I couldn't sleep.
Three nights after that dinner, I lay beside Camden and stared at the ceiling. His breathing was steady. Even. The kind of sleep that comes easy when you've got nothing to feel guilty about.
Or when you've gotten very good at pretending you don't.
I slipped out of bed. The apartment was dark except for the blue glow of the city through the windows. I padded down the hall toward the kitchen, thinking maybe tea would help. Warm milk. Anything.
Then I heard voices.
Low at first. Coming from the guest room. I stopped.
Camden's voice. Malia's voice.
My hand found the wall. Steadied myself.
They were supposed to be nothing. A mistake. A piece of paper. That's what Camden said. That's what I'd chosen to believe because the alternative was a hole I couldn't climb out of.
But they were in there. Together. At two in the morning.
I moved closer. My bare feet silent on the hardwood.
"—can't just bring him back, what were you thinking—" Camden's voice, low and furious in a way I'd never heard before. Not angry. Panicked.
Malia's response came fast and sharp. "He is YOUR son too, Camden. He asks about you every single—"
The rest got swallowed by something. A sob maybe. Or just the blood rushing in my ears.
Son.
The word hung in the air like smoke.
My hand found the doorknob before I'd decided to reach for it. Cold metal. Solid. Real.
I turned it.
The door swung open.
Camden and Malia stood in the center of the room. Close but not touching. His hands were in his hair. Hers were wrapped around her own waist like she was holding herself together.
They both turned.
Their faces did something I'd never seen before. Not surprise exactly. Something worse. Like actors caught mid-scene by someone who wasn't supposed to know there was a play.
Malia's mouth opened. Closed.
Camden took a step toward me. "Tessa—"
"You have a son." My voice came out flat. Distant. Like it belonged to someone else.
"Let me explain—" Camden started.
"How old."
Silence.
"How old is he, Camden."
Malia's face crumpled. She pressed her fingers to her mouth.
Camden's jaw worked. "Five."
Five years.
Not a drunken mistake in Vegas. Not paperwork that got delayed. A child. A five-year-old child who asked about his father. Who existed. Who had Camden's eyes probably. His last name.
Five years of birthday parties I didn't know about. First days of school. Bedtime stories. A whole life running parallel to mine. Close enough to touch but hidden just out of sight.
"Where is he?" I heard myself ask.
Malia's voice cracked. "London. He's been at school in London. I brought him back because he kept asking—" She stopped. Swallowed. "He wants to meet you."
The room tilted.
I reached for the doorframe but my hand missed. My knees went soft. The floor rushed up and I thought: *this is what falling feels like. This is what it feels like when the ground disappears.*
Camden caught me before I hit.
His arms went around me and I wanted to fight him off but my body wouldn't cooperate. Everything was shutting down. Vision going black at the edges. Sound muffled like I was underwater.
"Call 911," Camden's voice, sharp and far away. "Malia, NOW—"
Then nothing.
I woke up to white ceiling tiles and the smell of antiseptic.
A hospital. I was in a hospital.
Camden was beside the bed. His hand wrapped around mine. His face looked gray. Exhausted. When he saw my eyes open, relief flooded his expression.
"Thank God," he breathed. "You're okay. You're going to be okay."
A doctor appeared. Young. Kind face. She smiled at me like she was delivering good news.
"Ms. Ellis, you gave everyone quite a scare. But you and the baby are both stable now."
The words didn't connect at first.
"Baby?" My voice came out hoarse.
Her smile widened. "You're eight weeks pregnant. Congratulations."
Camden's hand tightened around mine. His face transformed. Joy. Pure, unfiltered joy.
"Tessa," he whispered. His eyes were wet. "We're having a baby."
I stared at him.
At the man who'd been married to my best friend for five years. Who had a five-year-old son he'd hidden from me. Who'd built an entire secret family while I planned our wedding.
And now I was carrying his child.
The trap closed.
I felt it lock around me like a cage I'd walked into myself. Eight weeks. I'd been pregnant since before the City Clerk's Office. Since before I knew. Since back when I still thought my life was exactly what it looked like.
Camden was crying now. Actually crying. He pressed his forehead to our joined hands.
"I'm so sorry," he said into my knuckles. "For everything. But this—this is a gift. A second chance. We can do this right. All of us. I promise."
The doctor was still smiling. She thought this was a happy moment.
I looked at Camden's bowed head. At the monitor beeping steadily beside me. At the IV in my arm tethering me to this bed, this moment, this man.
And I thought: *I can't leave now. I'm too weak. Too pregnant. Too trapped.*
So I did what I'd always done.
I squeezed his hand back.
"Okay," I whispered.
His shoulders shook with relief.
And I lay there under the fluorescent lights, carrying a child I hadn't planned for, tied to a man I no longer knew, and felt the last piece of my old life slip away like water through my fingers.
