Payton POV
We slipped into the house in complete silence, the heavy front door clicking shut behind us like the final nail in a coffin. The confrontation with Elizabeth still echoed in my ears—her angry shouts, her hand protectively cradling her belly, her venomous declaration that she would never get rid of the baby. My legs felt like jelly. I nearly collapsed right there in the foyer.
I didn’t know what to do. My mind was a storm of confusion, rage, and heartbreak. How could this happen? How could Richard let this happen? He had betrayed me again. The thought looped endlessly in my head. If he hadn’t deprived me of intimacy for so long, if he hadn’t cheated… we could have been perfect. We could have rebuilt our marriage after Mia. We could have been happy. But now it was all shattered.
