this fucking bedroom without her.

I stare out the window to the sprawling city below. To my empire, my new hunting ground. I’ll burn it all to the fucking the ground to bring her home where she belongs.

With me.

It has been a week since my life fractured into a million pieces, and I walked out of my marriage. My tears have finally slowed. While they still come on without warning, they are no longer the endless river they were that first night. It’s been seven days since I last saw my husband, and somehow, it feels like seven years.

Sitting curled into the corner of Connor’s couch, my knees tucked beneath me, I stare through the floor-to-ceiling windows at the city beyond them. Chicago looks the same, the world not stopping just because mine did. People scurry along the sidewalks, wrapped in coats against the December cold, windows flickering on one by one as evening slowly settles over the city.

I lift the mug of tea Connor made and take a small sip. He’s been a saint. Not for just letting me stay here, but for taking care of me while I’ve fallen apart. He makes sure I eat and get enough sleep. Somehow, he manages to check on me without making it feel like he’s checking on me, a talent he’s always had.

And maybe that’s exactly what I need right now. Somewhere safe. Somewhere I can breathe without feeling like I need to have all the answers. Somewhere I can think, figure out what happens next, and take it one painful day at a time.

Taking a deep breath, I pick up the burner phone Connor bought me on his way home from work the day after I got here. Pulling up the only contact in it, I send a text to Kiki.

Hey

KIKI

Hey!

How are you?

I almost laugh. What a ridiculous question.