Eddie's POV
"Forgotten, have you?"
I let the question hang, my voice steady, but weighed down like a storm cloud.
"Then, do you still remember when things started to change between you and him?"
I looked at her calmly as I asked again, "Do you remember what you said to me the night I caught you after your ridiculous one-night stand with him?"
The room was suddenly and completely silent. The subtle smell of vetiver in the air brought both our minds back to the past.
Landon Murphy.
He was a university student whom Stephanie had brought back two years ago when she went on a business trip to a remote area. At that time, Landon had been venting his frustrations about his family, who were pressuring him to marry the village chief's daughter.
He fought against his parents, insisting that love should be the foundation of any relationship, not family arrangements. He didn't want to be tied down to a small, backward village.
And because of his firm beliefs about love, he connected with Stephanie.
Stephanie couldn't resist. She decided to fund him, bringing him back and settling him at a prominent university near the Thomas family's mansion. She bought him a house, gave him a luxury car, and handed him a black card to support his entrepreneurial ventures.
As time went on, Stephanie and Landon grew both closer and more distant from me. It became so extreme that she even started to ignore our daughter.
Then came the night everything came crashing down.
Stephanie had worked late, and somehow, she came back to the wrong house.
When I found her, she knelt before me, her face pale and frantic. She grabbed my hand and slapped her own face. Over and over.
"I'm sorry, Eddie. It's my fault. I drank too much at a business dinner. He didn't want this. I forced him... I promise it won't happen again. After he graduates, I'll stop supporting him."
Then, she got pregnant.
Recalling that incident, a mocking smile played on my lips.
"Stephanie, can you explain something to me? You slept with him a year ago, but now you're eight months pregnant? Has there been new research showing that ovulation and fertilization can be delayed by 2 to 4 months?"
She flinched, and I could see the color drain from her face. "That's enough, Edward!"
Her anger flared, and for a brief moment, I almost felt like I'd won, but it didn't matter. Nothing did.
Facing my questions, Stephanie said, "I'll explain everything later."
Then, she dismissed my question and shifted our conversation.
"What about Thea? Why didn't you bring her back? She's just got diarrhea. Does she really need to stay in the hospital this long?"
Thinking about my daughter felt like a thousand hammers pounding my chest, each blow making it harder to breathe.
I pulled out the folded death certificate and divorce agreement from my bag, my hands trembling. I slumped weakly into the foyer, my face drained—drained of any hope I had left.
"Three days from now, cremation," I said quietly, with the weight of my loss hanging in the air. "Find some time to go see your daughter and take care of the divorce paperwork."
Stephanie took the documents from me, her eyes scanning them briefly before turning back to me with a cold gaze that seemed to pierce straight through.
Then she laughed.
The timing was too much for me to take.
"The timing is so coincidental," she said, her voice sounding almost casual.
The documents slipped from her grasp, scattering at my feet.
"Sorry, I didn't think diarrhea could kill someone."
I clenched my fists, my frustration building.
"I know you're heartbroken," Stephanie said, her voice unnervingly calm. "But it's okay. In three days, Landon and my baby will be born."
There it was again. That casual tone. The coldness. As if none of this even mattered.
"I've already agreed with him that after the baby is born, he'll bring the child to you to raise. You just need to be a good son-in-law to the Thomas family. But there's one condition: you have to let Landon visit the child regularly."
I froze. My entire body went still, like a bomb had gone off in my chest.
Disbelief. Anger. Shock.
"Stephanie!" I spat, my voice rising, the words coming out in a roar. "Do you even hear yourself? Are you a monster?!"
My voice echoed through the house, waking Landon, who had been napping in the bedroom.
Stephanie glanced at me, eyes full of judgment. "Lower your voice. Landon is exhausted from doing prenatal education and needs his nap."
Her words barely registered as I fought to keep my emotions in check.
And then, before I even knew it, everything exploded.
A sharp slap.
The sound echoed through the room, and I barely had time to process it before the coldness in Stephanie's eyes froze me in place.
"Feeling better now?"
She crossed the line again.
"Don't make jokes like that again. Who dies from diarrhea? And making jokes like that about Thea. Aren't you worried she'll pick up bad habits from you?"
